The Poets Weave

Kourtney Jones reads "Day Zero" and "The Other Side of It."

Kourtney is a poet, teacher, and interdisciplinary artist from Fort Wayne, Indiana. She can be found typing in public spaces from a typewriter with her performance poetry project known as "The Poem Market." Kourtney is the author of the poetry chapbook The Mug Drops. Her current work explores the intersections of languages and dreams, the transmission between the dead and the living, environmental illness, and poetry as a practice for collective liberation.

William Landau reads "Sestina: Parasols in the Desert," "Hangry Trans Revenge Fantasy," "Too Gay to Function," and "Golden Shovel after Hannah Bloch."

William is a second year MFA student at Indiana University Bloomington. Their work has appeared in publications including Hanging Loose Press, Diabolical Plots and Sinister Wisdom and will appear in an upcoming issue of Painted Bride Quarterly. When not reading or writing they're usually busy worshiping their cat, over-analyzing gay TV shows or perfecting their shortbread recipe.

Angela Lim reads "Remnants Inside My Refrigerator," "Sneeze Queen," and "Dear Ocean."

Angela is a poet, educator, and editor currently living in Bloomington, Indiana, where she is pursuing an MFA in poetry at Indiana University. In addition to writing poems, Angela has written dozens of juvenile nonfiction books.

Nina Boals reads "Saving Light," "Rest Stop," And "Neighbor."

Nina is a writer from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. She received an MFA in poetry at Indiana University, where she serves as Editor in Chief and Nonfiction Editor of Indiana Review. Her work can be found or is forthcoming from Southeast Review, Puerto del Sol, Ninth Letter, and elsewhere.

Zilia Balkansky-Sellés reads "José Martí in Central Park" and "Julian."

Zilia is a Bloomington, Indiana, based writer and actor. She was published in Comparative Woman (Louisiana State University). She has a poem included in Trigger Warnings, edited by Joan Hawkins and Kalynn Brower, two poems included in Stormwash: Environmental Poems, edited by Hiromi Yoshida,  and in the 2023 Ryder Magazine Poetry Edition. 

The play she co-wrote with Wild Swan Theater, Myths, Masks, and Magic: World Stories of First Times, was performed in Michigan schools and libraries and at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. She has given readings at the Writers Guild at Bloomington spoken word events. 

Zilia has a Master's in Information Science from the University of Michigan and a Ph.D. in Folklore Studies from Indiana University. She works for the Hutton Honors College at Indiana University as an Academic Advisor. In Summer 2022, she hiked and summitted Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Gabrielle Myers reads "You Can’t Fly into a Mouth Filled with Past Fears of Burning," "Everything We’ve Ever Loved Must End and Die and Reverse," and "Shadows on His Mind-Cave."

Gabrielle is a writer, professor, and chef. Her memoir, Hive-Mind, was published in 2015. Her first poetry books Too Many Seeds and Break Self: Feed are available via Finishing Line Press (2024). Her third poetry book, Points in the Network, is forthcoming in 2025.

Heather Corbally Bryant reads “James Joyce's Water Closet,” “Renvyle Peninsula,” “An Accident off Kingstown Bay,” and “High Island.”

Heather is a Senior Lecturer at Wellesley College, the author of a prize-winning study of Elizabeth Bowen, and eleven books of poems. Her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, the Massachusetts Book Award, and have received honorable mention in the Finishing Line Press’s Open Chapbook competition.

Janine Harrison reads "Don’t Be an NPC" and "The Hippies Had It Right (Almost)."

Born and raised in Chicago, Janine is the author of Turning 50 on El Camino de Santiago, Weight of Silence, and If We Were Birds. Her work has appeared in Veils, Halos, Not Like the Rest of Us, Gyroscope Review, and "Shackles: International Poetry on the Oppression and Empowerment of Women." Janine lives in Highland, Indiana, and is a former Highland Poet Laureate. She joined us from her home via Zoom.

Kim Dower reads "Reaching for the Moon," "Control," and "A Fly with One Wing is Watching Me."

Kim is the author of six collections of poetry, including What She Wants: Poems on Obsession, Desire, Despair, Euphoria published by Red Hen Press in January 2025. Her poems have been featured in many anthologies and journals, including Ploughshares, James Dickey Review, Plume, and Barrow Street. She teaches poetry workshops for Antioch University, UCLA Extension, and the West Hollywood Library. Kim lives with her family in West Hollywood, California, and she joined us via Zoom.

Gili Haimovich reads "Watermark," "Where We Used to Live," "Petals," and "The Crab OR: The Paper Armor."

Gili is a bilingual poet in Hebrew and English, the author of 11 poetry books, including Promised Lands (US, 2020, FLP) and the multilingual book of her poem Note.  Her poetry won prizes and grants in Israel, Italy, Hong Kong and elsewhere, translated into 34 languages and published extensively worldwide.