Monthly Archives: February 2025

Heading into March with a spring in your step? If you’re looking for something to do in March, here are some upcoming literary events* that may pique your interest!

• March 2, 2025 Salon Reading Series: “Acanthus”
  Turbine Flats, 2124 Y St.
  Lincoln, 2:00 - 3:30 pm
  Each Salon Reading Series event features a reading of a play followed by a moderated discussion of the play’s themes and how these themes apply to the community. The theme for 2024-25 is “Hold On.” This theme will explore concepts of holding on and letting go. This month is Acanthus by Justin W. Morille, directed by Brenna Thompson. In 1887 Texas, widowed rancher Temperance storms into Morgan’s saloon seeking revenge on local head groom Holt for killing her beloved rooster, Acanthus. As tensions rise, a diverse cast of characters including enigmatic musician Kit, secretive schoolteacher Sarah, and hapless stagecoach driver Edgar get caught in the explosive turmoil, leading to unforeseen chaos.
• March 3, 2025 Creating Characters and Crafting Dialogue
  Larksong Writers Place, 1600 N Cotner Blvd.
  Lincoln, 6:30 pm
  Every memorable story starts with unforgettable characters and dialogue that feels real. In this seminar, we’ll dive into the art of creating compelling, multi-dimensional characters who leap off the page. Discover techniques to develop rich backstories, motivations, and unique voices that resonate with audiences and readers. Instructor Jordan Morille is an award-winning playwright, novelist, and professor. Limit 12 participants.
• March 4, 2025 Elizabeth Clark Wessel Poetry Reading & Discussion
  Zoom, 6:30 – 7:30 pm
  Wessel unspools layers of mythology—of places, people, historical and ahistorical time—and finds their entanglements with everyday life, revealing marvelous influences encoded in the ordinary.
• March 5, 2025 Salon Reading Series: “Acanthus”
  Eastmont Living Performing Arts Center, 6315 O St.
  Lincoln, 6:30 - 8:00 pm
  Each Salon Reading Series event features a reading of a play followed by a moderated discussion of the play’s themes and how these themes apply to the community. The theme for 2024-25 is “Hold On.” This theme will explore concepts of holding on and letting go. This month is Acanthus by Justin W. Morille, directed by Brenna Thompson. In 1887 Texas, widowed rancher Temperance storms into Morgan’s saloon seeking revenge on local head groom Holt for killing her beloved rooster, Acanthus. As tensions rise, a diverse cast of characters including enigmatic musician Kit, secretive schoolteacher Sarah, and hapless stagecoach driver Edgar get caught in the explosive turmoil, leading to unforeseen chaos.
• March 6, 2025 Verse & Vibes Open Mic Night
  Indigo Cottage Crafts, 2063 Creekside Dr.
  Papillion, 6:30 pm
  The first Thursday of every month we open the mic at an artsy space full of good vibes, and not just because of the coffee and liquor bar! Event is open to poets, authors, writers, musicians, anyone who has talent to share. Free event.
• March 7, 2025 First Friday Book Talk & Reading with Cassie Premo Steele
  Zoom, 12:00 pm
  Set against the backdrop of a post-pandemic and climate-collapsed world, Beaver Girl follows the journey of Livia, a 19-year-old confronting the aftermath of environmental upheaval. Cassie Premo Steele skillfully intertwines elements of a morality tale, shedding light on humanity’s role in climate disaster. Beaver Girl transcends traditional genres, offering a narrative that explores themes of redemption, resilience, and the interconnectedness of all living beings.
• March 7, 2025 First Friday Art Walk with Jude Martindale
  Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S 13th St.
  Lincoln, 5:30 - 7:30 pm
  Join us for Downtown Lincoln’s First Friday Art Walk, featuring artist Jude Martindale! Jude grew up in rural Nebraska and currently lives and paints in Lincoln. The recent book “Flying Free” (2020) showcases some of her widely acclaimed crane art. Her artistic journey has been reported in Nebraska Life magazine and other media.
• March 8, 2025 Poetry Meets Memoir with Anastacia Renee
  Zoom, 10:00 – 11:30 am
  Discover the art of blending poetry and memoir in this genre-bending workshop. Explore collective and personal stories, memories, and folklore as we weave together the Haibun and Nines forms, transforming fragmented memories into powerful first drafts. Led by Anastacia Renee.
• March 8, 2025 Writing Your Queer Nature: A Generative Writing Workshop
  Zoom, 11:00 am – 1:00 pm
  Have you ever wondered about the connections between diversity in our ecosystems and the queer diversity of our identities? Are you looking to connect your emotional well-being and your commitment to environmentalism with your writing path? Join us for a generative writing workshop and discussion with a queer ecofeminist writer and the author of 18 books, Cassie Premo Steele. The workshop will address the relationships between environmental diversity and the healing power of embracing our queer identities within different aspects of ourselves and our communities. Participants need not identify as queer to attend, as everyone will be welcomed. Together, we will practice different genres of writing from journaling to poetry to fiction, and participants will have the opportunity to generate new writing or work on existing projects in a safe and supportive way.
• March 11, 2025 Visiting Author: Stacey Waite “A Real Man Would Have a Gun: Poems”
  Francie & Finch Bookshop, 130 S 13th St.
  Lincoln, 6:00 – 7:00 pm
  Join us as author Stacey Waite presents her new work of poetry A Real Man Would Have a Gun, which interrogates gender, sexuality, and parenthood. From a genderqueer perspective, the poems set their unflinching gaze on the habits and impacts of masculinity.
• March 13, 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.
• March 14, 2025 Poetry Readings at The Lion: Poetry Feature and Open Mic with Lucy Adkins
  St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Campus, 1309 R St.
  Lincoln, 6:00 - 7:30 pm
  Lucy Adkins is an award winning poet and co-author of two books of encouragement and inspiration for writers. These include Writing in Community, which won an “IPPY” in the Independent Publishers Book Awards, and The Fire Inside. Her poetry has been published in numerous journals and anthologies and has received nominations for Pushcart prizes. Her latest collections, Two-Toned Dress and A Crazy Little Thing were named winners of Nebraska Book Awards for Poetry in 2021 and 2023. In addition, Two-Toned Dress was the winner of a Blue Light Press Poetry prize. For many years she has been a writing workshop leader and was named winner of a Lincoln Nebraska Mayor’s Award for Artistic Excellence in Literature.
• March 26, 2025 UNO Writer’s Workshop 2025 Reading Series: Poet Steve Langan
  University of Nebraska Omaha, MBSC Ballroom, 6203 S University Dr Rd N.
  Omaha, 7:30 pm
  Steve Langan graduated from UNO and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and returned to UNO years later to teach and help lead UNO Medical Humanities. His books are Freezing, Notes on Exile & Other Poems, Meet Me at the Happy Bar, What It Looks Like, How It Flies, and Bedtime Stories (Littoral Books, 2024). Langan’s poems are in a variety of journals, including Columbia, Cutbank, Diagram, DoubleTake, Fence, MAKE, Meridian, Octopus, Pool, Shade, Slope, Verse, and Witness. He lives in Maine.

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.