Poetry Unlocked

The Fox Cities Book Festival partners with Poetry Unlocked to present poets Kavon Cortez-Jones and Beth Spencer. Each featured poet will read for 20 minutes, followed by an open mic at which members of the audience can read 1-2 poems. [UPDATE: Kavon Cortez-Jones will be unable to make it to the festival. Poet Nathan Reid will present instead.]

Nathan J. Reid is a spoken word poet and actor living in Madison, Wisconsin. His work has appeared in various journals, including Fox Cry Review, Penguin Review, Binnacle, and GREAT: Poems of Resistance & Fortitude poetry anthology. He is a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, former competitor for Madison’s 2015 National Poetry Slam Team, and former senior editor for UW-Oshkosh’s literary journal, the Wisconsin Review. His first collection, Thoughts on Tonight, was published in November 2017 by Finishing Line Press.

C- in Conduct, Poems from a Semi-Wayward Life, is a collection of poetry chosen from decades of poet Beth Spencer’s life. The poems are both lyrical and accessible and address common feelings with a slightly skewed perspective. In topics ranging from trout to travel, snow to stoneflies, acorns to wax lips, Beth Spencer transforms the ordinary view with fresh, and sometimes, startling imagery.