In its 42nd year, the 2026 Salina Spring Poetry Series features a lineup of accomplished poets who will read in downtown Salina. In-person readings will occur at 7 pm on Tuesdays in April at Red Fern Booksellers (106 S Santa Fe Ave).
Since its founding in 1984 by poet Patricia Traxler, the series celebrates National Poetry Month each April and serves as a meeting point for national, regional, and local poets and appreciators of poetry. Celebrating poetic perspectives in the community, each reading entertains and provokes thought on critical issues. The series integrates diverse poetic voices, mirroring social discussions and artistic expressions. Over the years, it has hosted Pulitzer Prize winners and U.S. Poet Laureates, alongside many Kansas Poet Laureates, regionally significant poets, and new voices.
The series this year is sponsored by Salina Arts & Humanities and was curated by Traci Brimhall, Kansas Poet Laureate. Admission to each reading will be $5 at the door and free for students with ID.
Adam Scheffler grew up in California, received his MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and his PhD in English from Harvard. He is the author of two books of poetry—A Dog's Life—which won the 2016 Jacar Press Book Contest, and Heartworm—which won the 2021 Moon City Press Prize. His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Yale Review, Poem-a-Day, Verse Daily, Rattle, Narrative, and many other literary journals. He is also the author of a book of literary criticism, So This Is What It Feels Like: Empathy in the Poetry of James Wright (forthcoming from LSU Press in May 2026).
