Songs and Poems in the Round, A Benefit for the Alano Club of Portland

Kaveh Akbar's poems appear in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Paris Review, Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. He is the author of two poetry collections: Pilgrim Bell (Graywolf 2021) and Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James 2017), in addition to a chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic (Sibling Rivalry 2016). He is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 100 Poets on the Divine (Penguin Classics 2022). In 2024, Knopf will publish Martyr!, Kaveh's first novel.

In 2020 Kaveh was named Poetry Editor of The Nation. The recipient of honors including multiple Pushcart Prizes, a Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, and the Levis Reading Prize, Kaveh was born in Tehran, Iran, and teaches at the University of Iowa and in the low-residency MFA programs at Randolph College and Warren Wilson. In 2014, Kaveh founded Divedapper, a home for dialogues with the most vital voices in American poetry. With Sarah Kay and Claire Schwartz, he wrote a weekly column for the Paris Review called "Poetry RX."

Kasey Anderson is a self-described "gradually retiring" songwriter whose songs have been recorded by Counting Crows, Star Anna among others. Anderson's own albums, of which there are seven, have garnered praised from the likes of Rolling Stone, No Depression, Paste, NPR, Bob Lefsetz. Working primarily over his career with producers Eric Ambel and Kurt Bloch, Anderson has crafted a body of work that will endure, long after he's made good on his promise to hang it all up. 

Laura Gibson is an internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and producer, born and raised in the small Oregon logging town of Coquille. Her most recent album Goners (Barsuk/City Slang) is a meditation on grief and empathy which The Fader described as, "so incessantly beautiful that one cannot help but want to gently crack it open to get to its beating core.” The New York Times summarized its themes: “longing and instinct, and whether they can ever converge.” 

Anis Mojgani is the current Poet Laureate of Oregon. A two-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam and winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam, he has been awarded residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, Caldera, AIR Serenbe, The Bloedel Nature Reserve, The Sou’wester, and the Oregon Literary Arts Writers-In-The-Schools program. A recipient of an Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate Fellowship, Anis has done commissions for the Getty Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum; and his work has appeared on HBO, National Public Radio, and as part of the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day series. His work has appeared in the pages of the NYTimes, Rattle, Platypus, Winter Tangerine, Forklift Ohio, and Bat City Review.

GENERAL ADMISSION AND FULLY SEATED. THIS EVENT IS 21 AND OVER. NO MINORS.

VALID US OR CANADA ID REQUIRED FOR ENTRY. GUESTS TRAVELING FROM OUTSIDE US/CA MUST PRESENT A VALID PASSPORT.

ALL SALES ARE FINAL. PLEASE, DOUBLE CHECK YOUR ORDER BEFORE PURCHASING. NO REFUNDS.