(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Princeton Makes, a Princeton-based artist cooperative, and Ragged Sky Press, a local publisher focused on poetry, will host a Second Sunday Poetry Reading on Sunday, June 12 at 4:00pm.  The readings will take place at the Princeton Makes store in the Princeton Shopping Center and feature Vasiliki Katsarou and BJ WJard. Their readings will be followed by an open mic available to up to 10 audience members who would like to read their original poetry.  Poems reflecting Fathers’ Day are encouraged. 

Vasiliki Katsarou was raised in Massachusetts by Greek-born parents. A poet, editor, filmmaker, and publisher, she is the author of a poetry collection, Memento Tsunami (Ragged Sky) and a chapbook, Three Sea Stones (Lucia Press). Honored as a Geraldine R. Dodge Poet, her poetry has been published widely, and internationally, including in Poetry Daily, Otoliths, Tiferet, Literary Mama, La Vague, NOON (Japan), Corbel Stone Press’ Contemporary Poetry Series (U.K.), Regime Journal (Australia), Mediterranean Poetry (Denmark), and Mandragoras (in Greek translation). She is poetry curator at Frenchtown Bookshop and a Teaching Artist at Hunterdon Art Museum in New Jersey.

BJ Ward is the author of four books of poetry, including Jackleg Opera: Collected Poems 1990–2013 (North Atlantic Books), which received the Paterson Award for Literary Excellence. His poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, TriQuarterly, The New York Times, and The Sun, among others, and have been featured on NPR’s “The Writer’s Almanac” and the website Poetry Daily. He is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and two Distinguished Artist Fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He co-founded the creative writing degree program at Warren County Community College in NJ, where he teaches full-time.  

Princeton Makes is a cooperative comprised of 32 local artists who work across a range of artistic genres, including painting, drawing, stained glass, sculpture, textiles, and jewelry. Customers will be able to support local artists by shopping for a wide variety of art, including large paintings, prints, custom-made greeting cards, stained glass lamps and window hangings, jewelry in a variety of designs and patterns, and more.  Princeton Makes is an ideal place for holiday gift ideas.

Ragged Sky Press is a small, highly selective cooperative press.  We work with our authors closely.  Authors retain copyright and we use our experience and professional resources to support the author’s work through the editing, production, and design process.  Ragged Sky Press has historically focused on mature voices, overlooked poets, and women's perspectives.