All poets who are featured at the monthly Public Poetry reading series are invited by a Nominating Committee.   Nominating Committees consist of volunteers who serve for one year and then appoint their successors. Current committee members are listed below. Committees are also convened for special events and projects.

Library Series Nominating Committee (April 2017 – March 2018)

Stephanie Bension has performed at the world famous Improv Comedy Club, been featured at Texas Southern University and earned a place on the Houston VIP Poetry Slam Team 2016. She has released a poetry mixtape called Articul8 and has also been featured on rap albums.

Elina Petrova lived in Ukraine Until 2007, working as a heating engineer and sales director. She has many Russian and Ukrainian publication credits, and a book of Russian-language poems.   Her first book of poetry in English, “Aching Miracle,” had its official release in Houston in, 2015. She has been published in Texas Poetry Calendars, FreeFall (Canada), Voices de la Luna, Harbinger Asylum, Illya’s Honey, Melancholy Hyperbole, Panoply, and the anthologies of the Houston and Austin poetry festivals. She has poems upcoming  the Texas Review and Mutabilis Press anthology.

Fran Sanders is founding director of Public Poetry. She read poetry on the radio for Taping for the Blind for 16 years (1995-2011), and produced over 400 programs that aired twice weekly. She also hosted 60 poets for the purpose of creating an audio archive (2009- 2010). Prior to establishing Public Poetry in 2011, she worked with a variety of arts non-profit organizations in various capacities.

Michael Snediker  teaches at the University of Houston. His poetry has appeared in The Cortland Review,1 The Paris Review, 2 Blip Magazine, The Beloit Poetry Journal, Blackwarrior Review, CourtGreen, Crazyhorse, Jubilat, Margie, Pleiades. He has been nominated twice for the prestigious Pushcart Prize. His widely reviewed book Queer Optimism: Lyric Personhood and Other Felicitous Persuasions  offers new readings of the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Hart Crane, Elizabeth Bishop, and Jack Spicer.  He currently and is working on a new book, on “The Aesthetics of Disability: American Literature and Figurative Contingency.”

Addie Tsai’s manuscript of poems, and in its place— has been a finalist in Four Way Books’ Larry Levis Prize, and semi-finalist in Tupelo Press’s Dorset Prize. I am a Ph.D. student in Texas Woman’s University’s Dance program.
Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Denver Quarterly, Collective Brightness: LGBTIQ Poets on Faith, Religion, & Spirituality, The Collagist, BORN Magazine, NOON: A Journal of the Short Poem, Forklift, Ohio, American Letters & Commentary, and Yellow as Turmeric, Fragrant as Cloves: A Contemporary Anthology of Asian-American Women’s Poetry, among others. She teaches at HCC-Southeast.

Library Series Nominating Committee (April 2016 – March 2017)

Hayan Charara is the author of three poetry books, Something Sinister (Carnegie Mellon, 2016), The Sadness of Others (Carnegie Mellon, 2006) and The Alchemist’s Diary (Hanging Loose, 2001). He also edited Inclined to Speak: An Anthology of Contemporary Arab American Poetry (University of Arkansas, 2008), and his children’s book, The Three Lucys (Lee & Low Books, 2015), received the New Voices Award Honor. Obtaining a PhD from the University of Houston’s Literature and Creative Writing Program, he has taught at the university level since 1998.

Deborah “D.E.E.P. Mouton is an internationally-known poet/vocalist/songwriter.  She has a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan and a M.Ed from the University of St. Thomas, and is a certified teacher and the head coach of the Houston VIP National Poetry Slam Team. She has traveled across the continent writing, performing, and leading workshops. In 2008, she was ranked as the #2 Best Female Performance Poet in the World. She has also been a Juried Poet for the Houston Poetry Festival (2012), a Finalist for the Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam (2013), and a Finalist for Houston Poet Laureate (2015).She currently works at WITS.

Dawn Pendergast is the author of 5 chapbooks. and the founding editor of LRL Textile Series, a micro-press with a mission to publish experimental poetry and translations, one chapbook at a time.

Fran Sanders is founding director of Public Poetry. She read poetry on the radio for Taping for the Blind for 16 years (1995-2011), and produced over 400 programs that aired twice weekly. She also hosted 60 poets for the purpose of creating an audio archive (2009- 2010). Prior to establishing Public Poetry in 2011, she worked with a variety of arts non-profit organizations in various capacities.

Roberto Tejada is author of the poetry collections Full Foreground (Arizona, 2012), Exposition Park (Wesleyan, 2010), and Mirrors for Gold (Krupskaya, 2006). A translator, editor, essayist, photography historian, and critic, his multifaceted cultural studies and creative activities have been recognized with numerous fellowships and grants including awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fulbright Foundation, Creative Capital Warhol Foundation among others. He teaches in the creative writing department at the University of Houston.

Library Series Nominating Committee (April 2015 – March 2016)

Sara Cooper received her M.F.A. in poetry at New Mexico State University. Her writing has appeared in Mid-American Review, BorderSenses, and Puerto del Sol. A chapbook of poems, Mis—, was published in 2014 by Grandma Moses Press. She teaches writing in Houston with Writers in the Schools and at the University of Houston, where she is pursuing a Ph.D.

