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MARK NOWAK

Tuesday, May 12 • 7 pm
Moon Palace Books
3032 Minnehaha Ave, Minneapolis

Join us for a deep dive into 21st-century documentary poetry!

25 years ago, we hosted poet Mark Nowak in our reading series for his stunning first book Revenants. Join us as we welcome Nowak to the Rain Taxi stage again for his latest work, . . . AGAIN.  Combining poetry and photographs, wordplay and sober documentation, . . . AGAIN looks at the depredations of capitalism and other societal ills in an attempt to make sense of a bitterly divided nation. At this special event, Nowak will read from . . . AGAIN, and then discuss the book in conversation with Rain Taxi editor Eric Lorberer.

About the Author:

Mark Nowak is one of America’s most innovative political poets. Heralded by Adrienne Rich for “regenerating the rich tradition of working-class literature,”  his books include Revenants, Shut Up Shut Down, Coal Mountain Elementary, Social Poetics, and . . . AGAIN, all published by Coffee House Press. The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim, Lannan, and Creative Capital foundations, Nowak is founding director of the Worker Writers School, a sought-after speaker on documentary poetry, and author of the introduction to Celes Tisdale’s When the Smoke Cleared: Attica Prison Poems and Journal (Duke University Press, 2022). 
(author photo by Lisa Arrastia)

Jamie Kalakaru-Mava

Wish for Spring, 10" x 18" paint on canvas

Jamie (Schumacher) Kalakaru-Mava is a visual artist and accomplished writer. Her written work has been featured by Pollen, the Star Tribune, and the Minnesota Women’s Press. Her book It’s Never Going to Work was released in 2018 and details the ups and downs of starting an arts nonprofit. (Spoiler: it did work, at least for a little while.)

Jamie received a master's degree in innovation in nonprofit management. She currently works with LISC Twin Cities, building the capacity of the more than two dozen cultural and creative districts of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Jamie currently lives in Bloomington with her partner, Nick, their two daughters, a rescue pup named Rufus, a still unnamed betta fish, and four chickens. While she is available for hire, she would also like to warn you that she dabbles in the dark arts with only limited success. Find out more at jamie-schumacher.com.

Rain Taxi at AWP Baltimore

March 5 - 7, 2026
Baltimore Convention Center
Baltimore, Maryland

Visit us at Table T649 in the AWP Bookfair!

As usual, Rain Taxi will be taking part in the annual AWP Conference & Bookfair, which this year takes place in Baltimore. Stop by our table to say hi, and see how we're celebrating 30 years of Rain Taxi with great deals on chapbooks and more. Plus become a member or renew your membership and receive a special gift!

Book Reviews & Literary Community:
Why Criticism Continues to Matter

Room 301, Level 300, Baltimore Convention Center
9:00 am to 10:15 am
Session code: T106

Rain Taxi editor Eric Lorberer will take part in a panel about book reviews. Fellow presenters include Alyse Bensel, Robin Becker, Elise McHugh, and Kathleen Rooney.
Click here to learn more.

2026 Rain Taxi Readings and Events

Rain Taxi at AWP Baltimore

Thursday, March 5 through Saturday, March 7

Rain Taxi attended the 2026 AWP Conference held in Baltimore, MD. Rain Taxi editor Eric Lorberer participated in in a panel about book reviews and literary community with Alyse Bensel, Robin Becker, Elise McHugh, and Kathleen Rooney.

Translating the World: Ed Bok Lee, Robert Hedin, and Kaija Straumanis

Tuesday, February 10, 2026, Magers & Quinn Booksellers; co-sponsored by Rain Taxi

Photo by Kelly Everding; pictured from left to right are Ed Bok Lee, Robert Hedin, Eric Lorberer, and Kaija Straumanis

Amidst continued winter chills and challenges in the Twin Cities, a standing-room only crowd gathered at Magers & Quinn Booksellers for an evening of literary translation, with three acclaimed translators presenting recently published works: Ed Bok Lee (Hail, Che! by Korean poet Pak Jeong-dae); Robert Hedin (The Mountains of Kong by Norwegian poet Dag T. Straumsvag); and Kaija Straumanis (The River by Latvian novelist Laura Vinogradova). The evening was moderated by Rain Taxi Review of Books editor Eric Lorberer, and began with a poem read by Ayub Iman, an undergraduate at Metro State University.

