Let This Be Your First
Connect with other writers, artists & art lovers. Share your work. Win cash.
If you’ve never been to an artists’ social, make this Saturday your first—and be part of a bigger celebration of firsts.
The July 26 event, Rooted & Rising, is more than a reading—it’s a creative gathering of writers, artists, and community members celebrating bold beginnings. It will be held from 1 to 3 PM at From the Ground Up Books, Bullitt County’s very first bookstore, located at 160 Frank E. Simon Blvd. in Shepherdsville.
This month’s theme is all about firsts—first poems, first songs, first paintings, first times standing up and saying: This is mine. I made this.
Whether you’ve been creating for years or have never shared your work before in public, this is your chance to step up to the mic in a welcoming, encouraging space. Share a meaningful “first” in your life—a memory, a piece of art, a song—and be part of something powerful.
To sweeten the deal, everyone who participates in the open mic will be entered into a $50 cash prize drawing, courtesy of the Salt River Local Arts Collaborative, with support from the James Baker Hall Foundation.
The featured readers are both literary trailblazers:
G. Wesley Houp, winner of the first James Baker Hall Book Award, will read from his new poetry collection, Strung Out Along the Endless Branch. Houp’s work has appeared in Black Warrior Review, Chattahoochee Review, Kentucky Poetry Review, Limestone, and more. He holds a doctorate in Composition and Rhetoric and spent over 20 years teaching English at the college level before joining Tennessee State Parks.
Amy Roblero-Perez, Kentucky’s first Youth Poet Laureate, is a queer, first-generation Mexican-Guatemalan college student whose writing centers identity, activism, and visibility. A 2022 Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts alumna, she made history in 2023 when she was named the state’s first Youth Poet Laureate.
This free event is part of the Kentucky Writers on the Road tour, presented by the James Baker Hall Foundation. Light refreshments will be served.
Hope to see you there!