Billie Duncan is a performance poet and author of three books, including Beneath the Desk, which was acquired by Brown University for inclusion in the Harris Collection of American Poems and Plays. Duncan’s poems are in numerous anthologies and journals. She is

Fran Sanders is founding director of Public Poetry. She read poetry on the radio for Taping for the Blind for 16 years (1995-2011), and produced over 400 programs that aired twice weekly. She also hosted 60 poets to establish an audio archive (2009 and 2011). Prior to establishing Public Poetry in 2011, she worked with a variety of small arts non-profit organizations in various capacities, ranging from executive director to under-assistant sheet rock hanger, from board member to floor sweeper.

 Anis Shivani’s debut book of poetry is My Tranquil War and Other Poems (NYQ Books, 2012). His other books include The Fifth Lash and Other Stories (2012), Against the Workshop (2011), Anatolia and Other Stories (2009), and the forthcoming novel Karachi Raj (2013). Anis has won a Pushcart Prize, and his poetry appears in Boston Review, Threepenny Review, Iowa Review, Harvard Review, Epoch, Fence, Subtropics, Verse, Denver Quarterly, and many other journals.

Stalina Emmanuelle Villarreal is a Mexican and Chicana poet, a translator, and an instructor of English at Houston Community College. She has an MFA in Writing from California College of the Arts. Her work can be found in Papeles de Manscupia, El Vértigo de los Aires: Encuentro Iberoamericano en el Centro Histórico 2009, and Her Kind. Her visual poetry was part of the Antena Books exhibit at University of Houston’s Blaffer Art Museum.

Chris Wise is a poet and novelist. He has been published in various poetry anthologies and small press literary magazines such as Nerve Cowboy, Blue Collar Review, and Road Not Taken. He has been a featured author in Cowboys and Indians Magazine, and has made several radio appearances on KPFT’s Living Art, KH-TV.com, and the Word Around Town Poetry Tour. Colliding With Orion (a collection of poetry, short stories and essays on craft) from Absey & Co. will be released in the fall of 2016. He is a veteran of the US Army, earned an English degree from Texas A&M, and currently lives in Houston, TX.

Library Series Nominating Committee (April 2014 – March 2015)

Scott Chalupa writes to live in Houston, TX. For three years he served as poetry editor and Co-Editor for Glass Mountain, the award-winning undergraduate journal at UH.  Each May from 2011-2014 he staffed Boldface: A Conference for Emerging Writers. Outside UH circles, he has taught two poetry workshops for the Houston Alzheimer’s Association and workshops on the craft of reading to an audience for both SpeakOut (a 2013 Pride month event hosted by Houston Public Library’s LGBT committee) and the 2013 Houston Poetry Fest, for which he was also a juried poet.  In Mexico, he taught a workshop to primeria English teachers in Cuernavaca.  His work has appeared on KUHF’sThe Front Row, and in Alitheia, the Nexus chapbook and the 3013 Houston Poetry Fest anthology, and is forthcoming in Houston & Nomadic Voices magazine.  He was also a featured poet in Public Poetry’s library reading series.

Kay Cosgrove was awarded the John B. Santoianni Poetry Award from the Academy of American Poets in 2011, was the winner of the 2013 Writers Under 30 contest from The Westchester Review, and was a finalist for the 2013 New South Writing Contest. Her poems and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in journals such as Barrow Street, Conduit, EPOC Magazine Gulf Coast, Sonora Review and the American Book Review, among others. She is currently a doctoral student in the University of Houston’s Creative Writing & Literature program, where she serves as a poetry editor for Gulf Coast.

Robin Davidson, born in Trieste, Italy to American parents, holds a BA in French from the University of Texas at Austin, and MA and PhD degrees in creative writing from the University of Houston.  Her debut collection of poems, Luminous Other, (Ashland Poetry Press) won the Richard Snyder Memorial Prize, and she has authored two chapbooks, Kneeling in the Dojo and City that Ripens on the Tree of the World.  Her poems and translations have appeared in literary journals such as The Paris Review, AGNI, Words Without Borders, 91st Meridian, Tampa Review, Poet Lore, quarrtsiluni, as well as Fraza, a Polish literary journal. She served as a Fulbright scholar at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland and her book, The New Century: Ewa Lipska, translated from the Polish with Ewa Elzbieta Nowakowska was published by Northwestern University Press. She is the recipient of an NEA fellowship in translation, two Houston Arts Alliance awards in poetry, the Abiko International Poetry Prize in Japan and was named of Houston’s 100 Creatives.  She currently teaches creative writing as an associate professor of English at the University of Houston-Downtown.