Click here to view the video recording of this event on our YouTube channel.

TRANSLATING THE WORLD

Ed Bok Lee, Robert Hedin, and Kaija Straumanis

in conversation

Tuesday, February 10, 2026, 7:00pm
Magers & Quinn Booksellers
3038 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis

Free and open to the public—Register here.

Join us for an evening focused on great literary translation, co-presented with Magers & Quinn Booksellers! Three Minnesota translators with new releases from Korean, Norwegian, and Latvian will read from and discuss their work, moderated by Rain Taxi editor Eric Lorberer.

About the Translators

Ed Bok Lee began writing poetry while in kindergarten in Seoul, South Korea; since then he has published three acclaimed books of poetry. His poems have been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Korean, and Chinese, and his honors include an American Book Award, an Asian American Literary Award, a Minnesota Book Award, and a PEN/Open Book Award. As a translator, Lee received the Modern Korean Literature Translation Grand Prize in Poetry; his translations have ranged from the prose of science fiction writer Anatoli Kim (Kazakstan/Russia) to Smiling in an Old Photograph: Poems by Kim Ki-taek and Hail, Che! by Pak Jeong-dae (South Korea). Lee teaches at Metro State University.

Robert Hedin is the author, translator, and editor of more than two dozen books of poetry. The recipient of many honors and awards for his work, he has taught at the University of Alaska, the University of Minnesota, St. Olaf College, and Wake Forest University. He is co-founder and former director of the Anderson Center at Tower View, a residential artist retreat in Red Wing, Minnesota.

Kaija Straumanis is an award-winning translator from the Latvian, and is the Editorial Director of Coffee House Press. Her translations include works by such authors as Inga Ābele, Jānis Joņevs, and Gundega Repše, among others. She received a 2020 NEA Literature Translation Fellowship for her work on Forest Daughters edited by Sanita Reinsone. Her most recent translation, The River by Laura Vinogradova, was longlisted for the 2026 PEN Translation Prize.

Volume 30, Number 4, Winter 2025 (#120)

To purchase issue #120 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

INTERVIEWS

Patrick Lawler:  Swallowed by a Hyperobject  |  Interviewed by John Bradley
Andrew Grace:  If only, heaven notwithstanding, there was an Ohio Ohio enough  |  Interviewed by Tiffany Troy

FEATURES

Letter from the Editor  |  by Eric Lorberer
More than a Magazine: Rain Taxi Highlights
Trauma and Its Possessions  |  by Jehanne Dubrow
Fifty Years On: Paul Fussell’s The Great War and Modern Memory  |  by Mike Dillon
Habits of Mind: A Short Essay on the Work of Tim Nolan  |  by Bubba Henson
The New Life  |  a comic by Gary Sullivan

PLUS: Cover art by Kelly Everding

FICTION REVIEWS

Mr. Breakfast  |  Jonathan Carroll  |  by James Sallis
Happiness and Love  |  Zoe Dubno  |  by Drew Basile
The Remembered Soldier  |  Anjet Daanje  |  by Alice-Catherine Carls
We Are Green and Trembling  |  Gabriela Cabezón Cámara  |  by Mary Luna
Blue Futures, Break Open  |  Zoë Gadegbeku  |  by Lindsey Drager
Iris and the Dead  |  Miranda Schreiber  |  by Michelle Melles
Songs of No Provenance  |  Lydi Conklin  |  by Lauren Bo

NONFICTION REVIEWS

Meditations: The Assorted Prose of Barbara Guest  |  Barbara Guest 
|  by Patrick James Dunagan
Unsavory Thoughts  |  Thomas Walton  |  by Greg Bem
Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal  |  Mohammed El-Kurd 
|  by Andrew Benzinger
Replace the State:  How to Change the World When Elections and Protests Fail 
|  Sasha Davis  |  by Douglas C. MacLeod, Jr.
Even Strange Ghosts Can Be Shared: The Collected Letters of Jack Spicer 
|  Jack Spicer  |  by Patrick James Dunagan

