Join us for Poetry Open Mic with featured reader: Zhang Er

Read your poetry, short prose, or fiction. Suggested 5-minute time limit. Limited reading slots available; arrive early to sign up.

Poetry Open Mic is held on the last Saturday of every month.

Free · Ages 18+

Zhang Er, poet, translator and opera librettist, born in Beijing, is the author of seven collections of poetry in Chinese, most recently Sea Volts and Bullets Twirl 《海跳起，子弹婉转》. Her selected poems appeared in three English translation collections from Zephyr Press, First Mountain, So Translating Rivers and Cities, and Verses on Bird. She co-edited and participated in the translation of Another Kind of Nation: An Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Poetry (Talisman House Publishers), and The Art of Women in Contemporary China: Both Sides Now, (Cambridge Scholars Publisher). Her translation of John Ashbery’s selected poems (John Ashbery Selection, 平铺直叙的多样化) published by People’s Literature Publishing House Beijing in 2024. She also wrote opera libretti in English for American composers including Moon in the Mirror (premiered in 2015) and Fiery Jade: Cai Yan (premiered in 2016). Tacoma Method with music by Gregory Youtz was premiered in 2023 by Tacoma Opera. She lives in Olympia, WA and teaches at The Evergreen State College.