Stephen Gros is a poet, spoken word performer, artist and event producer from Texas.  Stephen is a founding member of several Houston literary groups including Panhandler Publishing, and the Art Institute of Houston’s poetry Club.  He is also a founding member, host, and organizer of the annual Word Around Town tour since 2006, of an ekphrastic showcase, FabriFaction: A FotoFest Special Event, and co-director of KeroacFest, as well as being the curator and host of the popular ThoughtCrime Poetry Series.  In addition to performing all over Texas, he has toured in Jamaica and New York City.  His work has appeared in journals and anthologies including The Bayou Review, The Beatest State In the Union: An Anthology of Beat Texas Writers and the Austin International Poetry Festival Anthology.

Fran Sanders: Public Poetry’s foundering director, has worked with arts non-profits for 25+ years, serving as a director, board member, administrator and volunteer. For 16 years, from 1995-2011, she volunteered to produce The Poets’ Corner at Taping for the Blind/Sight Into Sound studios, originating 400 bi-monthly radio programs for the visually impaired. In 2009, she established an audio archive of poetry, recording 60 local and visiting poets reading their own poetry. She launched Public Poetry, now a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, in April 2011.

Melissa Stud­dard is the author of My Yehidah, The Tiferet Talk Interviews, and the best­selling novel, Six Weeks to Yehi­dah. Her books have received numerous awards, including the For­ward National Lit­er­a­ture Award, the International Book Award, January Magazine’s best children’s books of the year, The Reader’s Favorite Award, and the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award. Her poetry collection, I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast, is forthcoming from Saint Julian Press. Her short writings have appeared in dozens of jour­nals and antholo­gies, and she currently serves as a reviewer-at-large for The National Poetry Review, a pro­fes­sor for Lone Star Col­lege Sys­tem, a teach­ing artist for The Rooster Moans Poetry Coop­er­a­tive, an editorial adviser for The Criterion, an editor for Tiferet Journal, and host of Tiferet Talk radio. Learn more at melissastuddard.com

Library Series Nominating Committee (April 2013 – March 2014)

Yerra Sugarman,

Jane Creighton

Oscar Pena,

Marcell Murphy

Ken Jones

Library Series Nominating Committee (April 2012 – March 2013)

Alan Ainsworth’s poetry and prose have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, The American Book Review, The New England Review, ArtLies, Mutabilis Press, and other journals. He teaches in the English Department of Houston Community College-Central.

Lupe Mendez, originally from Galveston, Texas. Lupe has lived in Houston, Texas for the last decade, where he works with both Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, PoetryCo. and the Brazilian Arts Foundation to establish poetry and creative writing workshops open to the public. Lupe’s recent work is now part of Norton’s newest anthology -Sudden Fiction Latino: Short-Short Stories From The United States and Latin America, the 25th anniversary edition of The Bayou Review (University of Houston-Downtown) and as of April 2011, in the UK, Flash (University of Chester, England)- the international forum for flash fiction. lupe@thepoetmendez.org   713.444.0269  – 281-878-1567 (work)

Radames Ortiz’s work has appeared in numerous literary journals including, Gulf Coast, Texas Observer, Open City, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Cortland Review, and Exquisite Corpse. His work has also been collected in various anthologies including US Latino Literature Today, Regeneration: Telling Stories from Our Twenties, and Is This Forever, Or What?: Poems and Paintings from Texas. You can follow him on twitter @radameso and read his blog at http://theamplifiedbard.blogspot.com/

Nancy K. Pearson recently moved to Houston from Massachusetts where she completed two seven-month poetry fellowships at The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and wrote her first book of poems, Two Minutes of Light, which won the 2009 L.L. Winship/PEN Award for best book of poems by a New England poet.  nkpoet@mac.com

Fran Sanders is the founding director of Public Poetry. She read poetry for The Poets’ Corner,  producing and hosting almost 400 half hour radio poetry programs between 1995 and 2011.  In 2009, she started the first audio archive of poetry for Houston and recorded 60 poets for that project.  In 2011, she founded Public Poetry.

Library Series Nominating Committee (April 2011 – March 2012)

Mike Alexander has organized readings for decades, from the Paterson Arts Council in Jersey to the Helios readings in H-town. His poems have appeared in  River Styx, Bateau, the 2010 Texas Poetry Calendar, and in Modern Metric’s chapbook, We Internet in Different Voices.  He has also dabbled in criticism, translation, & pop lyric

Tony Diaz

Carolyn Florek

Robin Reagler

Fran Sanders is the founding director of Public Poetry. She read poetry for The Poets’ Corner,  producing and hosting almost 400 half hour radio poetry programs between 1995 and 2011.  In 2009, she started the first audio archive of poetry for Houston and recorded 60 poets for that project.  In 2011, she founded Public Poetry.

ARTlines2 Advisory Committee
Dave Parsons, Kevin Prufer, Robin Reagler, Fran Sanders, Melissa Studdard

Ex Libris Poetry Book Club Selection Committee (April 2014 – March 2015)
Dom Zuccone, Chair   Mike Alexander,  Jenny Brown, Gerald Cedillo, Kelly Ann Ellis, Lupe Mendez, Carl Rosenstock,  Anis Shivani, Leslie Ullman, Chuck Wemple