POETRY REVIEWS

Portable City  |  Karen Kovacik  |  by Jessica Reed
Firespitter: The Collected Poems of Jayne Cortez  |  Jayne Cortez 
|  by Walter Holland
No Known Coordinates  |  Maria Terrone  |  by Dawn Leas
Pathemata, Or, The Story of My Mouth  |  Maggie Nelson  |  by Christian Teresi
After the Operation  |  Elizabeth T. Gray, Jr.  |  by Jay Butler
The Complete Poems  | Wendy Barker  |  by Zachary T. Sokoloski
Apostle of Desire  |  Bruce Weigl  |  by Walter Holland
Requiem and Other Poems  |  Aharon Shabtai  | by John Bradley
Towards a Retreat  |  Samaa Abdurraqib  |  by Mike Bove

COMICS REVIEW

10,000 Ink Stains: A Memoir  |  Jeff Lemire  |  by David Beard

To purchase issue #120 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

Volume 30, Number 3, Fall 2025 (#119)

To purchase issue #119 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

INTERVIEWS

Marcia Butler: Woolfian Voyager  |  Interviewed by E. J. Levy
Esteban Rodríguez: No Choice But To Believe  |  Interviewed by Tiffany Troy

FEATURES

The New Life  |  a comic by Gary Sullivan
René Char: Resistant  |  by Mike Dillon
From the Backlist: Wanda Coleman  |  Heart First Into This Ruin: The Complete American Sonnets  |  by Walter Holland

PLUS: Cover art by Jeffrey Hansen

FICTION

Pink Slime |  Fernanda Trias  |  by James Sallis
Nadja  |  André Breton  |  by Daniel Barbiero
Voices of the Fallen Heroes  |  Yukio Mishima  |  by Ruby Sonnek
The Imagined Life  |  Andrew Porter  |  by Jonathan Fletcher
The Harmattan Winds  |  Sylvain Trudel  |  by Alice-Catherine Carls
The Café With No Name  |  Robert Seethaler  |  by Lisa Seidenberg
The Height of Land  |  M. C. Benner Dixon  |  by Mike Piero
Man Picks Flower  |  Roger King  |  by E. J. Iannelli
The City Changes Its Face  |  Eimear McBride  |  by Vera Tomasi
Lonesome Ballroom  |  Madeline McDonnell  |  by McKenzie Watson-Fore

NONFICTION

Black Surrealist: The Legend of Ted Joans  |  Steven Belletto 
|  by Patrick James Dunagan
Murderland:  Crime and Bloodlust in the Time of Serial Killers  |  Caroline Fraser 
|  by Chris Barsanti
The Third Reich of Dreams: The Nightmares of a Nation  |  Charlotte Beradt 
|  by W. C. Bamberger
The Wild Dark:  Finding the Night Sky in the Age of Light  |  Craig Childs 
|  by Emily Wortman-Wunder
An Island To Myself: The Place of Solitude in an Active Life  |  Michael N. McGregor 
|  by Joanne B. Mulcahy
Home Club: Up-and-Comers and Comebacks at Acme Comedy Company 
|  Patrick Strait  |  by Joshua Preston

POETRY

Concerning the Angels  |  Rafael Alberti  |  by John Bradley
Paper Crown  |  Heather Christle  |  by Dobby Gibson
Beef Cherries  |  Misha Crafts  |  by Valentine Freeman
Late to the Search Party  |  Steven Espada Dawson  |  by Nic Cavell
My Love Is Water  |  Rob Macaisa Colgate  |  by Robert Eric Shoemaker
Jalousie  |  Allyson Paty  |  by Ralph Pennel
No Swaddle  |  Mackenzie Kozak  |  by Barbara Roether
The Glass Clouding  |  Masaoka Shiki  |  by Judy Halebsky
Long Island Triptych and Selected Poems  |  Lindley Williams Hubbell 
|  by Dennis Barone

COMICS

Charlotte Brontë before Jane Eyre  |  Glynnis Fawkes
Persephone’s Garden  |  Glynnis Fawkes 
1177 B.C.: A Graphic History of the Year Civilization Collapsed 
|  Eric H. Cline and Glynnis Fawkes |  by Andrew Cleary

To purchase issue #119 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

Jeffrey Hansen

Non-Zero-Sum Untitled No. 125
Oil on Paper, 30 x 22 Inches

Visual artist Jeffrey Hansen has lived and worked in the art community of Lowertown, St. Paul since 1994. In 1991 while attending the College of Visual Arts he opened his own workshop and studio in the downtown area of White Bear Lake. Following three decades of experimentation, evolving practices, and a re-discovery of circular motifs, today he is concentrating on his own concepts and minimalist techniques of abstract expressionism in non-subjective symbolism and geometric form. Jeff’s renewed take on various artistic methods and disciplines is creating a body of work that conveys a new vision of artistic interpretation and iconographic value.

