Poetry Reading by Dougie Padilla

Tuesday | September 3 | 7 pm
Blue Heron Coffeehouse | 162 W 2nd St.

DOUGIE PADILLA, POET, ARTIST, ACTIVIST, RACONTEUR

“What a pleasure to read these poems—they are just right, And that’s not easy.” 

         Gary Snyder, Pulitzer Prize winning poet

Dougie Padilla will read, mostly from his new book of poetry “10 Feet Down,” (his sixth in 10 years) at the Blue Heron Coffeehouse, Tuesday, September 3rd at 7 pm. The reading will be followed by a book signing and then an Open Mic. We encourage you to read at the Open Mic whether you are a seasoned writer or poet or are a newcomer. It is a receptive audience.

Dougie Padilla is a rock and roll poet whose readings are more like performance art than anything else. His work is filled with life, spirituality, humanity, and emotion. He says he is half Norwegian, half Mexican, half Cowboy and his life has involved communes, hippies, antiwar activism, hitchhiking, and psychedelics. As a child, he often visited his grandmother here in Winona and it is still a kind of paradise to him.

Padilla is an accomplished artist, and very much involved in the art scene in the Twin Cities as well as the poetry world. He and his wife Susan live in Northfield, and he has a studio in Pepin, Wisconsin. 

This event is sponsored by the Blue Heron Coffeehouse, Shipwreckt Books Publishing Co., Chapter 2 Books, and Friends of the Winona Public Library. It is free and open to the public.

“Dougie Padilla’s poetry settles into you with the scent of new hay, the din of the zocalo, and the warmth of your grandma’s prayers.”

            Timothy Young, author of Portraits of Rodeo Clowns and Royalty

Shipwreckt Books Publishing Company and Laureate Writers Series organizers Ken McCullough and Emilio DeGrazia are members of the River Arts Alliance. To learn more about the benefits of membership, please visit: riverartsalliance.org/membership/.