AUG 9 / HAIKU & BREW WORKSHOP / NEW LONDON, MN
Poets Lauren K Carlson and Saara Myrene Raappana lead a free writing workshop on all things haiku!  We'll discuss the elements of haiku (5-7-5 optional), read haiku from the 1600s to today, and go on a gingko walk to write our own haiku. Select poems will be installed throughout New London in October as part of the New London Arts Alliance Riverspace Project. No experience necessary. Writing materials provided. Beverage purchase optional. Starts at 3 pm. 

JUN 28 / HONEY / MINNEAPOLIS
Celebrate the release of Katharine Rauk's Buried Choirs (Tinderbox Editions) and Saara Myrene Raappana's A Story of America Goes Walking (Shechem Press). Poetry! Jokes! Raffles! Beer! Sweet Potato Fries! 7-9 pm at Honey in Minneapolis. 

NEW BOOK/ A STORY OF AMERICA GOES WALKING/ HARDCOVER ART-POETRY CHAPBOOK / SHECHEM PRESS!
Saara has collaborated with printmaker and artist Rebekah Wilkins-Pepiton on a collaborative art/poetry chapbook available now from Shechem Press. Check out the BOOKS page to get more information and buy your copy. 

MAY 19 / BAYLISS PUBLIC LIBRARY / SAULT STE. MARIE, MI
The Superior Poetry Cafe at Bayliss Public Library welcomes the Wild Women Poets of the U.P.: Julie Brooks Barbour, Kathleen Heideman, Saara Myrene Raappana and Janeen Pergrin Rastall. NOTE: This program now begins at 6:30 pm!

JAN 16 / MAEVE'S SESSIONS @ MAEVE's CAFE / MINNEAPOLIS
Maeve's Cafe is thrilled to bring you a lineup of all-star women poets from Minnesota. The readers this month are Saara Myrene Raappana, Sun Yung Shin, Julie Strand, and Jasmin Rae Ziegler. There will be a 90-second open mic between readers, so bring a poem to share! Wear your lucky pants, and see if you win something in the Super Awesome Swag Raffle! Reading starts at 3 pm. 

2015

NOV 7 / BONESHAKER BOOKS / MINNEAPOLIS
The Our Flow Is Hard collective invites you to celebrate new chapbooks by Heidi Czerwiec, Saara Myrene Raaapana, and Carolyn Williams-Noren, all released by Dancing Girl Press, with a reading at Boneshaker Books! The reading will take place on November 7 at 6 pm. BYOB, free and open to the public, chapbooks for sale!

NEW POEMS / TINDERBOX POETRY JOURNAL
Saara's "Psalm with Pleather Teddy Bears" and "Manifesto of What Breaks" appear in Vol. 2, Issue 3 of Tinderbox Poetry Journal.  

JUNE 11 / TAHQUAMENON AREA LIBRARY / NEWBERRY MI, PLUS BAYLISS PUBLIC LIBRARY / SAULT STE. MARIE MI
Saara will read with other poets published in Here: Women Writing on Michigan's Upper Peninsula twice in one day! First in Newberry, Michigan at the Tahquamenon Area Library with April Lindala at 3pm. Then, she'll read at 7pm at the Bayliss Public Library with Lindala, Julie Brooks Barbour, and U.P. Poet Laureate Andrea Scarpino! Both events are free and open to the public. 

NEW POEM / [PANK]
Saara's "In Favor of Defenestrating Children," appears in the May/June issue of [PANK]. To read the current issue, go here.

NEW POEM / WORD RIOT
Saara's "Love in the Land of Jellyfish," appears in the March 2015 issue of Word Riot. To read the current issue, go here.

MARCH 20/ ESCANABA PUBLIC LIBRARY / ESCANABA MI
Saara will read with Poet Laureate of the U.P. 2015-2017 Andrea Scarpino and PLUP 2015-17 Finalist Jillena Rose on March 20 at 2pm EST at the Escanaba Public Library. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the library at 906-789-7323.

FEB 23 / RADIO APPEARANCE, WNMU / MARQUETTE, MI
Saara will appear in the radio at WNMU as one of the five finalists for Upper Peninsula Poet Laureate. The interview will air at 11am EST on Monday, February 23. You can listen via live stream by clicking here. 