His 'Non-Zero-Sum' series of circular patterns has been exhibited in New York, Denver, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Florida, and in many local MN exhibits including at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The Phipps Galleries, Gamut Gallery, Hallberg Center for the Arts, Eagan Art House, Northfield Arts Guild, Art Reach St. Croix, Sower Gallery, Paradise Center for the Arts, Beckmann Gallery, and many others. Visit him at jhansenartist.com.

Volume 30, Number 2, Summer 2025 (#118)

To purchase issue #118 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

INTERVIEWS

Lauren Markham:  Language and Catastrophe |  interviewed by Elizabeth Brogden
Zack Kopp:  The Future Is Unwritten |  interviewed by Michele McDannold
Mai Der Vang:  Light as Kin   |  interviewed by Tiffany Troy

FEATURES

The New Life  | comic by Gary Sullivan
Peter Gizzi: An Appreciation  |  by Dennis Barone

PLUS: Cover art by Areca Roe

NONFICTION

Love, Joe: The Selected Letters of Joe Brainard  |  Joe Brainard / Daniel Kane, Ed. 
|  by W. C. Bamberger
Hypochondria  |  Will Rees  |  by Brittany Micka-Foos
Malcolm Before X  |  Patrick Parr  |  by Paul Buhle
Queer Cambridge:  An Alternative History  |  Simon Goldhill  |  by Walter Holland
Writing Home: Selected World War II Letters of Leslie A. Fiedler  |  Leslie A. Fiedler /
Samuele F. S. Pardini, Ed.  |  by Steven G. Kellman
Against Platforms: Surviving Digital Utopia  |  Mike Pepi  | 
by Douglas C. MacLeod, Jr.
Sad Planets  |  Dominic Pettman and Eugene Thacker  |  by Zoe Berkovitz
The Fourth Mind  |  Whitley Strieber  |  by Zack Kopp

FICTION

Dispatches from the District Committee  |  Vladimir Sorokin  |  by Eric Vanderwall
Name  |  Constance Debré  |  by Bella Moses
Tidal Lock  |  Lindsay Hill  |  by Carolyn Kuebler
Paradise Logic  | Sophie Kemp  |  by Max Callimanopulos
Shit Show  |  Arthur Nersesian  |  by Zack Kopp
Twilight of the Gods  |  Kurt Baumeister  |  by Jesi Bender
Answer Only  |  John Michael Flynn  |  by Ben Sloan

POETRY / MIXED GENRE

The Anthology of Black Mountain College Poetry  | Blake Hobby, Alessandro Porco,
Joseph Bathanti, Eds.  |  by Patrick James Dunagan
Forest of Noise  |  Mosab Abu Toha  |  by John Bradley
Brutal Companion  |  Ruben Quesada  |  by Walter Holland
The Coronation of the Ghost  |  Benjamin Gantcher  |  by J-T Kelly
Book of Potions  |  Lauren K. Watel  |  by Robert Eric Shoemaker
The Widow’s Crayon Box  |  Molly Peacock  |  by Alex Gurtis
No Small Thing  |  Gabriel Fried  |  by Greg Bem
Today’s Specials  |  Sara Ries Dziekonski  |  by Elizabeth Sylvia
These Pages Once Were Skin  |  Laurie Price  |  by Joe Safdie
Inner Verses  |  Pam Rehm
She Is The Earth  |  Ali Cobby Eckermann  |  by Patrick James Dunagan
Bad Forecast  |  Steffan Triplett  |  by Richard Hamilton

COMICS

Existential Comics: Selected Stories 1979–2004  |  R. Crumb  |  by Paul Buhle

To purchase issue #118 using Paypal, click here.
To become a member and get quarterly issues of Rain Taxi delivered to your door, click here.

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Thank you for registering to attend the Rain Taxi 30th Anniversary Exhibit Opening Night Reception on Tuesday, October 7 at 6:00 pm at Open Book. Simply check in with event staff when you arrive; your ticket(s) will be reserved under your name.

You will receive a confirmation email shortly. We look forward to seeing you there!