2023 Rose Garden Readings


These events are FREE & open to the public.

Readings occur in the Rose Garden's Garden Center (just west of the Shelter)
52nd Wornall, Kansas City, MO 64112   
These events are in partnership
with ​The Writers Place! 
Saturday, October 21, 2023  2p - 330p 
@ Garden Center's Rose Room
  • Tina Hacker, Poet -- her poetry books, Listening to Night Whistles and Cutting It, have been joined by a new poetry collection titled Golems. What is a GOLEM? She will tell us how the golem returns to earth and how this character comes to life as protection in her book of poems, Golems.  Raised in Chicago, she attended University of Illinois. She has been poetry editor of Veterans’ Voices since 1976. Tina enjoys giving readings and teaches adults and high school students how to present powerful poetry programs. Tina is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and has published in many literary magazines.

  • Shawn Pavey, Poet -- is the author of Survival Tips for the Pending Apocalypse, Talking to Shadows and Nobody Steals the Towels From a Motel 6. He is the co-founder and former associate editor of The Main Street Rag, (a literary journal), and a former officer of The Writers Place. His poems and essays appear in a variety of national publications. Shawn is a graduate of the University on North Carolina’s Undergraduate Honors Creative Writing Program. Shawn says he likes his Tom Waits loud, his bourbon single barrel, and his basketball Carolina Blue.

  • Rick Christiansen, Poet -- is a former corporate executive, stand-up comedian, actor and stage director. His poem, Bone Fragments is included in the 2023 New Generation Beats Anthology from the National Beat Poetry Foundation. He has been recently nominated for a Touchstone Award.  He is the co-host of SpoFest, a monthly on-line poetry showcase, a member of The Writer’s Place, and a member of The St. Louis Writers Guild.

Saturday, July 8, 2023  2p - 330p
​@ Garden Center's Rose Room
  • Annette Hope Billings, an award-winning writer and actress is from Topeka.  She is hailed for a dynamic delivery of poetry and has been dubbed "The Maya of the Midwest" by her readers.  In her recent collection of poetry, Just Shy of Stars, Billings writes of poignant places in life with sorrow and joy and humor.

  • Pat Lawson is the author of both fiction and poetry. Her collection, Odd Ducks, has nine charming stories which are identifiably happy, funny, and sad.  Author Catherine Browder states: “Lawson has a Chekhovian gift for the telling detail, a talent for ending a story with breathtaking precision, and a dry humor infusing it all."

  •  Robert Stewart has a high profile in the literary community. He is a poet, essayist, and emeritus editor of “New Letters” magazine at UMKC.  Bob has many books of poetry and essays published.  His newly released book, Higher, won the recent Prize Americana and Outside Language: Essays won the Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award.

Our Saturday, May 13, 2022 reading featured:
  • Lisa Stewart, author of a horseback memoir, The Big Quiet - winner of the Thorpe Menn Award for literary excellence.
  • Meghan Craig, author of Writing is Gross, A Workbook for Children, and other children's books.
  • Plus, children who won the 2023 Rose Garden Contest, will recite their poems.