The sun is shining and fun summer events are waiting! If you’re looking for something to do in June, here are some upcoming literary events* that may pique your interest!
- June 2, 2025 Adult Summer Reading Program Kickoff: Tosca Lee Author Visit
Grand Island Public Library, 1124 W 2nd St.
Grand Island, 5:30 pm
Join Nebraska author and New York Times best-seller Tosca Lee as we kick off our Adult Summer Reading Program! Enjoy a talk about the history behind the 2025 One Book One Nebraska pick, The Long March Home: A WWII Novel of the Pacific and more about the writing of this novel with friend and co-author Marcus Brotherton. - June 3, 2025 John Brehm Poetry Reading & Discussion
Zoom, 6:30 – 7:30 pm
Brehm’s poems explore the darkest and brightest moments of our lives. Some show a path forward and others simply acknowledge and empathize with where we are, but all touch deep inside our hearts and into a greater connection with the world around us. - June 5-7, 2025 70th Annual Willa Cather Spring Conference
The National Willa Cather Center, 413 N Webster St.
Red Cloud, All Day
Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley will give a talk on “Willa Cather, My Ántonia and the Life of a Writer” to mark the conclusion of a year-long celebration of Cather’s 1918 novel as a title selected by the National Endowment for the Arts’ 2024-2025 Big Read program. Additional conference programs will celebrate the 100th publication anniversary of Cather’s 1925 novel The Professor’s House. This year’s theme invites Cather scholars and enthusiasts to explore not only the literal landscapes and rooms her characters inhabit, but also the cultural, historical, and environmental realities that do, or in some cases, do not, inform her work. - June 5, 2025 Local Author Celebration Series: Amy Forss
Joslyn Castle Carriage House, 3902 Davenport St.
Omaha, 5:30 pm
Join for an evening with local author, Dr. Amy Forss! She is the author of the award-winning biography, Black Print with a White Carnation as well as the non-fiction children’s book, Newspapers & Butter Pecan Ice Cream, and Borrowing from Our Foremothers. Forss is currently creating a non-fiction children’s book on micro-preemie babies illustrated by gallery artist Alissa Hansen for national release. - June 5, 2025 Verse & Vibes
Indigo Cottage Crafts, 2063 Creekside Dr.
Papillion, 6:30 pm
An open mic at an artsy space full of good vibes, and not just because of the coffee and liquor bar ;). Open to poets, authors, writers, musicians, anyone who has talent to share. Everyone is welcome. Free event. Jules Coral, MC. - June 6, 2025 First Friday Book Talk & Reading with Jewel Rodgers
Zoom, 12:00 pm
Jewel Rodgers is the 2025-2029 State Poet of Nebraska, a three-time OEAA nominee for Best Performance Poet in Omaha. An interdisciplinary poet, performer, and visual artist, Jewel is also an urban engagement specialist, youth coach, and spatial practitioner in the Midwest. As a spoken word poet, Jewel offers her skill to support social intervention, as with her contributions to The Women’s March and the Charlottesville Vigil in Lincoln, NE. Her work frequently supports mentorship endeavors like UNL’s Husker Dialogues Diversity Training for incoming college freshmen and various community engagement efforts that support the needs of the City of Omaha. She is also a contributing member of the Nebraska Writers Collective’s All Writes Reserved Festival as a slam coach and workshop facilitator. - June 7, 2025 Poetry Reading: Julie Paschold, Amy Haddad, and Bonnie Johnson-Bartee
Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S 13th St.
Lincoln, 4:30 – 5:30 pm
Join for a poetry reading by three award-winning poets, Julie Paschold, Amy Haddad, and Bonnie Johnson-Bartee! - June 9, 2025 Resonance Beat Poetry Jam
Razor Wire Productions Art Gallery & Tattoo, 1808 Vinton St.
Omaha, 7:00 pm
Wanna try your hand at pairing your writing with music? Or maybe you’ve just never had the sublime experience of hearing the fusion? Either way, we would like to invite you! Named The Resonance for the beautiful ways these artforms play off one another. Sponsored by the Nebraska Poetry Society. - June 13, 2025 Poetry Readings at The Lion: a Poetry Feature and Open Mic with Jewel Rodgers
St Mark’s on the Campus, 1309 R St.
