Paradiso presents James Ciano, Carrie Lorig, and Nick Sturm

The popular poetry and performance series kicks off a long, hot summer!

James Ciano is the author of The Committee of Men (Boa Editions, 2026), and an Associate Editor of Swirl & Vortex: Collected Poems of Larry Levis (Graywolf, 2026). He holds a PhD in Creative Writing and Literature from the University of Southern California, and his recent poems have appeared in The Southern Review, Bennington Review, The Hopkins Review, and The Yale Review. His reviews and writings on poetry have appeared in The Adroit Journal, Poetry Northwest, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He is the 2025-2027 Creative Writing Fellow in Poetry at Emory University, and lives in Decatur, Georgia.

Carrie Lorig is the author of The Blood Barn (Inside the Castle), The Book of Repulsive Women (Essay Press), and The Pulp vs. The Throne (Artifice Books). Her poetry has been published in The Brooklyn Rail, Birdcoat Quarterly, Dreginald, Zona Motel, and Fanzine. She is a school psychologist who studies trauma, violent extremism, and school shootings. She will be an Assistant Professor of School Psychology in the fall at the University of Iowa.

Nick Sturm is the editor of Early Works by Alice Notley (Fonograf Editions), co-editor of Ted Berrigan’s Collected Prose (City Lights), and editor of Jim Brodey’s collected poems, Freak Wonder, forthcoming from Nightboat. Nick’s book about small press publishing in postwar American poetry is forthcoming from Columbia University Press. Starting this fall, he’ll teach in the English Department at the University of Iowa.

Doors 6:30 pm, reading at 7 pm. $10-20 cash/Venmo at the door. BYO or sample what’s on hand.