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Join us for ANN SPIERS and ED HARKNESS as featured poets — plus open mic!
Next readings — now in our 20th year
Next readings — now in our 20th year
All readings are free and in person at SoulFood CoffeeHouse at 6:00 p.m., usually with two featured readers and an open-mic reading.
Thursday, November 20, 2025, 6:00 p.m.
Ann Spiers and Ed HarknessThursday, December 18, 2025, 6:00 p.m.
Jack Straw Poets: Bill Hollands, Nhatt Nichols, and Connor Watkins-XuThursday, January 15, 2026, 6:00 p.m.
Melanie Reed and Art Gomez
SoulFood CoffeeHouse, 15748 Redmond Way, Redmond, Washington
SoulFood CoffeeHouse Website | Store Location | Directions | Future Readings | Past Readings
If you haven’t been to SoulFood Poetry Night, you’re missing out on a warm and vibrant poetry community! On the third Thursday of every month, SoulFood CoffeeHouse in Redmond, Washington, is home to SoulFood Poetry Night, an evening of engaged and engaging poetry. Our performance stage features professional sound and lighting systems in an inviting gallery and café setting in SoulFood CoffeeHouse.
SoulFood Poetry Night is curated by Michael Dylan Welch, and has been running monthly since July of 2006 (we held our 100th reading in October of 2014, our 150th reading in January of 2019, and our 200th reading in March of 2023). For more than a decade, we asked one featured reader to select someone else to read with him or her. This process echoed the sense of community and connection that is central to SoulFood CoffeeHouse. This serendipity brought in new voices, and helped to create harmony or contrast in our reading series. Starting in 2016, though, we switched to primarily featuring groups or organizations but around 2019 we again started featuring mostly pairs of individual readers. Featured readers start shortly after our start time (7:00 p.m. until August of 2022, 6:00 p.m. as of September of 2022). Our two featured readers or groups and organizations are mostly from the greater Seattle area, but we welcome poets from farther afield as well. After we have a break to enjoy the bookstore, its art gallery, and especially its café, we have an open-mic reading where we invite you to share your poetry. Just sign up when you arrive and be prepared to read for about three or four minutes each (depending on the number of readers). And the occasional song is welcome, too.
Explore this site to see future readings and past readings (with photos and bios of featured poets), directions, and other details. Hope to see you at our next reading! If you have questions or want to contact us, click the Curators link.
See photos of the SoulFood Poetry Party, June 28, 2009
See additional photos of SoulFood CoffeeHouse
See SoulFood Poetry Night on Channel 13 Fox TV News
Read a Redmond Patch article about SoulFood CoffeeHouse (formerly SoulFood Books)
Read A Rant About Open-Mic Readings (useful advice for every open-mic reader to know)
Read Poetry Readings: The Good, the Bad, and the Hideous (more useful advice)
Site Copyright © 2006–2025 by Michael Dylan Welch.
Readings, including open-mic readings after our featured readers, were for many years streamed live on Twitch (previously on SoultribeTV). You used to be able to view them live during each reading, or afterwards by searching for the reading by date. See the archives (search for poetry). Many readings have also been uploaded to YouTube. For example, see the March 18, 2021 “Art Against Hate” reading on YouTube.
After more than two years of Zoom readings during the pandemic, SoulFood Poetry Night returned to in-person readings in September of 2022. About 45 people attended this 19 January 2023 reading, featuring Jennifer Bullis, Dayna Patterson, and Allie Spikes (Allie is on stage). Photo by Tamara Kaye Sellman.
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