Come to East Cleveland Public Library's poetry reading and open mic!

June’s featured reader is Barbara Sabol. Barbara Sabol’s collection, Mapping the Borderlands: haibun and tanka prose, was published by Sheila-Na-Gig Editions in 2025. Her haiku and haibun have been recognized by the Haiku Society of America and the Haiku Foundation. Barbara was named the 2024 co-Ohio Poet of the Year for her book, Watermark (Alternating Current Press, 2023.) She lives in Akron, Ohio, close to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, whose trails she knows by heart.

July's featured reader is Raja Belle Freeman. Freeman is a performance poet and visual artist. She has worked as a teaching artist for Lake Erie Ink and Twelve Literary Arts, and served on the board of One South Euclid. She completed a visual arts residency with Akron Soul Train in 2023 and has performed for the Western Reserve Historical Society, Literary Cleveland, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. She earned her degree in Creative Writing with a minor in Black Studies from Cleveland State University.

August's featured reader is Carrie George. George is co-editor of Light Enters the Grove: Exploring Cuyahoga Valley National Park Through Poetry (Kent State University Press). Her chapbook Unbecoming won the 2024 Flume Press chapbook prize. She is the recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, and her work has appeared in Hayden's Ferry Review, The Florida Review, and more.