Lincoln, 5:30 – 8:00 pm
Guests may study, write, read, relax, sit, talk, and generally socialize with friends over coffee, tea, and other beverages from opening at 5:30 pm until 6:00 pm when Jewel Rodgers will feature. If time remains, Open Mic will follow until closing. - June 14, 21, & 28, 2025 Getting Real: Taking Your Writing to the Next Level
Zoom, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
It’s an irony of the writing life: the better you get at writing, the harder it is to improve. After publishing a few stories or essays, you might wonder if you have stalled out. Whether you are looking to break into publishing in literary journals or have your sights set on more commercial markets, this class offers practical strategies and support for getting there. Through mini-lectures, reading, conversation, and writing exercises, we will make an honest assessment of where we are in our writing lives and what it is we really want from them. We will take inventory of what might be holding us back and what our next steps might look like. Instructed by Steve Edwards, author of the memoir Breaking into the Backcountry and essayist. Limit: 12 participants. Nonmember price: $150. - June 14, 2025 Omaha Poetry Slam
The Local Art Plug, 1722 St. Marys Ave, Suite 110,
Omaha, 6:30 – 9:00 pm
The Nebraska Writers Collective proudly presents the Omaha Poetry Slam, a monthly open mic and poetry slam, held on the second Saturday of every month. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. We will start at 7 p.m. with an open mic and then the competitive individual slam! Sign up at the event. (If you plan to compete in the slam, bring three poems.) - June 14, 2025 Playlist: Turning Songs Into Poetry
Zoom, 10:00 – 11:30 am
Turn the songs that shaped you into poems. Some songs are a way of time travel where we listen to a song from our youth and hear it both right now and in those moments years ago. In this workshop, we’ll explore how those moments spark with memory and experience. Led by Matt Mason. - June 18, 2025 Vocal Fry
Shirley Tyree Theater, 2401 N 24th St.
Omaha, 7:00 pm
Prepare to be moved, inspired, and electrified at the only spoken word event in Nebraska dedicated solely to the art of expression. This isn’t just another open mic night—it’s a celebration of storytelling and raw emotion, where voices from all walks of life take center stage. Nathan Lachner and State Poet Jewel Rodgers, MCs. - June 19, 2025 The Poetry Pause
Carriage House at Joslyn Castle & Gardens, 3902 Davenport St.
Omaha, 5:00 – 8:00 pm
Hear two local poets, one seasoned and one just starting to make waves, read their work and chat about why they write. It’s a great place to sit down, cool off, and enjoy something a little different. The poetry is thoughtful, fun, and totally family-friendly, and you’ll even have the chance to ask the poets questions. Stop by and see what poetry sounds like when it’s shared out loud. This month’s poets are Emily Anderson and Rayni Wekluk. Emily brings her love of language from the classroom to the stage with wit and warmth, while Rayni taps into everyday life and humor to make her poetry relatable and thought-provoking. - June 19, 2025 Book Launch Celebration with Kwame Gyamfi: “Prism of Perspectives: The Life and Names of Kwame Gyamfi”
Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S 13th St.
Lincoln, 5:30 – 7:00 pm
Join for Juneteenth book launch celebration! Kwame Gyamfi has lived several lives, and very few people know all of them. With the help of four writers, he tells his story of being abandoned as a child and experiencing fosster care, adoption, gang violence, and prision. Along the way, he discovered sports, music, beauty, and love, which could shape him into the mentor and man he is today. - June 26, 2025 Visiting Author – Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder: “Mother, Creature, Kin: What We Learn from Nature’s Mothers in a Time of Unraveling”
Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S 13th St.
Lincoln, 5:30 – 6:30 pm
Essayist Chelsea Steinauer-Scudder will be visiting and discussing her new book Mother, Creature, Kin, a luminous nonfiction about the natural world that asks: what can other-than-human creatures teach us about mothering, belonging, caregiving, loss, and resiliency? - June 26, 2025 Nebraska Poet, Nebraska Poetry
Broken Bow Public Library, 626 S. D St.
Broken Bow, 4:00 – 5:00 pm
Matt Mason will speak about the history of slam poetry and how it has evolved.
Check out the NCB Calendar to stay up to date on upcoming literary events happening near you!
*The time, date, and location of these events are subject to change.
Some of this month’s events, workshops, or conferences may require registration or charge a fee.
Feel free to contact us if you have an event that you would like to be featured.