Sept 2 | 7:00
Blue Heron Coffeehouse
162 W 2nd St, Winona

The Laureate Writers’ Series for September 2 will feature Brenda Cárdenas, Wisconsin’s Poet Laureate, at the Blue Heron Coffeehouse. Cárdenas is Professor Emerita of English at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and former Milwaukee Poet Laureate.

Cárdenas has authored Trace, winner of the 2023 Society of Midland Authors Award for Poetry and also silver winner of Foreword Review’s Indie Poetry Prize. A second book titled Boomrang, and three chapbooks have also been published. Her other work includes the co-editing of two other volumes, Resist Much/Obey Little: Inaugural Poems to the Resistance and Between the Heart and the Land: Latina Poets in the Midwest.

Cárdenas’ writings have appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, including Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Braving the Body, Latinx Poetics: The Art of Poetry, and Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Anthology, among others. Her poem “Mercy” originally published in SWIMM Everyday is included in the 2025 Best of the Net
anthology, and in 2024, her poem “Para los Tin-Tun-Teros,” set to choral music by Daniel Afonso, was performed by the National Concert Chorus at Carnegie Hall.

The Laureates Series is sponsored by the Blue Heron Coffee House, by Second Chapter Books of Winona, by Friends of the Winona Public Library, by Richard and Sara Ricker, and by Laurie Lucas. The program begins at 7 p.m. and takes place at the Blue Heron Coffeehouse, which serves beverages and treats. An open mic will follow the main presentation, and the program is free and open to all.