The Brooklyn Poets Friday Night Open begins with an open mic and culminates in readings by two featured poets. Guests can purchase tickets to attend in person at 144 Montague Street or virtually via Zoom (note: virtual guests cannot read for the open mic).
6:00 PM: open mic signup begins
6:30 to 7:45 PM: open mic
8 to 8:30 PM: featured readers
Each reader for the open mic can read for up to a four-minute set. Participants can purchase one of eight tickets in advance to reserve an open mic spot. Once those tickets sell out, all other participants who’d like to read for the open mic can purchase a ticket to sign up at the door on a first-come, first-serve basis. There will be time for about 16–18 readers.
Advance online ticket sales end at 4 PM on the day of the event. After that, tickets for in-person attendance can be purchased at the door until we reach capacity; tickets for virtual attendance will no longer be available. After 4 PM, a Zoom link will be emailed to virtual ticket holders. Participants are encouraged to purchase tickets in advance for in-person attendance, as there are limited seats. Brooklyn Poets members take $5 off.
Note that by participating in the Friday Night Open, you agree to abide by our code of conduct and COVID-19 policy. All in-person attendees are strongly encouraged to wear masks (regardless of vaccination status) except readers at a safe distance on stage, and we will have masks available. Brooklyn Poets reserves the right to dismiss from our programs any participant found to be in violation of these policies. Thank you for respecting our community.
Closed captions will be available for the event through the Zoom livestream. For more information and to request additional accommodations, contact us.
Next Friday Night Open: June 23
Featured poets: Jasmine Ledesma and Carlie Hoffman
Jasmine Ledesma is a writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in places such as Crazyhorse, Rattle and [PANK], among others. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and twice for the Pushcart Prize. She was named a Brooklyn Poets fellow in 2021. Her novella Shrine was listed as a finalist for the Clay Reynolds Novella Prize. Her poem “The Sleazebag Speaks” was highly commended by Warsan Shire for the Moth Poetry Prize. She was awarded the Patricia Clearly Miller Award while in the psychiatric hospital. She was named a Periplus Mentorship Collective fellow in 2022. Her chapbook Acid in Georgia has been released via Bottlecap Press.
Carlie Hoffman is the author of When There Was Light (Four Way Books, 2023) and This Alaska (Four Way Books, 2021), winner of the NCPA Gold Award in poetry and a finalist for the Foreword Indies Book of the Year Award. She is the translator of Weiße Schatten / White Shadows: Anneliese Hager (Atelier Éditions, 2023). Carlie’s honors include the 92Y “Discovery” / Boston Review poetry prize and a Poets & Writers Amy Award, and her work has been published in Los Angeles Review of Books, Kenyon Review, Poetry Daily, Boston Review, New England Review, Jewish Currents and other publications. Carlie lives in Brooklyn, where she edits Small Orange Journal. She is a lecturer of creative writing at the State University of New York at Purchase.