UPCOMING EVENTS

Wednesday, April 26th @ 7:00pm
Moonstone Arts, 4th Wednesday Reading
With Maya Pindyck
In person and on Zoom (Register for Zoom link here)
Fergie’s Pub 1214 Sansom Street, Philadelphia

Sunday, April 30th @ 6:00pm
WordShedNYC, hosted by Leah Elimeliah
With Alicia Ostriker & Joy Ladin
P&T Knitwear Bookstore, 180 Orchard Street, NYC

Sunday, May 7th @ 12:30–4:30pm ET 
Writing Poems for the Earth: An Ecopoetry Workshop
Hudson Valley Writers Center
Zoom only, Register here

What does it feel like to be a human on earth during the climate crisis? How can we find the words to express our concern, grief, and awe for this fragile planet that we call our home? In this generative, interactive workshop, we will trace the evolution of nature poetry from the Romantic tradition to what we now call “ecopoetry,” a poetry that interrogates the relationship between the human and non-human, shifting the human gaze to make room for other voices and perspectives. We will read poems that respond to the climate crisis and that explore the intersection of race and identity with experiences of nature. We’ll read works by Lucille Clifton, Ed Roberson, Camille Dungy, Juliana Spahr, Forrest Gander, John Clare, John Keats, Denise Levertov, Inger Christensen, and Brenda Hillman. After soaking in these voices, we will then engage in writing exercises based on the works we read. Becoming deeply attentive to our environment, to its creatures and plants, to the places where human and nature meet, we will write our own poems and then share our discoveries with the group.

Tuesday, May 9 @ 5pm CT
Speaking for Earth: Poetry Reading & Discussion on Climate Crisis
Oak Park Public Library, Main Library Veterans Room, 834 Lake St. Oak Park, IL 60301
In person only, Register here

We are living on a fragile and sacred planet that needs us to speak on its behalf. How can we find the words to express our concern, grief, and awe for this fragile planet that we call our home? The act of reading and writing poetry can train us to listen deeply to the voices of the earth. Poet Hila Ratzabi will read from her debut book of environmental poetry, THERE ARE STILL WOODS, and lead a discussion and creative writing exercise on how we can respond to the climate crisis. A representative from the Village of Oak Park Office of Sustainability and Resilience will share updates on local efforts to respond to the climate crisis and invite the community to get involved.

Thursday, May 18th @ 7pm
Words of Light: Jewish Poetry Panel
With Dina Elenbogen & Jamie Wendt
Anshe Emet Synagogue, 3751 North Broadway, Chicago, IL 60613
In person only

What does it mean to be a Jewish poet during these dark times? How do we keep our voices raised in song amidst so much suffering? Poetry can be a source of light in the darkness. Dina Elenbogen, Hila Ratzabi, and Jamie Wendt, three Chicago-based Jewish women poets and astute witnesses, see and write through a Jewish lens as they celebrate and lament the worlds in which they are engaged. They write of loss and displacement, but also faith, hope, and healing. Together they are a powerful chorus of voices that help us discover how to live as a Jew and a mensch during these troubling times.
Learn more and register

PAST EVENTS

Tuesday, April 18th @ 6:30pm CT
Writing Wildlife: A NAWP Panel
On Zoom
For Poetry Month and Earth Day and the ever present threat of climate change, poets Hila Ratzabi, Josette Akresh-Gonzales and Jared Beloff will read and discuss how their recent collections attempt to address climate anxieties, parenting and how to write a wild life.

Saturday, March 11th, 2023 @ 12:10–1:25pm PT
Getting to Aha! Creative Practice Beyond the Writing Classroom
With Amy Lemmon, Felicia Rose Chavez, Ashley Hajimirsadeghi, Hila Ratzabi
Scheduled Room: Room 332, Summit Building, Seattle Convention Center, Level 3

Whether it’s generating innovative ideas or finding the breakthrough within a block, the strategies used by creative writers have a multiplicity of applications. Writers who teach in programs and institutions ranging from medical humanities to the arts, business, and design–and a graduate of one of these programs–discuss how they utilize creative writing pedagogy and practice in these spaces and beyond. Attendees will leave with specific tools they can apply in their teaching and writing.

