We are continuing our National Poetry Month festivities with Jesse James Ziegler, City of Reno Poet Laureate! Our introduction to Jesse will begin with an hour of Mad Verse City, where audience members are welcome to join us in creating poetry on stream. We’ll then spend the second of our stream learning more about Jesse’s goals as the new City of Reno Poet Laureate, listening to some of his original poems, and more. Audience participation is welcome and encouraged!

Jesse James Ziegler is currently serving as Poet Laureate for the City of Reno. He is the creator and manager of Monday Night Poetry and vice president for Spoken Views Collective. He is a member of the Sierra Literary Cooperative and the Spoken Word/Poetry contributor to Reno Arts News. He runs a twice monthly all ages poetry group/open mic True Colors in collaboration with Our Center. He was the first ever Poet in Residence for the Bruka Theatre and held that position for three consecutive seasons. His first collection of poetry, FIVE (2019), was published and brought to life through their annual new Works Festival.

Jesse opened and hosted the world premieres of Brandon Leake’s original spoken word play ‘Insomnia’ (Winner of Season 15 AGT) and has been a performance artist at the annual Utah Arts Festival. He has served as a host, judge, and prompter for the Nevada chapter of the national Poetry Out Loud organization and continues to be the curator and host of a monthly poetry book club Collective Breath. He is also an active member of the Nevada Poetry Society which is the state chapter of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies.

Humanities at Play explores and showcases the significance of the humanities in everyday life through games, media, and popular culture. Join us for dynamic and interactive online and in-person events designed to spark thoughtful conversation and reflection. Learn more at nevadahumanities.org/humanities-at-play.