2014

UPPER PENINSULA POET LAUREATE NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED
The Great Lakes Commonwealth of Letters recently announced nominees for the next Poet Laureate of the Upper Peninsula! The nominees are: Marty Achatz, Elinor Benedict, Eric Gadzinski, Kathleen Heideman, Jonathon Johnson, Beverly Matherne, Saara Myrene Raappana, Janeen Rastall, Ron Riekki, Jillena Rose, and Andrea Scarpino. Voting is open to the public on the GLCL's website until Dec. 31, 2014. 

MILK TOOTH, LEVEE, FEVER / NEW CHAPBOOK / DANCING GIRL PRESS!
Saara's first chapbook, Milk Tooth, Levee, Fever, will be published by Dancing Girl Press in 2015! Stay tuned for details. Check out DGP's gorgeous (and affordable!) catalog in the meantime. 

BROADSIDES AVAILABLE NOW!
The Shechem Press 2014 Artist Broadside Series featuring poetry by Stephen Behrendt, Robert Wrigley & Saara Myrene Raappana with original relief prints by Rebekah Wilkins-Pepiton are available now! 

NEW POEM / CREAM CITY REVIEW
Saara's "Stop Me If," appears in Volume 37, Issue 2 of Cream City Review. For more information, to order this stellar issue, or to subscribe, go here. 

BROADSIDES COMING IN APRIL
The Shechem Press team has announced the 2014 Artist Broadside Series featuring poetry by Stephen Behrendt, Robert Wrigley & Saara Myrene Raappana with original relief prints by Rebekah Wilkins-Pepiton. If you're too impatient to wait until April, you can still pick up the 2008 Series featuring art by Wilkins-Pepiton and poetry by Damon Falke and Kevin Meaux and the 2012 Series featuring art by Wilkins-Pepiton and poetry by Joshua Mehigan and Saara Myrene Raappana. 

FINALIST POEMS FOR "ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES" ANNOUNCED BY MOTIONPOEMS
Dorianne Laux has chosen Saara's poem, "Landfall at My Childhood Home," as a finalist in the Motionpoems "Arrivals & Departures at Saint Paul’s Union Depot" public art project. If you're a filmmaker, the project is accepting proposals for short films based on the finalist poems until March 15, 2014.  At least five will be produced and projected onto the screen-filled facade of St Paul’s historic Union Depot during the St Paul Art Crawl, October 2-4, 2014. For more information, and to read all the finalist poems, click here. 

FEB 10 / TWO READINGS / MARSHALL, MN
Readings in Marshall, Minn. on Monday, Feb. 10, at noon and 7pm: Saara will be reading poetry wth R. Elena Prieto at noon at the Marshall-Lyon County Library, and again at 7 p.m. in Charter Hall 201 on the campus of SMSU. Our appearance is part of the Visiting Writers Series at SMSU. For more information, check out SMSU Today. 

FEB 4 / RADIO APPEARANCE, KMHL / SOUTHWEST MN
Saara and R. Elena Prieto will be on the radio in southwest Minnesota twice during the first week in February: First, on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at 10am on KMHL 1400AM in Marshall; and second, on Feb. 6 at 8:45am on KWOA 730AM in Worthington. If you're in the area, tune in! We'll be doing an interview and reading poetry. 

2013

PUSHCART PRIZE NOMINATION
Iron Horse Literary Review just announced their 2013 Pushcart Prize nominations: Saara Myrene Raappana's "Incantation for Waitresses Waiting" (15.4); Elise Hempel's "Farm Set" (15.4); Katie Peterson's "Spring" (15.2); Andrew McFadyen-Ketchum's "Moonset" (15.2); Kyle Minor's "On the Smell of Skunk" (15.3); and Mary Cappello's "Merit Badge" (15.3). Thank you to Iron Horse and congratulations to the other nominees. For more information/to buy all these great issues of Iron Horse, go here.

NEW POEM / IRON HORSE LITERARY REVIEW
Iron Horse Literary Review's Labor Day 2013 issue contains Saara's "Incantation for Waitresses, Waiting." Big thanks to the editors for including the poem in this beautiful issue. For more information/to subscribe, go here.

AUG 6 / BUTLER THEATER / ISHPEMING, MI
Reading: Saara will be reading with other authors from The Way North at the Butler Theatre in Ishpeming, Michigan (121 South Main St.) on Tuesday, August 6 from 7-9pm. For more information, check out the U.P. Book Tour page.