Come ready to this reading series from Durham’s own Bull City Press for engaging poetry, fiction, and nonfiction from established and emerging writers.

April 11 at 6:00 pm (book signing at 5:45): Elaine Bleakney and Marianne Gingher with Golden Age Comedy

Elaine Bleakney is a poet and writer living in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Her book of poems,Take the Exit Then Exit, is forthcoming from Understory Books in April  2026 and was a National Poetry Series finalist. Elaine’s previous books include For Another Writing Back, an avant-memoir in lyric prose (Sidebrow Books, 2014) and the chapbook 20 Paintings by Laura Owens, an ekphrastic conversation (Poor Claudia, 2013). She has been a resident at the Vermont Studio Center and the Little Brown Mushroom Camp for Socially Awkward Visual Storytellers. Elaine has taught writing to artists at Penland School of Craft, Warren Wilson College, the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and elsewhere. 

Marianne Gingher has published seven books. Her novel Bobby Rex’s Greatest Hit was made into an NBC movie, and she has published widely in magazines and periodicals including the Oxford American, Southern Review, New York Times Book Review, Washington Post Magazine, Our State, and O. Her latest books are Shiny Girl, a collection of flash fiction; Adventures in Pen Land, a comic memoir about the writing life; and two anthologies for which she served as editor: Long Story Short and Amazing Place, both published by UNC Press. In 2009, with writer friend Deborah Seabrooke, she co-founded Jabberbox Puppet Theater and the collaborators wrote, built, and performed salon-style puppet theater in Greensboro, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Wilmington, North Carolina for ten years.

Admission: Free!