3 rules of IAWA: Read Each Other, Write or Be Written, Buy Our Books!

IAWA Presents

Share New Work & Works in Progress

at All Open Mic

THURSDAY, August 13, 2026

6-8 PM EST on ZOOM

Registration on Zoom Required

Bring an article, a story, a poem, a friend

Join IAWA NY’s 2^nd Open Read for 2026!

Share if you dare, an excerpt or new work in progress from 2025 – maybe it is close to publication, maybe not. Briefly tell us why you think it is unfinished — this is a chance to connect, listen, share goals and plans for 2026-27.

Post links to publications; and readings.

Readers will have 5 minutes each per our traditional time limit. We can’t wait to see you and hear your poetry and prose!

You are invited to a Zoom meeting. 

When: Aug 13, 2026 06:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) 

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/IKbXeBL3QGiUK6pcF6BD-Q

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Upcoming NY LIVE Readings

Sept 10: Nicole Santalucia & Maria Lisella

Oct 8: Teresa Cometto with Glauco Maggi & Suzanne Cope

Nov 12: Chris O’Hanlon & John Trause

Dec. 10: Buon Natale Festa & Open Mic

BOSTON: 3^rd Saturdays

PHILADELPHIA: check iawa.net

To renew or join IAWA, go to https://iawa.net/join/

Thursday, June 25 6pm-8pm, VIRTUAL ON ZOOM

RSVP Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/iawa-pride-a-celebration-reading-open-mic-tickets-1991332597404

Come join the Italian American Writers Association (IAWA) for an evening celebrating the LGBTQIA+ members of our community in a virtual evening of poetry and shared work. We will begin our event either three wonderful features (Ed Allen Lent, Sandra Yannone, and Anthony Thomas Lombardi), followed by an open mic where audience members will be invited to share work.

Italian American Writers Association (IAWA) – Philadelphia Chapter Reading

Sunday, June 14, 2026
4:00 p.m.

Bookish Notions
11 E. State Street
Media, PA 19063

The Philadelphia Chapter of the Italian American Writers Association (IAWA) invites readers, writers, and lovers of literature to an afternoon of poetry, fiction, memoir, essays, and storytelling exploring the Italian American experience and broader themes of family, identity, culture, migration, memory, and belonging.

Featured readers include:

• Maria Giura
• Michelle Reale

Additional readers will be announced, and a limited number of open reading slots may be available.

This event is open to the public. Whether you are a writer, a reader, interested in Italian American culture, or simply enjoy a good story, we hope you will join us.

Admission: Free

RSVP: IAWAPhilly@gmail.com

Rules of IAWA: Read Each Other, Write or Be Written, Buy Our Books! And review each other!

@ John D. Calandra Italian American Institute   25 W. 43^rd St., 17^th Floor, NYC

Donna Masini and Jennifer Militello

2^nd Thursday, June 11, 2026

LIVE 6-8PM EST; Open Mic begins at 6PM; admission is free

Donna Masini is the author of Did You Find Everything You Were Looking For? (W.W. Norton and Co.), 4:30 Movie (Norton), Turning to Fiction (Norton) That Kind of Danger (Beacon) and About Yvonne (Norton), a novel. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Best American Poetry, American Poetry Review, Yale Review, Paris Review, Poetry, et al. A recipient of an NEA, a NYFA, a Pushcart Prize, and residencies from Civitella Ranieri and the Bogliasco Foundation, she  lives in NYC and is a Professor of English at Hunter College (CUNY).

Jennifer Militello is the Poet Laureate of New Hampshire. She is the author of the hybrid collection Identifying the Pathogen (Tupelo Press, 2026), named a finalist for the FC2 Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize, the memoir Knock Wood, winner of the Dzanc Nonfiction Prize, and five collections of poetry, including, most recently, The Pact (Tupelo Press/Shearsman Books, 2021). Her work has appeared in Best American Poetry, American Poetry Review, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, and Poetry. She teaches in the MFA program at New England College. 

