The University of Tampa’s free Lectores public reading series continues this week each night from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Marcus Wicker and Nathan Deuel read Tuesday; Leslie Jamison and Ian Stansel share their work on Wednesday, and Rick Moody and Susan Minot close out the series Thursday, June 26.
Kick off St. Pete’s annual Pride celebration by sharing your songs, poems, rants, raves, stories, jokes or whatever you’ve got to show your pride. Oral Fixation and Wordier Than Thou are joining forces to present an LGBT Pride Open Mic on Wednesday, June 25, 7 p.m., at Community Café, 2444 Central Ave., St. Pete. Featured performers include Samira Obeid, Adrien Julious, Rae C. and Masiel Rodriguez. There’s no cover, but donations for the LGBT Welcome Center will be collected.
Author Jenny Milchman stops by Inkwood Books, 216 S. Armenia Ave., Tampa, with her second novel, Ruin Falls, Wednesday, June 25, 7 p.m.
Felicitous Coffee & Tea House hosts its monthly outdoor open mic for poets, spoken word artists, artists and musicians Wednesday, June 25, 7 to 10 p.m. Sign-up begins at 7 p.m.; readings and performances begin at 7:30 p.m. The open mic will be moved indoors for inclement weather. Felicitous is located at 11706 N. 51st St., Tampa.
The next night at Inkwood, Thursday, June 26, local poets Susan Lilley and Gianna Russo will read from their respective new collections, Satellite Beach and The Companion of Joy. The reading begins at 7 p.m.
Velva Lee Heraty, MSW, Jungian depth-psychotherapist, author and radio host, offers a free “Dreaming Up a Story” workshop at the Sunshine Center, 330 5th St. N., second floor, St. Petersburg, on Thursday, June 26, 10 to 11:30 a.m. This creative writing workshop will outline how to successfully convert a dream into a cohesive, structured short story. It’s part of an ongoing writing group that meets weekly. To register, call the Sunshine Center at 727-893-7102.
Grab your beach blanket, your sunscreen, and some books or zines you want to trade, and head over to Treasure Island Beach, behind the Bilmar Beach Resort, on Sunday, June 29, 3 to 6 p.m. Beach Blanket Book and Zine Swap will be a great chance to learn more about Tampa Zine Fest, which takes place Saturday, July 12 at Tampa Underground, as well as Wordier Than Thou and Florida Bookstore Day. Swaps or donations only; vendors aren’t permitted on the beach. For more information, email Wordier Than Thou.
Tampa Free Skool presents an informal writing workshop to read and work on poetry and short fiction Sunday, June 29, 3 p.m., at Kaleisia Tea Lounge, 1441 E. Fletcher Ave., Tampa. Bring a piece of work that you’d like to work on and the group will read it and work on it together. Workshop leader Cole Bellamy is an instructor of English and creative writing at St. Leo University. He is a former newspaper editor, and the author of three collections of poetry.
Join the women of The Gloria Sirens blog collective for a reading and discussion Sunday, June 29, 7 p.m., at the Studio@620, 620 First Ave. S., St. Pete. Readers include Lisa Lanser Rose, Suzannah Gilman, Tiffany Razzano, Gianna Russo, Gloria Munoz and Heather Jones. At TheGloriaSirens.com, they’re building a virtual auditorium where creative women can promote the voices that impress and move them, where they can take artistic chances without fear of silencing, and where they’re encouraged, even goaded, to sing their riskiest songs and dare give full throat to their unspeakable truths.