Lucy Adkins’ poetry has been published in many journals including Poet Lore, Red Wheelbarrow, South Dakota Review and the anthologies Nebraska Presence, Women Write Resistance and the Poets Against the War anthology, and others. Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart prize, and she has also co-authored two books of non-fiction, Writing in Community, recipient of an “Ippy” in the Independent Publishers Book Awards; and The Fire Inside which will be forthcoming in June. Her newly released book of poetry is Two-Toned Dress, winner of the 2019 Blue Light Press chapbook contest.

Julie Babcock's hybrid poetry collection, Rules for Rearrangement, won the 2019 Kithara Book Prize and was published this winter. She is also the author of Autoplay, described as both an ode and elegy to her Midwestern upbringing. Her poetry and fiction appear in The Rumpus, PANK, december magazine, and are anthologized in New Poetry from the Midwest. She is the recipient of a Vermont Studio fellowship and several Pushcart nominations. She teaches in an interdisciplinary writing program at University of Michigan and is finishing her first novel.

Halee Kirkwood, a 2019-2020 Loft Mentor Series Fellow, received their MFA from Hamline University. Their work has been published in The Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day series, Water~Stone Review, Lunch Ticket, Muzzle Magazine, Grimoire Magazine, Cream City Review, Strange Horizons, and others. They have been twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, as well as a nomination for a Best of the Net prize. Kirkwood was an inaugural teaching fellow for the 2019 Desert Nights, Rising Stars writing conference at Arizona State University, and has served as a writing mentor for the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. Their mini-chapbook, Exorcising The Catalogue, was published in Fall 2018 with Rinky Dink Press. Kirkwood is the executive editor of Runestone Journal, an online literary magazine publishing emerging writers. Kirkwood is a proud first-generation college student and a direct descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe.

Yamini Pathak is the author of the chapbook, Atlas of Lost Places (Milk and Cake Press). Her poetry and non-fiction have appeared in Waxwing, Anomaly, The Kenyon Review blog, Jaggery, and elsewhere. A Dodge Foundation Poet in the Schools, she is the poetry editor for the Inch chapbook series published by Bull City Press and an MFA candidate at Antioch University, Los Angeles. Yamini is an alumnus of VONA/Voices (Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation), and has participated in Community of Writers and the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference. She was born and raised in India and now lives in New Jersey.

The Equinox Readings were born of a desire to maintain connection to our literary communities during the peculiarities of 2020. These semi-annual events are to celebrate and lift the achievements of those who grace our vibrant Minnesota Northwoods Writers community. Each Equinox Reading will include a featured writer and guests who will share new work with us. These events are free and open to the public.