To renew or join IAWA, https://iawa.net/join/

July 18 SAT: IAWA @ NY Poetry Festival, Governor’s Island

Aug. 13: VIRTUAL OPEN Mic

Sept. 10: Maria Lisella, Nicole Santalucia

Rules of IAWA: Read Each Other, Write or Be Written, Buy Our Books! And review each other!

IAWA-BOSTON Presents:

Jennifer Militello and George Guida

and open mic

Saturday, May 16, 2026, at I Am Books

124 Salem Street, Boston, MA

6-8 PM EST; Open Mic begins at 6; admission is free

Jennifer Militello is the Poet Laureate of New Hampshire. She is the author of the hybrid collection Identifying the Pathogen (Tupelo Press, 2026), named a finalist for the FC2 Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize, the memoir Knock Wood, winner of the Dzanc Nonfiction Prize, and five collections of poetry, including, most recently, The Pact (Tupelo Press/Shearsman Books, 2021). Her work has appeared in Best American Poetry, Best New Poets, American Poetry Review, The Nation, The New Republic, The Paris Review, and Poetry. She teaches in the MFA program at New England College.

George Guida is the author of thirteen books, including the novels The Uniform (Guernica Editions, 2024) and Posts from Suburbia (Encircle Publications, 2022); and The Pope Stories and Other Tales of Troubled Times (Bordighera Press, 2012), as well as the poetry collections The Fulfillment Center (Foothills Publishing, 2026), Zen of Pop (Long Sky Media, 2020), New York and Other Lovers (Encircle Publications, 2020), and Pugilistic (WordTech Editions, 2015). His long poem Bloom and the Blitz won the 2025 Bright Hill Press Chapbook Award. He curates the Finger Lakes Arts Series in Dansville, New York, and teaches writing and literature at New York City College of Technology.

To join IAWA or renew membership:

Rules of IAWA: Read Each Other, Write or Be Written, Buy Our Books! And review each other!

@ John D. Calandra Italian American Institute   25 W. 43^rd St., 17^th Floor, NYC

Maria Giura and Denise La Neve

2^nd Thursday, May 14, 2026

LIVE 6-8PM EST; Open Mic begins at 6PM; admission is free

Maria Giura’s newest book If We Still Lived Where I Was Born is co-winner of the 2026 Paterson Book Prize. She is also the author of What My Father Taught Me (Bordighera Press) and Celibate: A Memoir (Apprentice House). An Academy of American Poets winner, her work has been published in several journals including New York Quarterly, Prime Number, Liguorian, Presence, Paterson Literary Review and in the anthologies Celebrating Calabria: Writing Heritage and Memory and #Me Too, Anch’io. She currently teaches  virtual writing workshops for Casa Belvedere Cultural Foundation.

Denise La Neve writes both poetry and fiction. She is the author of Half-Lives of the Radium Girls, published by The Poets Press (www.poetspress.org/). She was contributor and co-editor for a trilogy Poets of the Palisades anthologies: Beyond the Rift (2010), META-LAND (2016), and On the Verge (2020). She co-hosts the High Mountain Meadow Poetry Series and has been published in numerous publications.

To renew or join IAWA, https://iawa.net/join/

May 16: BOSTON – Jennifer Militello & George Guida

June 14: NY- Donna Masini & Jennifer Militello

July 18 SAT: IAWA @ NY Poetry Festival, Governor’s Island

Aug. 13: VIRTUAL OPEN Mic

Rules of IAWA: Read Each Other, Write or Be Written, Buy Our Books! And review each other!

IAWA-BOSTON Presents:

Jane Alessandrini Ward and Michael Franco

and open mic

Saturday, April 18, 2026, at I Am Books

124 Salem Street, Boston, MA

6-8 PM EST; Open Mic begins at 6; admission is free

Jane Alessandrini Ward is the author of Should Have Told You Sooner, In the Aftermath, The Mosaic Artist, and Hunger. She has been a contributing writer for an online regional and seasonal food magazine and a blogger and occasional host of cooking videos for an internet recipe resource. Jane lives in Massachusetts. To learn more, visit janeaward.com.

