LitWire

Esoterotica: Original Erotic Readings by Local Writers
2026-03-11 21:00 - 23:00, 2026-02-25 21:00 - 23:00, 2026-02-11 21:00 - 23:00 (America/Chicago) | The AllWays Lounge, 2240 St. Claude Ave., New Orleans, LA, 70117, United States
Every Other Wednesday at The AllWays Lounge & Cabaret 2240 St. Claude Ave. NOLA
21 & Up, $5 at the Door, ID’s & Proof of Vaxx Required
We Strive to Create an Inclusive & Safe Space for Our Audience & Provocateurs.
No Matter Who You Are, What You Desire, or Whom You Love, All Are Welcome
Esoterotica is a revolving cast of local, New Orleans area, provocateurs reading and performing original erotica live, on stage. Including poetry, flash fiction, spoken word, sexy confessions, and more, each show is different, often showcasing line-ups of new writing, never heard before.
Life’s pleasures are a sensory experience, let us delight your imagination and provoke your desires in a variety of styles for your variety of persuasions. Follow Us on Facebook and Instagram @Esoterotica NOLA.
Do You have Something to Share? Email Us to Submit Your Original Erotica or Get More Information & Guidelines at info@esoterotica.com

UNO Creative Writing Workshop Poetry Reading: (W) March 11, 8pm, LA 197
2026-03-11 20:00 - 21:30 | University of New Orleans, Liberal Arts Building, 197, Liberal Arts Building, 2000 Lakeshore Dr, New Orleans, 70148
The University of New Orleans Creative Writing Workshop will host a reading by poets Gina Ferrara and Burnside Soleil on Wednesday, March 11, at 8 p.m., at the UNO Lakeside Campus, Liberal Arts Building, Room 197. The reading will be followed by a Q&A, book signing, and brief reception.
Campus Map: www.uno.edu/about/campus-map/

Gina Ferrara has five poetry collections: Ethereal Avalanche (Trembling Pillow Press, 2009), Amber Porch Light (Word Tech 2013), Fitting the Sixth Finger: Poems Inspired by the Paintings of Marc Chagall (Kelsay Books 2017), Weight of the Ripened (Dos Madres Press, 2020), an Eyelands Poetry Prize Finalist, and Amiss, also published by Dos Madres Press in 2023. The Rooted and Recurrent, her sixth collection, is scheduled for publication in late 2026 by ULL Press. Her work has appeared in numerous journals including Callaloo, The Poetry Ireland Review, Tar River, and The Southern Review and was nominated for a Best of the Net and a Pushcart in 2024. In 2025, she was appointed Poet Laureate of Louisiana. Since 2007, she has curated The Poetry Buffet, a monthly reading series in New Orleans. She teaches at Delgado Community College and lives near Bayou St. John with her husband, Jonathan Kline, and their bulldog.

Burnside Soleil’s writing has been featured in American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, Literary Hub, and elsewhere. His first book, called Berceuse Parish for short, is out from TRP: The University Press of SHSU (2026).

Open Mic (Jazz & Poetry)
2026-03-10 19:00 - 21:00, 2026-03-03 19:00 - 21:00, 2026-02-24 19:00 - 21:00, 2026-02-17 19:00 - 21:00 | Sweet Lorraine’s Jazz Club, 1931 St Claude Ave, New Orleans, LA, 70116, United States

