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Come on down to celebrate LeAnn Bjerken's poetry collection, Ordinary Omens! Joining her will be local poets Laura Read and Maya Jewell Zeller. We will have both of their upcoming releases available as well!Friday, September 26th at 6PM at Auntie's Bookstore
(402 W Main Ave)
This event is free and open to the public.
RSVP via https://auntiesbooks.com/event/2025-09-26/ordinary-omens-leann-bjerken-w-laura-read-maya-jewell-zeller
About the book
Ordinary Omens is an exploration of moments in our lives that have a connection to the extraordinary. The poems seek understanding of both common and unusual occurrences, examining their ties to nature and the natural world, as well as the supernatural via the tools and rituals associated with faith, superstition, luck, and magic.
Here you will find a yearning to understand the past (both our own personal history and that of others) and how it influences our future. In these selections, Bjerken dives into the timelessness of love, the fearful and wondrous gift of motherhood, the presence of hope amid uncertainty, the power of faith, and the resolution of a repeated wish.
About LeAnn Bjerken
Originally from Minnesota, LeAnn Bjerken holds an MFA in creative writing from Eastern Washington University. A former journalist, freelance writer and mermaid performer, she has temporarily traded her fins for legs in order to better keep up with her daughter. Her poetry has appeared in Miracle Magazine, The Pacific Northwest Inlander, Spokane Coeur d’Alene Living Magazine, and online publications including Devilfish Review, The Artistic Muse, The Lake, Fox Adoption Magazine, and Plants & Poetry Journal. When not out seeking inspiration, she can be found at home snuggling with her husband Steve, daughter Eowyn, and cat Tikki.
About Laura Read
Laura Read was born in New York City and has lived most of her life in Spokane, WA. She is the author of The Serious World (BOA Editions, 2025), Dresses from the Old Country (BOA Editions, 2018), Instructions for My Mother’s Funeral (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012, winner of the AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry), and the chapbook The Chewbacca on Hollywood Boulevard Reminds Me of You (winner of the Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award, 2011). A recipient of a Washington State Artists Trust Grant, a Florida Review Prize for Poetry, and the Crab Creek Review Prize for Poetry, Laura presents regularly at literary festivals and conferences throughout the Northwest, including GetLit!, Write on the Sound, Litfuse, and the Port Townsend Writers Conference. Laura served as Spokane’s Poet Laureate from 2015 to 2017, and she currently teaches at Spokane Falls Community College. For more information about Laura Read, visit laurareadpoet.com.
About Maya Jewell Zeller
Maya Jewell Zeller is a multi-genre author of several poetry collections and collaborations, most recently out takes/ glove box, selected by Eduardo Corral as winner of the 2022 New American Poetry Prize; and the co-authored textbook (with Kathryn Nuernerger) Advanced Poetry: A Writer's Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2024). Maya's prose appears widely, and her essay, "Scavenger Panorama," was honored by Vivian Gornick as a Notable in Best American Essays 2023. Maya is Professor of English for Central Washington University, and Affiliate Faculty of Poetry and Nature Writing for Western Colorado University's low-residency MFA program. Maya lives in the Inland Northwest with her children. Her memoir, Raised by Ferns, will be out in early 2026 from Porphyry Press, and her book on fungi phenomena, The Wonder of Mushrooms, in Fall 2025 from AdventureKEEN.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
402 W. Main Ave., Spokane, WA, United States, Washington 99201