Michael Franco is a poet, playwright, and artist. His publications include: The Marvels of David Leering [Pressed Wafer 2017] A Book of Measure Volume One: The Journals of the Man who Keeps Bees [Talisman House 2017] How To Live [Zoland, Cambridge. MA 1998]. He was the founder of the Word of Mouth Readings Series in Cambridge, MA,  and was a board member for the Pioneer Valley Poetry Festival. He is currently a Visiting Writer for the University of Coimbra, Portugal and curator of the Xit The Bear reading series in Somerville, MA.

To join IAWA or renew membership: IAWA

Rules of IAWA: Read Each Other, Write or Be Written, Buy Our Books! And review each other!

@ John D. Calandra Italian American Institute  

25 W. 43^rd St., 17^th Floor, NYC

Joel Allegretti & Cyn Grace Sylvie

2^nd Thursday, April 9, 2026

LIVE 6-8PM EST; Open Mic begins at 6PM; admission is free

Joel Allegretti is the author of, most recently, Let’s All Be Happy Today (The Opiate Books, 2025), a collection of short stories. In addition, he has published six books and chapbooks of poetry and Our Dolphin (Thrice Publishing, 2016), a novella. He is the editor of Rabbit Ears: TV Poems (NYQ Books, 2015). Rain Taxi said, “With its diversity of content and poetic form, Rabbit Ears feels more rich and eclectic than any other poetry anthology on the market.” Allegretti has published his poems in The New York Quarterly, Barrow Street, Gargoyle, Smartish Pace, PANK, and many other journals. His short stories have appeared in The MacGuffin, The Adroit Journal, and Pennsylvania Literary Journal, among others.

Cyn Grace Sylvie (she/they) is a queer neurodivergent writer, multimedia artist, and spiritual educator, and the founder of TAROT CHURCH, a tarot education movement that aims to de-stigmatize tarot across faith systems. Their first chapbook, What Sharp Teeth was published by Crying Heart Press in October of 2025. Sylvie is a recipient of Epiphany Magazine’s 2017 Short Nonfiction Prize, and was long-listed as a Notable Nonfiction Selection in The Best American Essays of 2018 (Mariner Books). Their writing has appeared in Dewdrop, Open Secrets Magazine, and The Rumpus. They are first generation Italian-American diaspora, and reside in Jersey City, NJ.

To renew or join IAWA, https://iawa.net/join/

April 18: BOSTON Michael Franco & Jane Ward

May 14: NEW YORK Maria Giura & Denise Laneve

May 16: BOSTON Jennifer Militello & George Guida

Rules of IAWA: Read Each Other, Write or Be Written, Buy Our Books! And review each other!

IAWA-BOSTON Presents:

Casey Lynn Roland and J.D. Scrimgeour

and open mic

Saturday, March 21, 2026, at I Am Books

124 Salem Street, Boston, MA

6-7:30 PM EST; Open Mic begins at 6; admission is free

Casey Lynn Roland is a writer, artist, and maker based on the North Shore of Massachusetts. If the House is Inclined to Collapse is her first full length poetry publication, conceptualized during her time at the University of New Hampshire, where she earned an MFA in Poetry in 2020. Her work has previously appeared in Plainsongs, Red Ogre Review, Rougarou Journal, and West Trade Review among others.

J.D. Scrimgeour is the inaugural poet laureate of Salem, Massachusetts, and the author of six books of poetry, including Small, Rectangular, Reflected World. Scrimgeour’s second book of nonfiction, Themes for English B: A Professor’s Education In & Out of Class won the AWP Award for Nonfiction. His most recent book is Poet in High Street Park: Prose & Poetry for Modern Salem, which contains three decades of his writing about the city.

To join IAWA or renew: https://iawa.net/join/