Registration for our first-ever hybrid Poetry Marathon is now open! 
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Sat. & Sun., JAN 25 & 26 | 10 am-10 pm 
HYBRID * In person and livestreaming via Crowdcast

Presented Live in The Arc Theater @ SAINT KATE – The Arts Hotel | 139 E Kilbourn Ave, Milwaukee

OPPORTUNITIES: Milwaukee Emerging Poet Fellowships

We are now accepting applications for the third year of our Milwaukee Emerging Poet Fellowship program, with awards given in Practice and Project. Each fellowship will run from February 2025 through Fall 2025. The application deadline for both categories will be December 31, 2024.

Eligibility: Open to Milwaukee poets between the ages of 20 and 35, who are not currently enrolled in an MFA or PhD program.

Practice Fellowship: This fellowship category seeks to support an emerging poet in their writing practice through an 8-month long mentorship with an established poet. Mentor and fellow will meet monthly one-on-one to workshop writing, discuss poetry and poetics, and explore publication opportunities. Meetings will take place in person and virtually. During the fellowship period, the recipient will also receive a $500 book allowance, may attend any Woodland Pattern workshop free of cost, and will be invited to give a culminating reading. Poets with existing manuscript projects are particularly encouraged to apply in this category. This year's mentoring poet will be Chuck Stebelton.

Project Fellowship: This fellowship category seeks to support an emerging poet in need of financial and administrative support for an ambitious literary project such as a reading series, small press, literary journal, or interdisciplinary exhibition. Both new and existing projects are eligible for consideration. The Project fellow will receive ongoing support from our staff, along with a $1,500 project budget. Poets with a track record in DIY literary publishing and programming are particularly encouraged to apply in this category.

About the Milwaukee Emerging Poet Fellowship: Drawing inspiration from both the Mary L. Nohl Fund Emerging Artist Fellowship and the Poetry Project’s Emerge Surface Be program, Woodland Pattern established the Milwaukee Emerging Poet Fellowship program in 2022 to bring greater visibility and much-needed early support to Milwaukee poets through mentorships, access to opportunities that encourage a poet’s practice and development, and investment in literary projects for which younger poets frequently lack resources. The Milwaukee Emerging Poet Fellowship program also seeks to make available alternative avenues of support for emerging poets outside traditional academic-track poetry programs and environments.

NOVEMBER EVENTS

Community Group: Readshop
*ONLINE on Zoom*

Wed. Nov. 6 & 20 | 6-7:15 pm CST | Open to the public

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Reading and Conversation: Isaac Jarnot
*HYBRID*

Sat. Nov. 9 | 7 pm CST | $Give What You Can

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Talk: Niedecker’s Binoculars with Patrick Morrissey
*ONLINE*

Sun. Nov. 10 | 5 pm CST | $Give What You Can

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Reading: United We Read 
*IN PERSON*

Fri. Nov. 15 | 7 pm CST | $Give What You Can

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Concert: Alternating Currents Live presents The Bridge #2.11 

Featuring Greg Ward (alto saxophone), Nicolas Peoc’h (alto saxophone), Hélène Labarrière (double bass), and Isaiah Spencer (drums)

*HYBRID*

Sun. Nov. 17 | 7 pm CST | $15 ($13 Members)

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Concert: Formations Series for New & Improvised Music

SET 1) Voices & VersesKarel Sucky and friends

SET 2) FelstegDave Schoepke and Matt Meixner

*HYBRID*

Thur. Nov. 21 | 7 pm CST | $10

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Open Mic: resound return
*IN PERSON*

Fri. Nov. 22 | 7 PM | Open to the public

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Exhibition: As I Fall Asleep to My Great Aunt’s Fable of a Herder Boy, work by Nomka Enkhee

On view through February 9, 2025

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Read Our Annual Report

Woodland Pattern's 2022 annual report is available to view online. You can also download a PDF by clicking on the button below or request a print version by mail. Learn about our programming efforts, revenue sources, and how we spent our funds. 

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Click on the image above to open the interactive PDF viewer.

Visit our unique collection of small-press poetry

Did you know Woodland Pattern is home to a nationally recognized collection of over 25,000 small-press poetry titles? To the largest selection of haiku in North America? To the biggest selection of books by Native American authors in Wisconsin? To broadsides, zines, chapbooks, pamphlets, and other hand-made items? 

The dissemination of independent literature—particularly poetry, unconventional texts, works that honor bookmaking as a visual art, books by small- and micro-press publishers, and literature by writers from historically marginalized backgrounds—has been central to our purpose since our founding. Our inventory decisions are mission-driven, allowing us to support writers and publishers in ways that are inconceivable for a commercial bookseller.

Come in and discover. We encourage visitors to read and study at their leisure, and to use our space to learn more about poetry, book arts, and small-press publishing. You can also visit our online book center to browse selections from our  inventory, or give us a call at (414) 263-5001 to see if we have a title in stock. As always, we will gladly place special orders, ship books to your home, and offer contactless pick-up at your request.

We acknowledge that in Milwaukee we live and work on traditional Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, and Menominee homelands along the southwest shores of Michigami, part of North America’s largest system of freshwater lakes, where the Milwaukee, Menominee, and Kinnickinnic rivers meet and the people of Wisconsin’s sovereign Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Oneida, and Mohican nations remain present. 

We further acknowledge the grave evil colonialism introduced to these lands ​through genocide as well as slavery, and also via racist and xenophobic ​beliefs, laws​, and practices that continue to inflict harm upon Black, brown, and Indigenous lives. We honor those who have lived—and do live, now—at these intersections of identity and experience, and are committed to the active dismantling of white supremacy.

Read our statement on racial justice

720 E. Locust Street
Milwaukee, WI 53212
Phone: 414 263 5001

Hours: Tues–Sun | 12-7 pm

Closed Mon


Building Accessibility: Despite the age of our physical location, and attendant limitations to access, Woodland Pattern is committed to making its programs and facilities available for as many as possible. Please call for more information.

Events Accessibility: Woodland Pattern is able to offer captioning services for its online events and with advanced notice can provide ASL interpretation for live events. Please contact us with accommodation requests and questions.

© Woodland Pattern 2024