The Everette Maddox Memorial Reading Series
2026-03-08 16:30 - 18:00, 2026-03-01 16:30 - 18:00, 2026-02-22 16:30 - 18:00, 2026-02-15 16:30 - 18:00 | Maple Leaf Bar, 8316 Oak St, New Orleans, LA, 70118, United States
Sundays at 4:20 pm
The Maple Leaf Bar hosts the longest continuously running poetry reading series in North America. It is free and open to the public. The poetry series has been a platform for a great diversity of writers to present their work, from the published and well-established to the novice poet alike. The reading series was founded in 1979 by Franz Heldner, Bob Stock, and the consummate poet laureate of the Maple Leaf Bar, Everette Maddox.
The series gained popularity around the same time that James Booker, the flamboyantly wonderful one-eyed piano virtuoso, held court at The Leaf. Everette Maddox, another well-loved outrageous personality of the time, helped popularized the series with his humor, charisma and whit. Maddox ran the series for nearly 10 years, until his death in 1989. Since then, the torch has been carried on by poet Nancy Harris aka “Ape Woman.”
To date, there have been four published anthologies of poets who have read their work at the Maple Leaf: The Maple Leaf Rag (1980), The Maple Leaf Rag 15th Anniversary Anthology (1994), the Maple Leaf Rag III (2006), and Maple Leaf Rag IV (2010).
Additionally, the Maple Leaf is portrayed in many books and stories by New Orleans writers. It is thinly disguised as “The Raintree Street Bar” in the Ellen Gilchrist short story “The Raintree Street Bar and Washerteria” (The Leaf was once a small Laundromat). Poems inspired by the Maple Leaf or about the bar can be found in Mirror Wars and Shards, by Nancy Harris; Body and Soul and Rhythm & Booze, by Julie Kane; and The Everette Maddox Song Book, Bar Scotch and American Waste by Everette Maddox.
American Waste is a collection of Maddox’ final poems, written at the Maple Leaf, Muddy Waters (which was once located across the street) and at the Carrollton Station. Maddox penned the final version of his poems on bar napkins, fliers, and beer coasters which were collected by Hank Staples, the current owner of the Maple Leaf Bar. After Maddox’ death, his friends decided to publish the posthumous collection of poems.
The readings are held every Sunday at 4:20 p.m. If you are going to be in New Orleans and would like to read, please contact us at least a month or more in advance.
For more info, go to: https://www.mapleleafbar.com/poetry-night or contact Nancy Harris on Facebook.

Books, Banter & Cider with Belle Point Press Authors
2026-03-06 17:00 - 19:00 | Broad Street Cider, 2723 S Broad St, New Orleans, LA, 70125, United States
Join us for one of our favorite pairings: good books, thoughtful conversation, and a glass (or two) of cider!
Books, Banter & Cider returns for a special evening featuring Belle Point Press authors from the New Orleans area. Step out of the everyday and into a warm, welcoming space with some of our favorite local literary voices.
We will be celebrating the vibrant literary community of Belle Point Press with a lineup of incredible authors: Kirsten Reneau, Justin Lacour, Benjamin Morris, Madeline Trosclair, Todd Osborne, Nikki Ummel, Teresa Tumminello Brader, Constance Adler and Jack Bedell.
Belle Point Press is a family owned and run independent press out of Arkansas who puts their heart into everything they do.
It’s an honor to have so many amazing authors in one place to chat about their work. Please join us for this unique event.

The Magic Mic
2026-03-05 20:00 - 22:30, 2026-02-26 20:00 - 22:30, 2026-02-19 20:00 - 22:30, 2026-02-12 20:00 - 22:30 | Poor Boys Bar, 1328 St Bernard Ave, New Orleans, L, 70116, United States
7 minutes of magic on the mic. Show us your magic, share in the magic of others. Tell your tales, share your songs, make music, melodies and memories with us. ALL ACTs OPEN! Starts at 8pm every Thursday at Poor Boys!

Literary Night At The Coffeehouse
2026-03-05 19:00 - 21:00 | The Neutral Ground Coffee House, 5110 Danneel St, New Orleans, LA, 70115, United States
All poets, writers, rappers, spell spinners, whisperers, and lovers of the Spoken Word.
Open Mic Poet’s Night every 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month.

Poets on Poets
2026-03-04 21:00 - 23:30, 2026-02-25 21:00 - 23:30, 2026-02-18 21:00 - 23:30, 2026-02-11 21:00 - 23:30 | Cafe Istanbul, 2372 St Claude Ave, New Orleans, LA, 70117, United States
Café Istanbul presents Poets on Poets every Wednesday 10:00 pm – 2:00 am.

Doors open for 9:00 pm.

$5 drinks all night long.

Silver Room w/ Ashley Caspermeyer and Avi Segaloff
2026-03-01 14:00 - 15:00 | Online
Silver Room is an online reading series for members of the University of New Orleans Creative Writing MFA community. We welcome anyone to join us in our virtual space for readings of poetry, prose, plays, and more.
Readers for March 1:
Ashley Caspermeyer
Ashley Caspermeyer is a poet, artist, and educator who resides in southern New Jersey. She is a high school English teacher and an MFA candidate at the University of New Orleans. Her work has been previously published in Rattle and Ellipsis.
Avi Segaloff
Avi Segaloff is a first-year playwright from Southeast Michigan currently working on a number of different projects, involving madness and other themes.

Poetry and Espresso
2026-02-27 19:00 - 21:00 | Roots Plants and Coffee, 124 B Erlanger Avenue, Slidell, LA, 70458, United States
Poetry open mic with featured musicians, on the last Friday of every month. Solo musicians are also invited to play the open mic. Free admission. Please arrive early if you want to perform.
Five minute limit for poets. Seven to ten minutes for music open-mic singers and musicians.
Please arrive early to sign in!