Thursday, March 9th, 2023 @ 7:30pm PT
AWP Offsite Event
Voices of the Anthropocene: An Ecopoetry Reading
With Sean Hill, Claire Wahmanholm, Brittney Corrigan, Angela Voras-Hills
Folio, 93 Pike Street, #307, on the third floor of the Economy Building in Pike Place Market

Wednesday, March 8th, 2023 @ 6–10pm PT
AWP Offsite Event
Wednesday Night Poetry, hosted by Kai Coggin
Cafe Racer, 1510 11th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122

Friday, February 3rd, 2023 @ 7:00pm

Tu B’Shvat Seder and Poetry Reading
Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation (JRC)

Sunday, September 4, 2022 @ 7pm EST / 6pm CST
Mercy Street Reading Series, Chicago 
Hosted by Ruben Quesada
Online: Register 

Thursday, September 8, 2022 @ 7pm EST / 6pm CST
Voices of the Divine Feminine, with Joy Ladin
Hosted by Rabbi Deborah Waxman
Ritualwell, Reconstructing Judaism
Online: Register 

Sunday, September 10, 2022
Book Launch Party!
Hosted by Sara Arnold, June Road Press
Berwyn, PA

Tuesday, September 13, 2022 @ 12:30pm EST
Lunchtime reading and Q&A
Reconstructing Judaism, Wyncote, PA 

Wednesday, September 14, 2022 @ 7pm EST
Existential Reckonings, with Shelly Oria and Rosebud Ben-Oni
Hosted by Sarah Chandler
Marlene Meyerson JCC, Manhattan, NY
In person: Register
Zoom

Thursday, September 15, 2022 @ 8pm EST
Reading and discussion
Israel Center of Conservative Judaism
Queens, NY
Zoom 

Sunday, September 18, 2022 @ 1pm EST
Hosted by Julie Zuckerman
Literary Modi’in, Israel
Zoom

Sunday, September 18, 2022 @ 6pm EST
Bloom Reading Series, with Dennis Nurkse and Chris Hansen-Nelson
Hudson View Gardens, NY
In person 

Wednesday, September 21, 2022 @ 6pm EST
Blue Hour Reading Series, with Faylita Hicks
Hosted by Marty McConnell
Chicago Poetry Center, Haymarket House, Chicago
In person

Thursdays, October 13 – November 17, 2022 @ 12–1:30 pm EST 
Songs of the Grass: A Jewish Ecopoetry Workshop (six-week series)
Ritualwell Immersion, six weeks
Zoom

November 4–5, 2022
“Give and Take: The Entanglements of Caregiving, Writing, and Environment” (roundtable)
With Angela Voras-Hills, Danielle Harms, Kate Partridge, Lisa Fay Coutley, Freesia McKee
CD Wright Women Writers Conference, University of Central Arkansas
Zoom

November 6, 2022 @ 2:50 pm EST
“Not For Myself Alone: Creating and Sustaining Jewish Literary Communities” (panel discussion)
With Richard Chess and David Ebenbach
Jewish Book Council
Online

November 21, 2022 @ 7 pm EST
Monday Night Poetry 
Hosted by Jason Schneiderman
KGB Bar, NY
In person

Thursday, June 22nd, 2016, 7–8:30pm
David Ebenbach, Alison Hicks, Hila Ratzabi
Big Blue Marble Bookstore

Sunday, September 11th, 2016, 5:00pm
Jubliant Thicket Reading Series
Head House Books

Saturday, May 7th, 2016, 7:00pm
Dave Worrell, Susan Windle, Hila Ratzabi, Nicole Rollender, and Hanoch Guy
Big Blue Marble Bookstore

Saturday, May 21st, 2016, 2:00pm
Nicolle Rollender, Sarah Blake, Shevaun Brannigan, Hila Ratzabi
Penn Book Center

Sunday, May 1st, 2016
Embodied Ritual, Embodied Writing
Elana Bell, Hila Ratzabi, Maya Pindyck
Philadelphia Ethical Society
This event is sponsored by Ritualwell.org.

Split This Rock Poetry Festival

Thursday, April 14th, 2016
Eco-Feminist Poetry, Intersectionality, & the End of the Earth
Jess X. Chen,Safia Elhillo, Clara Chagxin Fang, Cecilia Llompart, Hila Ratzabi

Solastalgia (n.): the pain experienced when the place that one lives is under immediate assault. Today, rapid ocean acidification and rising CO2 levels drive the Earth and its eight million species closer to collapse. As the colonial world expands, borders are being violently redrawn, further pushing what’s left of the wild out of their homes. As climate change endangers our material, physical, and spiritual wellbeing, our response must be both intersectional and radical. As eco-feminist poets and environmental activists of diverse backgrounds, we respond to this crisis with fierce and visceral poems. The poets will each read and perform new work and then participate in a Q&A with the audience. A multimedia visual art presentation featuring interactive examples of eco-feminist art, music, and activism will accompany the reading. Through poetry and discussions of eco-feminist activism, we will explore the ways women, immigrants, indigenous peoples, and the Earth are entwined not only in the violence and silencing they face, but in their struggles and resilience.

