Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon celebrates phenomenal Salon poets and educators Jordan E. Franklin and Heather Archibald! Join us Saturday, July 26, 2025 for a Potluck Salon, Free Writing Workshop, Two Feature poets reading & Open Mic in-person from 12pm to 4:30pm in a private rented accessible venue in Downtown Brooklyn, NY. Hosted by Salon founder, curator, and poet JP Howard. Join Jordan E. Franklin on Sat, July 26th for a generative writing workshop, along with a double poetry reading by Heather Archibald and Jordan, followed by a multi-genre open mic open to all participants. This event is free & open to all, space permitting.
This event is sponsored in part by a 2025 grant from Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).
Workshop theme: "the Monstrous Other" or how poems utilize monsters as a means to explore or convey something about how "othered" individuals are perceived. Please bring pen & paper to write.
Poetry books will be loaned out for free from Bloom's Traveling Poetry Library!
Jordan will facilitate a generative writing workshop, then both Heather and Jordan will each give a featured poet reading, engage in a brief Q & A with participants and then we will end with a multi-genre open mic.
Masks are optional for this in-door event in a private venue.
How to RSVP: INTERESTED ATTENDEES MUST EMAIL, IN ADVANCE, A REQUEST TO:
anAgISBob3dhcmQgfCB3b21lbndyaXRlcnNibG9vbSAhIGNvbQ== to RSVP to attend or to be added to a waitlist, in order to receive private venue details.
On Saturday, July 26, 2025 our potluck Salon & Open Mic features dynamic Salon members and poets JORDAN E. FRANKLIN & HEATHER ARCHIBALD! This Salon & Open Mic is in a private rented accessible venue in Downtown Brooklyn, NY. Join us from 12pm to 4:30pm. As there is limited space; advance RSVP is required. Waitlist may be required if we reach capacity.
Contact JP at:
anAgISBob3dhcmQgfCB3b21lbndyaXRlcnNibG9vbSAhIGNvbQ== YOU WILL ONLY RECEIVE THE PRIVATE VENUE DETAILS AFTER YOU EMAIL JP DIRECTLY, NOT BY JOINING THIS FACEBOOK EVENT!
This Salon & Open Mic is located in a private rented venue in Downtown Brooklyn. There is limited space, so RSVP in advance is required. PARTICIPANTS ARE WELCOME TO WEAR MASKS INDOORS IF THEY WISH, BUT NOT REQUIRED. ** IF YOU ARE NOT FEELING WELL, HAVE COVID / FLU and/or COLD SYMPTOMS THE DAY OF THE SALON, PLEASE STAY HOME TO KEEP EVERYONE SAFE! ** THANKS!
We have limited space in this indoor salon and a wait-list will be set up if we reach capacity.
Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon (WWBPS) is a Literary Salon Series modeled after traveling Salons, popular during the Harlem Renaissance. Poet and author JP Howard has curated and nurtured the Salon for (14) magical years! JP was a Split This Rock Freedom Plow Award for Poetry & Activism finalist for her literary activism on behalf of the Salon. We are a forum offering women writers, especially, of all levels, a venue to come together in a positive and supportive space. WWBPS has a large LGBTQ POC membership and is open to ALL. JP has been awarded Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) grants for the Brooklyn-based portion of the Salon Series for the last TWELVE years (2014 to 2025). The Salon has been featured on national literary sites, including in Literary Hub (
https://lithub.com/from-apartment-to-bryant-park-a.../ ), Poets & Writers (
http://www.pw.org/content/from_poets_writers_inc_22 ), Bryant Park Word for Word Reading Series, CUNY TV Study With the Best cable tv show, and THE ARTISTS FORUM cable tv show.
#POTLUCK: Salons are potluck. Please bring a food dish and/or beverages to share for our poetry table. Non-alcoholic beverages and/or wine is fine too.
#TIME & #VOLUNTEERS: Please arrive on time. *OUR salon will begin promptly at 12pm and will end around 4:30pm. We will need a few volunteers to help JP with setup to arrive by 11:20am and a few volunteer to help her with cleanup of the space after 4:30pm.
#ADDRESS: TO RECEIVE THE PRIVATE ADDRESS DETAILS FOR THIS SALON, SUBSCRIBE TO THE SALON'S FREE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER:
http://eepurl.com/lNK0b or send your email address to
anAgISBob3dhcmQgfCB3b21lbndyaXRlcnNibG9vbSAhIGNvbQ==. JP must have your email in advance of the Salon in order for you to receive the Salon address details by email. Thanks!
#Feature Poet BIO: Jordan E. Franklin hails from Brooklyn, NY. She received her MFA from Stony Brook Southampton and a PhD from Binghamton University. She is the author of the poetry collection, when the signals come home (Switchback Books), and the chapbook, boys in the electric age (Tolsun Books). Her work has appeared in Breadcrumbs, Frontier, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, the Southampton Review, Torch Literary Arts, and elsewhere. She is the winner of the 2017 James Hearst Poetry Prize, the 2020 Gatewood Prize, and the 2024 AWP Intro Journals Project Award."
#Feature Poet BIO: Heather Archibald taught English in New York City and in St. Kitts for more than thirty years. Her first collection of poetry, titled “Pregnant These Past Twenty Years” was published in 2000. In 2016, she published her second poetry book titled Home-Home. In 2016, Heather became a Callaloo fellow in poetry and later received the BRIO (Bronx Recognizes Its Own) award for fiction in 2018. Her short story, “Sea-Stones for Angeline: A Fairy Tale” was published in The Caribbean Writer (UVI) Summer 2020. In 2021, She was awarded a New York City Artist Grant which she used to fund an outdoor poetry festival she named Poetry on A Caribbean Breeze.
In 2024, Heather’s short story, “The Marriage Proposal,” was shortlisted by the Commonwealth Foundation Short Story Prize, and was published in the Commonwealth Foundation’s online magazine, adda. Heather continues to curate Creative Expressions, NYC, an open mic salon, which has been meeting online since the pandemic. In addition, Heather has developed her fairy tale into a children’s chapter book to be published later in 2025.
#Host Bio: JP Howard is a poet, educator, literary activist, and community builder. Her debut poetry collection, SAY/MIRROR (The Operating System), was a Lambda Literary finalist. She is also the author of bury your love poems here (Belladonna*), Praise This Complicated Herstory: Legacy, Healing & Revolutionary Poems (Harlequin Creature) and co-editor of Sinister Wisdom Journal Black Lesbians--We Are the Revolution! JP was a featured author in Lambda Literary’s LGBTQ Writers in Schools Program and is featured in the Lesbian Poet Trading Card Series from Headmistress Press. JP was the inaugural recipient of the 2024 Maine Writers Studio writing retreat and was a recent Brooklyn College Tow Mentor-in-Residence. She has received fellowships and/or grants from Cave Canem, VONA, Lambda Literary, and Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC). She curates Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon. JP’s poetry is widely anthologized. Her poetry and/or essays have been featured in The New York Times, POETRY Magazine, The Slowdown, The Academy of American Poets, Apogee Journal, The Feminist Wire, Split this Rock, and elsewhere. JP is a general Poetry Editor for Women's Studies Quarterly and Editor-At-Large of Mom Egg Review VOX online.
http://www.jp-howard.com
#OpenMic: This Salon ends with a MULTI-GENRE Open Mic open to ALL participants, so please bring your work to share and pen and paper to write. Please feel free to share your fiction, non-fiction, poetry, artwork or music/song during our Open Mic!
Peace & Poetry,
JP Howard, Curator and Nurturer
Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon (WWBPS)
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