The Poetry Box LIVE – NOVEMBER Edition!
Saturday, Nov. 14, 2026 @ 4:00 PM (Pacific)
3pm (Alaskan) / 5pm (Mountain) / 6pm (Central) / 7pm (Eastern)
Featuring:
- Shawn Pittard (CA) – author of The Sound of Water
- Carolyn Martin (OR) — author of Brainstorming
- Ann Farley (OR) – author of Loose on the Leash
- Stephen James Penner (OR) – author of Thin Soup
How to Join Zoom Show:
PLEASE NOTE: EVERYONE MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE.
About the Featured Poets:
Ann Farley, an only child of two only children, learned at an early age to entertain herself by making up stories and playing with words. Her poems have appeared in Peregrine, Timberline Review, Third Wednesday, Gobshite Quarterly, Willawaw, Verseweavers, and others. Her first chapbook, Tell Her Yes, was published in 2022.
She loves travel, anywhere and everywhere, from local trails to the tip of South Africa, and enjoys photography, watercolor painting, a good book and a cup of tea. She lives in Beaverton, Oregon with her kind and patient husband, Kevin, and their exuberant German Shepherd, Ella.
You can learn more about Ann’s book soon.
Shawn Pittard is the author of four slender volumes of poetry: Shelter in Place from The Poetry Box; Witness, which was a Finalist in The Poetry Box 2024 chapbook contest; Standing in the River, which was the winner of Tebot Bach’s 2010 Clockwise Chapbook Competition; and These Rivers from Rattlesnake Press. His poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and featured at American Life in Poetry. He’s been a coach for Poetry Out Loud and a California Poet in the Schools, taught recitation and writing in middle schools and high schools, including juvenile hall (yep, they’re good kids), as well as with veterans and the men in Folsom Prison. By day, he labored in the field of environmental protection, planning, and public policy, focusing on energy.
You can learn more about Shawn’s book soon
From New Jersey English teacher to international management trainer; from author of business books to poetry collections; from work addict to devotee of the Spanish proverb, “It is beautiful to do nothing and rest afterwards,” Carolyn Martin is blissfully retired—and resting—in Clackamas, Oregon.
Although a stroke in August 2025 weakened her body. Martin’s mind remains strong. She still embraces poetry as her way of interacting with the world––in images, rhythms, sounds, and intensities of language. That is why she continues to pursue the joyful challenge of translating experience into as few words as possible. In doing so, she embraces Anne Sexton’s dictate: “One of my secret instructions to myself as a poet is: Whatever you do, don’t be boring.”
Martin’s poems have appeared in more than 200 publications around the world, and she has six full-length collections and three chapbooks under her creative belt. In addition, she was the winner of the 2025 Hudson-Fowler Prize for Poetry from the University of Central Arkansas.
You can learn more about Carolyn’s book HERE
Stephen James Penner lives with his wife of 50 years, Glena, in Salem, Oregon. A native Californian, he lived in Africa for six years but spent most of his life under the hot sun of the San Joaquin Valley in the Golden State. For a season he ran marathons and maintains exercise rhythms to this day. He follows soccer, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and appreciates intelligent, animated, meditative conversation. His years working with Mennonite Central Committee and as a Mennonite pastor have informed his life and poetry. His previous books include a memoir, Tea in the Desert, and two previous books of poetry, A Simple Meal and February Run.
You can learn more about Stephen’s book HERE