Catharsis & More: The Therapeutic Benefits of Creative Writing (FREE WORKSHOP)
2026-02-24 18:30 - 20:30 | Parleaux Beer Lab, 634 Lesseps St., New Orleans, LA, 70117, United States
Join us for a free generative & discussion-based workshop exploring how creative writing can be a therapeutic outlet for catharsis and more!

Creative writing can be cathartic and emotionally beneficial in many ways. The writing process can also be stressful, anxiety-producing, and grueling! So what’s therapeutic about expressive writing? We will explore some studies and instances in which creative writing has demonstrated therapeutic benefit and engage in our own generative writing exercises in response.
Whether you’re a seasoned writer or new to the craft, this event offers a safe space to explore the healing power of words. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to connect with community and nurture your well-being through creative writing!
Free and open to the public. No experience necessary. In partnership with Saints and Sinners Literary Festival and Book Banter Books, who will be on-site selling books and more!
We can’t wait to create with you <3
Danny Unger is a writer and therapist. She is a graduate of UNO’s Creative Writing Program in Poetry. Her therapy practice, Amethyst Counseling, focuses on providing down-to-earth, humanistic counseling to the LGBTQIA + community and people with creative practices. Her poetry can be found in Cult.Magazine, Pile Press, The New Delta Review, and elsewhere. Her chapbook Dear Egg was published in 2023.

The Splice Poetry Series: Jeff Derksen & Inna Krasnoper
2026-02-21 18:00 - 20:00 | Saturn Bar, 3067 St. Claude Ave., New Orleans, LA, 70117, United States
Jeff Derksen & Inna Krasnoper will read their poems at Saturn Bar on Saturday, February 21st @ 6:00 p.m. This event is free and open to the public and is supported in part by http://litwire.org/
Jeff Derksen’s poetry books include Future Works, The Vestiges, Transnational Muscle Cars, Dwell, Until, and Down Time and his critical books are After Euphoria, Annihilated Time: Poetry and other Politics and How High Is the City, How Deep Is Our Love. He collaborates in the artistic collective Urban Subjects. They have published The Militant Image Reader, Autogestion, or Henri Lefebvre in New Belgrade, and Momentarily: Learning from Mega-events as well as curating exhibitions in Canada and Europe. He lives in Vancouver, Canada and Vienna, Austria.
Inna Krasnoper is a poet, artist, and literary translator born in Ufa (Bashkortostan) and based in Berlin. She graduated from the Chto Delat Collective School of Engaged Art in Saint Petersburg and holds a BA in Dance, Context, Choreography from University of the Arts in Berlin. Her Russophone poetry collections include Nitki torchat (Loose Threads), published by the Voznesensky Center, and Dorogoy chelovek (Dear Person), published by NLO. Her multilingual poetry has appeared in her chapbooks Over Sight (Eulalia Books) and Sealed (Black Sunflowers Poetry Press), as well as in Annulet, Gulf Coast, Ghost Proposal, TILT, Oversound, mercury firs, and elsewhere. Her first English-language poetry collection dis tanz was published by Veliz Books in 2025.

Pop-up at Marigny Market
2026-02-21 12:00 - 16:00 | Marigny Farmer’s Market, 2624 Burgundy Street, New Orleans, 70117
We’re popping up at the Marigny Market!
Come out and browse a handpicked selection of books curated specifically for this event, all alongside beloved local farmers and makers. Grab some honey for your toast, veggies for your dinner and a book or two for your weekend.
Whether you’re looking for your next great read or just want to talk books, stop by and say hi.
P.S. You can now pick up any order placed through our website free of charge at our pop-up events, including this one. Just select “pickup” at checkout and we’ll have your books ready for you.

Poetry and Espresso
2026-02-20 18:30 - 21:00 | LA
Every THIRD Friday of each month, Roots Plants + Coffee, 124 Erlanger Avenue, Slidell, presents Poetry & Espresso. Dennis Formento hosts. 6:30 sign in, 7:00 begin. Poets & musicians welcome. Free!

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Pop-up at Parleaux plus LMNL Workshop
2026-02-18 17:00 - 20:30 | Parleaux Beer Lab, 634 Lesseps St., New Orleans, LA, 70117, United States
We’re popping up at Parleaux Beer Lab!

In addition, this month we are teaming up with LMNL Lit for their workshop Catharsis & More: The Therapeutic Benefits of Creative Writing that begins at 6:30pm lead by Danny Unger

Grab a pour of one of Parleaux’s small batch craft beers while you browse a selection of books curated specifically for this event.