Monday, April 11th, 2016, 7:30pm
Painted Bride Quarterly reading series
Black Sheep Pub

Saturday, May 2, 2015
Urban Nature Ecopoetry Workshop
Massachusetts Poetry Festival

Sunday, April 19, 2015
Four Poets: Facets of their Jewish Journey
(with Hal Sirowitz, B.E. Kahn, and Cathleen Cohen)
Big Blue Marble Books

Friday, April 17, 2015
Earthly Rituals: Women in Celebration of and Dialogue with the Earth (with Therese Halscheid, Amy Small-McKinney, Alison Hicks, and Catherine Bancroft)
Big Blue Marble Books

Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Words off the Page: An Evening with Jewish American Poets
National Museum of American Jewish History
Philadelphia, PA

Join us for a special evening with prominent poets featured in The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry. The event includes readings from Elizabeth J. Coleman, Lynn Levin, Hila Ratzabi, Hal Sirowitz, and Jason Schneiderman, and a discussion moderated by Anthology co-editor, Deborah Ager.

Dessert reception with book sale and signing to follow.

Saturday, November 29, 2014
Feats of Poetic Strength: An All-Women Poetry Reading
Hila Ratzabi, Shevaun Brannigan, Chloe Martinez, dawn lonsinger, Kimberly Ann Southwick
Philadelphia Sculpture Gym

October 17, 2014
Couplet Reading Series 3rd Anniversary, with John Deming, Helen Vitoria, Jason Koo, John Reed, and Rachel McKibbens, The Delancey

August 10, 2014
Jubliant Thicket, Head House Books

July 26, 2014
Eco-Poetry: Writing for the Love of this Blue Planet, with Elliott batTzedek, Lori Wilson, Sam Hall, Lisa Wujnovich, Anne-Adele Wight, and MaryAnn Miller, Big Blue Marble Books

July 19, 2014
Penn Book Center (with Jacob Russell and Dianna Dragonetti)

June 14, 2014
Reading with El Aleph Magazine, Berl’s Poetry Shop

May 29, 2014
Big Blue Marble Books (with Michelle Castleberry)

April 23, 2014
Free Library, Independence Branch

March 29, 2014
From Transgressive to Divine Feminine: Female Poets as Rebels and Miscreants (with Wendy Babiak, Rosebud Ben-Oni, Seema Reza, Metta Sáma, Arisa White), Split This Rock Poetry Festival, Washington, DC 

January 2, 2014
Celebrating the publication of the Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary Jewish American Poetry, Poets House

December 7, 2013
APIARY 7 Launch Party, Underground Arts

December 5, 2013: Hosting Storyscape Issue #11 Launch Party with Box of Jars and Marc Jaffee, Two Moon Art House & Cafe

June 9, 2013
Group reading at Salon Des Amis Gallery, Malvern, PA

June 5, 2013
Contributors Rosebud Ben-Oni, R. Erica Doyle, Anne Hays, and Hila Ratzabi join forces for a reading and signing celebrating HER KIND, a literary community powered by VIDA: Women in Literary Arts at WORD Brooklyn

May 31, 2013
Shabbat Tikkun: A Conversation about the Climate Crisis & What We Can Do, reading and discussion with Environmental Action organizer Jesse Bacon, Kol Tzedek, Calvary Center

May 11, 2013
2nd Saturday Poets (with Marie-Elizabeth Mali), Wilmington, DE

March 16, 2013
Finishing Line Press reading featuring Chloe Yelena Miller, David Ebenbach, Alison Hicks, and Hila Ratzabi, Big Blue Marble Bookstore

April 21, 2012: Not Your Bubbe’s Poetry, a reading with new Jewish women poets (Rachel Simon, Janlori Goldman, Sarah Heller, Reesa Grushka, Hannah Baker-Siroty), Massachusetts Poetry Festival

April 13, 2012
Celebrating the Publication of Storyscape Issue #8, ABC No Rio

January 21, 2012
Box of Jars launch reading, 68 Jay St. Bar

April 30, 2011
LUMINA launch reading, Slonim House, Sarah Lawrence College

April 27, 2011
Perfect Sense Reading Series with Eve Grubin, Deborah Landau, Nate Pritts, & Sampson Starkweather, Cornelia Street Cafe

November 10, 2010
Sarah Lawrence Alumnae Reading, Poets House

June 14, 2010
Franklin Park Reading Series, Brooklyn, NY

June 7, 2010
Made with Love Organic Bakery & Cafe, Jersey City, NJ (with Chloe Yelena Miller)

March 23, 2010
New Jewish Voices (with Maya Pindyck, Amy Gottlieb, Elana Bell, Sarah Heller, and Rachel Simon), Unnameable Books, Brooklyn, NY

January 25, 2010
Cornelia Street Cafe

September 30, 2009
Sarah Lawrence College

January 21, 2009
Mixer Reading Series, Cake Shop, New York, NY

October 22, 2008
Fundraiser for Intentional Theater, Lolita Bar, New York, NY

June 14, 2008
Vision Festival, New York, NY

September 13, 2007
Bowery Poetry Club, New York, NY

April 27, 2007
Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival, Bronxville, NY