The Poetry Bus Visits East Grand Forks for “Verse Junction”Partners with Local Poetry Collective and Musician for Reading and Performance
EAST GRAND FORKS – SEPTEMBER 28, 2026 – On October 8, the East Grand Forks Campbell library will host “Verse Junction: An Evening of Poetry and Music” beginning at 6:30pm. Verse Junction will feature readings by members of two Upper Midwest poetry collectives: The Poetry Bus (Twin Cities/Central MN) and Prairie Sea Flotilla (Grand Forks/East Grand Forks). The event will also feature a musical interlude by Grand Forks cellist Naomi Welsh, bringing a merging of artistic voices and mediums together in the Red River Valley.
The Poetry Bus is a group of four poets from the Twin Cities and central Minnesota. Poetry is their vehicle for communicating the sorrow and the sweet of ordinary lives. Since 2024, they have traveled to communities across the state offering free public readings in formal and informal places. Traveling on the bus to East Grand Forks will be Sara Dovre Wudali, Athena Kildegaard, and Michael Kleber-Diggs. Kleber-Diggs is the author of Wordly Things (Milkweed Editions, 2021), winner of the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and the Poetry Center Book Award. Kildegaard is the author of six books of poetry, most recently Prairie Midden (Tinderbox Editions, 2022), which won the 2023 WILLA Literary Award for poetry. Dovre Wudali is a teaching artist, a mentor with the Minnesota Prison Writers Workshop and the poet-in-residence at Café Marguerite in Minneapolis.
Prairie Sea Flotilla is a local editorial collective and micropress. They create limited-run handmade books using a combination of digital and letterpress printing technologies. Floating over to the library on the 8th will be Casey Fuller, Matt Bruflodt, Shilo Previti, Grant McMillan, and Brendan Stermer.
Naomi Welsh is the executive director of the Northern Valley Youth Orchestras and an accomplished cellist, chamber musician, and string teacher.
Sara Dovre Wudali is a fiscal year 2026 recipient of a Creative Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. Dovre Wudali says, “One of the outcomes I’m working toward with my grant is building relationships with artists across Minnesota. The best way I know to do that is to come visit and work on projects together.”
The Poetry Bus will also be visiting Good Samaritan/Heritage Grove in the afternoon of the same day from 3pm–4 pm.
At the library, light refreshments will be served, and books will be available for sale.
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About Us: The Poetry Bus is a collective of four poets from Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Central Minnesota who believe that poetry is for everyone! Find us on Facebook or Instagram: @poetrybusmn.