Plum City Reading Series is Literary Cleveland's reading series bringing the country's most interesting and groundbreaking authors to Cleveland. Plum City aims to highlight the work of independent publishers while thoughtfully curating celebratory evenings of literature and community.
Join us for our June reading celebrating new books by Lakewood writer Megan Giddings (Meet Me at the Crossroads), poet Ray McNiece (Breath Burns Away), and Oberlin Visiting Assistant Professor Santiago Jose Sanchez (Hombrecito).
This installment of the Plum City Reading Series will take place Wednesday, June 18 at Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere in Cleveland. Doors open at 6:30 and reading begins at 7pm to be immediately followed by an afterparty at the Literary Cleveland Offices (13002 Larchmere).
NOTE: In keeping with our mission, to ensure diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, the registration fee for this event is "Pay What You Can." We believe every writer, reader, storyteller, and literary enthusiast who wants to attend a Literary Cleveland event should be able to have that experience. "Pay What You Can" registration allows comfortable, affordable participation for everyone. We have suggested fees—you can pay one of them, or pay what you can. Your participation is the priority for us.
Megan Giddings is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. Her novel, Lakewood, was published by Amistad in 2020. It was one of New York Magazine’s 10 best books of 2020, one of NPR’s best books of 2020, a Michigan Notable book for 2021, was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards, and a finalist for a 2020 LA Times Book Prize in The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction category. Her second novel, The Women Could Fly (Amistad 2022), was named one of The Washington Post's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy novels of 2022, one of Vulture's Best Fantasy books of 2022, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. In Fall 2023, she was the Picador Professor at Leipzig University. Her third novel, Meet Me at the Crossroads, will be published on June 3rd 2025. Her first short story collection, Black Arts, will be published in 2026.
Ray McNiece is the author of eleven books of poems and monologues, most recently The Bone Key Sutra (SeaStory Press, 2025), Love Song for Cleveland, a collaboration with photographer Tim Lachina, and Breath Burns Away (Red Giant Press, 2019). The Orlando Sentinel reporting on Ray’s solo theater piece “Us — Talking Across America” at the Fringe Festival called him “a modern day descendant of Woody Guthrie. He has a way with words and a wry sense of humor.” His most recent theatrical piece, Lives of A Poet, premiered at Cleveland Public Theater in 2016. He toured Russia with Yevgeny Yevtushenko, appeared on Good Morning, Russia and performed at the Moscow Polytech, the Russian Poets’ Hall of Fame where he was dubbed ‘the American Mayakovsky.’ He has toured Italy twice with legendary beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He fronts the blues rock band, Tongue-in-Groove. He was appointed Poet Laureate of Cleveland Heights in April 2020. He received the Cleveland Arts Prize Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. In 2022, he was Awarded a $50,000 Poet Laureate Grant from the American Academy of Poetry for his Poem for Cleveland Project.
Santiago Jose Sanchez (they/them) is a queer Colombian American writer and artist. Their stories have been published in McSweeney's, ZYZZYVA, Subtropics, and Joyland. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Yale University and former professor at Grinnell College, Sanchez now teaches fiction at Oberlin College. Hombrecito, their debut novel, is now out from Riverhead.
Plum City Reading Series is Literary Cleveland's reading series bringing the country's most interesting and groundbreaking authors to Cleveland. Plum City aims to highlight the work of independent publishers while thoughtfully curating celebratory evenings of literature and community.
Join us for our June reading celebrating new books by Lakewood writer Megan Giddings (Meet Me at the Crossroads), poet Ray McNiece (Breath Burns Away), and Oberlin Visiting Assistant Professor Santiago Jose Sanchez (Hombrecito).
This installment of the Plum City Reading Series will take place Wednesday, June 18 at Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere in Cleveland. Doors open at 6:30 and reading begins at 7pm to be immediately followed by an afterparty at the Literary Cleveland Offices (13002 Larchmere).
NOTE: In keeping with our mission, to ensure diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, the registration fee for this event is "Pay What You Can." We believe every writer, reader, storyteller, and literary enthusiast who wants to attend a Literary Cleveland event should be able to have that experience. "Pay What You Can" registration allows comfortable, affordable participation for everyone. We have suggested fees—you can pay one of them, or pay what you can. Your participation is the priority for us.
Megan Giddings is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. Her novel, Lakewood, was published by Amistad in 2020. It was one of New York Magazine’s 10 best books of 2020, one of NPR’s best books of 2020, a Michigan Notable book for 2021, was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards, and a finalist for a 2020 LA Times Book Prize in The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction category. Her second novel, The Women Could Fly (Amistad 2022), was named one of The Washington Post's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy novels of 2022, one of Vulture's Best Fantasy books of 2022, and was a New York Times Editors’ Choice. In Fall 2023, she was the Picador Professor at Leipzig University. Her third novel, Meet Me at the Crossroads, will be published on June 3rd 2025. Her first short story collection, Black Arts, will be published in 2026.
Ray McNiece is the author of eleven books of poems and monologues, most recently The Bone Key Sutra (SeaStory Press, 2025), Love Song for Cleveland, a collaboration with photographer Tim Lachina, and Breath Burns Away (Red Giant Press, 2019). The Orlando Sentinel reporting on Ray’s solo theater piece “Us — Talking Across America” at the Fringe Festival called him “a modern day descendant of Woody Guthrie. He has a way with words and a wry sense of humor.” His most recent theatrical piece, Lives of A Poet, premiered at Cleveland Public Theater in 2016. He toured Russia with Yevgeny Yevtushenko, appeared on Good Morning, Russia and performed at the Moscow Polytech, the Russian Poets’ Hall of Fame where he was dubbed ‘the American Mayakovsky.’ He has toured Italy twice with legendary beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti. He fronts the blues rock band, Tongue-in-Groove. He was appointed Poet Laureate of Cleveland Heights in April 2020. He received the Cleveland Arts Prize Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. In 2022, he was Awarded a $50,000 Poet Laureate Grant from the American Academy of Poetry for his Poem for Cleveland Project.
Santiago Jose Sanchez (they/them) is a queer Colombian American writer and artist. Their stories have been published in McSweeney's, ZYZZYVA, Subtropics, and Joyland. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Yale University and former professor at Grinnell College, Sanchez now teaches fiction at Oberlin College. Hombrecito, their debut novel, is now out from Riverhead.
Megan Giddings is an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota. Her novel, Lakewood, was published by Amistad in 2020. It was one of New York Magazine’s 10 best books of 2020, one of NPR’s best books of 2020, a Michigan Notable book for 2021, was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards, and a finalist for a 2020 LA Times Book Prize in The Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Speculative Fiction category.
Ray McNiece is the author of eleven books of poems and monologues, most recently The Bone Key Sutra (SeaStory Press, 2025), Love Song for Cleveland, a collaboration with photographer Tim Lachina, and Breath Burns Away. The Orlando Sentinel, reporting on Ray’s solo theater piece “Us — Talking Across America” at the Fringe Festival, called him a "modern-day descendant of Woody Guthrie. He has a way with words and a wry sense of humor.”
Santiago Jose Sanchez (they/them) is a queer Colombian American writer and artist. Their stories have been published in McSweeney's, ZYZZYVA, Subtropics, and Joyland. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Yale University and former professor at Grinnell College, Sanchez now teaches fiction at Oberlin College. Hombrecito, their debut novel, is now out from Riverhead.
