Dynamic Poetic Duo Meinke & Bryd at Jack’s House

On Sunday October 26, 2025, two of our local poetic luminaries will be featured at the Kerouac House in a dynamic reading of their work. Those of you who are aware of Peter and Greg know that this afternoon reading is a one-of-a-kind event and will want to be there. The reading starts at 3. So come on by and grab a cup of joe and one of Chef Shelley’s incredible pastries.

Peter Meinke began the Creative Writing Department at Eckerd College in 1966 and is now emeritus professor of creative writing at Eckerd College. He has published sixteen books of poetry, including Scars, Zinc Fingers, Liquid Paper, and The Contracted World. His poems have appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry and many other magazines.

He had a life-long collaboration with his late artist wife, Jeanne Clark Meinke, whose drawings accompanied many of his works.

Meinke is the recipient of many awards, including the Olivet Prize, the Paumanok Award, three Poetry Society of America Awards, the Flannery O’Connor Award, and two NEA Fellowships. In 2009 he was appointed the first Poet Laureate of St. Petersburg, Florida. He was appointed the Poet Laureate of the State of Florida in 2015.

Our co-feature this month will be award-winning poet and literary professor Greg Byrd, the winner of the 2018 Robert Phillips Chapbook prize from the Texas Review Press for The Name of the God Who Speaks. His poems have appeared in several journals and publications. He is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, a Pushcart nomination, and an Individual Artist Grant from Creative Pinellas. Greg teaches writing and literature at St. Petersburg College.

Host or Publisher The Jack Kerouac House of St. Petersburg, Inc.