Advertisement
Hello, Poets & Friends!How 'bout that snowstorm?! Two years in a row of having to postpone a January poetry reading due to ice/snow in the Lake Norman region? Just ... wow! And now that the storm has passed & snow is finally melting, please SAVE the DATE for FEBRUARY 25 when I'll belatedly kick off 2026 at Waterbean Poetry Night with fabulous, fierce, feminist poets
KATHLEEN NALLEY + GABRIELLE BRANT FREEMAN!
Featured Poet Bios:
Gabrielle Brant Freeman’s award-winning and Pushcart-nominated poetry has been published in many journals, including Barrelhouse, The Rumpus, One, Scoundrel Time, Shenandoah, storySouth, and Waxwing. Her books of poetry include DISSENT, written with Kathleen Nalley (Small Harbor Publishing, 2025) and When She Was Bad (from Press 53 in 2016). Gabrielle’s poetry was included in the collaborative choreopoem, A Chorus Within Her, performed at Theater Alliance in Washington, DC. Also a visual artist, Gabrielle lives in eastern North Carolina with her family, and teaches at East Carolina University. Gabrielle will make her second featured appearance at Waterbean Poetry.
Kathleen Nalley is the author of the prose poetry collection, Gutterflower (winner of the Bryant-Lisembee Editor’s Prize, from Red Paint Hill Press in 2017), as well as poetry chapbooks Nesting Doll (winner of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative Prize, from Stepping Stones Press, 2013), and American Sycamore (Finishing Line Press, 2015). Her poetry and book reviews have appeared in New Flash Fiction Review, Slipstream, Limp Wrist, Southern Humanities Review, The Bitter Southerner, StorySouth, and elsewhere, and her poetry has been anthologized in several collections. She teaches at Clemson University. Kathleen authored DISSENT (from Small Harbor Publishing, 2025) with Gabrielle Brant Freeman.
Both Gabrielle and Kathleen earned their MFA from Converse College (now Converse University) in Spartanburg, SC.
Link for more about the new book, DISSENT, in comments.
Follow on Instagram:
@dissent_poems
@gabbyfree
@goodluckkat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
General Details:
7 PM • WEDNESDAY • 25 FEBRUARY 2026
Waterbean Coffee - Huntersville
9705 Sam Furr Rd., Ste. A, Huntersville, NC 28078
in NorthCross Shopping Center (corner of NC-73 & US-21)
We'll begin at 7:00 sharp & have a hard stop at 8:50 (venue closes at 9:00).
Following the featured program & a break for book sales/signings, stick around to enjoy the OPEN MIC!
Open Mic Guidelines:
Please arrive 6:30–6:45 to sign up in person, as spots are limited & go quickly. No holds. Each open mic reader has (at host’s discretion) up to 5 minutes on stage to share 1–2 one-page poems. If you sign up to read, please stay to hear & support your fellow poets.
* * Please mark yourself GOING to this EVENT if you’ll attend.* *
Kindly support the venue & baristas, & featured poets if you can.
As your host, my MISSION is fostering diversity, kindness, community, & peace through poetry. This event is FREE & open to the public, part of Waterbean Poetry's monthly reading series that offers an INCLUSIVE, SAFE SPACE for all poets & friends of poetry.
Peace & poetry for all,
Leslie M. Rupracht
Host & Co-founder • Waterbean Poetry Night at the Mic
Editor • Poet • Writer • Artist • Ally • Community Builder
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Waterbean Coffee #2 - Huntersville, 9705 Sam Furr Rd, Huntersville, NC 28078-5046, United States
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.
