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.
Luisa Muradyan is originally from Odesa, Ukraine and is the author of I Make Jokes When I'm Devastated (SMU Project Poetica, 2025) When the World Stopped Touching (YesYes Books, 2027), and American Radiance (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). She holds a Ph.D. in Poetry from the University of Houston and won the 2017 Raz/ Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize. Additionally, Muradyan is a member of the Cheburashka Collective, a group of women and nonbinary writers from the former Soviet Union. Additional work can be found at Best American Poetry, the Threepenny Review, Ploughshares, and Only Poems, among others.
