Poetry is for Everyone: A New Book Club from H&H Books

We get it: it can be daunting to dip your toes into poetry. You may not be sure where to start. That’s why H&H Books is starting a new book club: Poetry is for Everyone. Poetry for Everyone is truly meant for everyone, whether you have an MFA and or haven’t read poetry since Shel Silverstein’s Falling Up (a classic!)

We'll gather at Valerio Coffee Roasters in Fishtown and discuss a poetry collection selected by H&H staffers (and poets!) Kristen Brida and Shoshana Bockol. During the book club, we’ll share our thoughts and impressions of that month’s selection, and Kristen and Shoshana will offer guidance and ask questions to facilitate the conversation.

Our first meeting will be Sunday, April 13 at 2 PM at Valerio (2239 Frankford Avenue, just down the street from our bookstore). We’ll read and discuss The Sisters by Jordan Windholz. Jordan will join us to talk about his collection, his process, and answer any questions readers may have.

The Sisters “offers elegant, poetic tales that echo aspects of the bedtime story but end up on the other side of Aesop and Grimm, in the imaginative spaces reserved for grown-up poets with a taste for Calvino and Pessoa.” It was one of Kristen’s favorite poetry collections of 2024!

You can register for free or include a copy of The Sisters with your Eventbrite registration. If you’d like to purchase the book separately from your registration, H&H Books will have copies of The Sisters available in mid-to-late March. Either way, if you order a copy with us, we’ll email you once it’s ready to pick up at the bookstore.

Book club attendees will receive 10% off drinks at Valerio during our meeting.

Questions? DM @theheadandthehand or @booksby_kb or email [email protected].

About the Poet:

Jordan Windholz lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.He is an associate professor of Early Modern British Literature and Creative Writing at Shippensburg University.

He is the author of The Sisters (Black Ocean, 2024) and Other Psalms (University of North Texas Press, 2015) and winner of the 2014 Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry. You can find some of his poems in the Boston Review, Seneca Review, Tupelo Quarterly, DIAGRAM, and the tiny journal, among a number of other places.

About the Organizers:

Kristen Brida’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Fairy Tale Review, New Delta Review, the Pinch, The Journal, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA at George Mason University, where she taught poetry to gen-ed college students. You can find her on Instagram or BookTok @booksby_kb, where she dedicates her platform to showing that poetry is for everyone.

Host or Publisher The Head & The Hand