Events & Opportunities ^

Saint Paul Almanac's The Magazine

Call for Submissions

Deadline:

April 3, 11:59pm

"How are you being resilient and helping your neighbors be resilient during this time? How are you and your communities unifying to stay creative and strong in the face of danger, disruption, and hardship? What are you learning from challenges that can equip you to move forward with others in cooperation and peace? Given the incalculable impact of the recent upheaval in our Twin Cities, our collective work must persist. To recover and rebuild, we must continue to love our neighbors with fearlessness, intentionality, and generosity. This unprecedented time must be documented.

"This call is an invitation for you to offer your poems and stories in helping to build community. Let’s gather our collective voice so we can connect and sustain our unique, diverse, and vibrant communities. We want to see work from YOU, from those living in the Twin Cities and around Minnesota, who are experiencing and want to respond to the current historical, social, and political circumstances regarding the recent federal occupation of the Twin Cities."

Celebrate National Poetry Month

hosted by the Minnesota Humanities Center in partnership with the East Side Arts Council

When:

April 4, 2:00–4:00pm

Where:

Minnesota Humanities Center
987 Ivy Ave E., St. Paul

This free community gathering brings together a vibrant lineup of local poets sharing original works.

Poets reading include: Joe Alfano, Jan Borofka, Colleen Callahan, Diane Jarvenpa Marla Kennedy, Diane Brady Leighton, Mem Lloyd, Sheila OKeefe, Romi Slowiak, Leslie Thomas, Roslye Ultan and Carol Wichers.

Light refreshments will be available.

This event is held in partnership with East Side Arts Council (ESAC), a community arts organization offering accessible, low-cost, or free arts programs. ESAC celebrates the diversity of its neighborhood and builds appreciation of the arts.

This event is free, however registration is required.

Poetry Reading

hosted by Big Hill Books

When:

April 11, 2:00pm

Where:

Big Hill Books
405 Penn Ave S, Minneapolis

Featuring Stan Kusunoki with Sharon Chmielarz, Marg Walker and Sagirah Shahid.

Thawlight

League of Minnesota Poets Spring Conference

When:

April 10–12

Where:

Grand Ely Lodge
Ely, MN

Highlights of the conference will include workshops from Sheila Packa from Duluth, Ryan Leng from Grand Marais, and Donna Isaac from Inver Grove Heights.

Come enjoy the Northwoods with your fellow poets. Bring lots of poetry for the open mics. Enjoy a reading from our most recent John C. Rezmerski Award winner, Annette Gagliardi, at the launch of the award-winning book. Tour the Bear Center and/or Listening Point.

Poetry at the Art Crawl

When:

April 18, 1:00pm

Where:

Lower Town Lofts Artist Collective
St. Paul

Greg Watson, Clarence White, and Carla J. Hagen will read from their work as part of the St. Paul Art Crawl. Come celebrate the arts community of our wonderful capital city. The event is FREE, and books will be available for sale.

Writers Speak Out: People Have the Power

Featured readers followed by open mic

When:

April 21, 6:00pm

Where:

Wussow's Concert Cafe
Duluth, MN

Come and join us! We support civl rights and democracy. Our featured writers are Ellie Schoenfeld, Eris Vafias, Jade Marielan, Nathan Larson, Eric Chandler, Mickey McGilligan, and Angie Mason. For the open mic, we invite you to bring a short piece of writing or poem of witness, a personal testimony, a call to action, a vision for a better future, a balm for hard times, a manifesto or a mantra or a blessing! Hosted by Sheila Packa, Liz Minette and Zomi Bloom.

Poetry and Printmaking with Shelley Getten

When:

April 30, 3:30pm

Where:

Duluth Public Library Mount Royal Branch

May Day!

from May Day Strong

When:

May 1, 2026

Where:

Nationwide

"We are building a day of power. Because when the billionaires break every rule, it’s going to take more than a rally to stop them...

"On May 1, 2026, workers, students, and families rally, march, and take action across the country to demand a nation that puts workers over billionaires, with many refusing business as usual through No School. No Work. No Shopping."

Start planning!

Write Action Circles

Margaret Hasse offers a guide to start your own Write Action Circle

According to the ACLU: "Letters and emails are an extremely effective way of communicating with your elected officials. Many legislators believe a letter represents not only the position of the writer but also many other constituents who did not take the time to write."

What / Why

A Write Action Circle is a group of people committed to conveying their opinions about current events to leaders in order to influence decisions, and to meet together periodically to exchange ideas and rally commitment.

The main task of each person in a Circle is to take action: write, email, or call leaders such as Congresspersons, members of the MN Statehouse, top officials in government, etc. and express their opinion on specific issues that the group takes on.

The group may also play a role in encouraging more people to stay abreast of issues and opportunities in order to shape the direction of political events by writing newspaper editorials, posting on social media sites, starting new Write Action Circles, writing friends to get them involved, and more.

Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference

When:

June 23–26

Where:

Bemidji State University

"We’re excited to announce, after having to cancel our 2025 conference due to a powerful storm hitting Bemidji on the eve of the event, the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference will return to Bemidji State University this summer, with six intensive writing workshops beside beautiful Lake Bemidji. Our faculty so far includes four members of the MNWC25 faculty: Jennifer Foerster (poetry), Toni Jensen (creative nonfiction), Douglas Kearney (poetry), and Joni Tevis (creative nonfiction). The award-winning novelist Debra Magpie Earling (fiction) and the acclaimed poet Layli Long Soldier (poetry) will be joining the faculty this year. Please check our website periodically for updates. We will open registration in March."

Book the Vote

from National WDA

A national drive bringing together readers, writers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians to register voters

"Democracies die by foreign invasion, but they also die by homegrown authoritarian malignancies. That is happening now in the United States, and Writers for Democratic Action calls on YOU to stop it! Join us in protecting representative government with the most powerful weapon we still have: the Vote in 2026.

"WDA is launching BOOK THE VOTE, a drive to bring together readers, writers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians to register voters before the next elections. Books themselves are threatened now, which is no surprise since books have always been essential to democracy. The Bookstore and the Library can be the frontline of the campaign to rescue it."

Data Center Information Webinars

from CURE MN

Learn more about Data Centers & how they impact our communities.

Loosen Your Ties to Google

Switching to non-surveilling alternatives is fast and easy

Freedoms Under Assault

Documentary

Freedoms Under Assault is a powerful full-length documentary that chronicles the systematic destruction of a world-class university and the politically motivated culture war against its faculty over a two-year period. A perfect storm of an autocratic university president collaborating with a supermajority reactionary state legislature following the cultural wars agenda of the White House has effectively curtailed the institutional autonomy of Indiana University as well as shared governance structures, academic freedom, free speech and assembly rights, tenure, and the viability of arts and humanities programs.