Febuary 14, 2026 - Donna Vorreyer & Carol Sadtler Reading + Poetry Open-Mic
Saturday, February 14, 2026
4 - 6 PM
@ Wayfarer Theater Office
1850 Second Street, Highland Park
Highland Park Poetry welcomes Donna Vorreyer and Carol Sadtler as our featured readers.
Donna Vorreyer is the author of four full-length poetry collections: Unrivered ( 2025), To Everything There Is (2020), Every Love Story is an Apocalypse Story (2016) and A House of Many Windows (2013), all from Sundress Publications. Recent work has appeared in Ploughshares, Pleiades, Poet Lore, Colorado Review, Harpur Palate, Baltimore Review, Salamander, and many other journals. Donna lives in the western suburbs of Chicago and runs the online reading series A Hundred Pitchers of Honey. She is the co-founder/co-editor of Asterales: A Journal of Arts & Letters.
When Carol Sadtler’s two teen-aged daughters asked her what she studied in college and graduate school, she told them her degrees were in English and Comparative Literature.“That’s not a job!” they exclaimed. “But that was what I was interested in,” she replied.She says her career as an advertising copywriter, marketing communications manager and magazine editor demanded the skills she could apply to writing poetry. “My writing had to be succinct, imaginative and persuasive.” She found time outside of work to join poetry-writing groups and to have her poems published in journals and magazines. When she retired, she served as an assistant editor for RHINO and joined Plum Line Poets, a Chicago group. Her recent chapbook, Joyful Annotations from the World Outside, was published by Kelsay Books.
Poetry open-mic follows features. Poets may bring up to 3 short poems to share, though HPP reserves the right to reduce the number read to ensure all participants have an opportunity. Come a few minutes early to sign up for the line-up. *Location* Next door to movie theater. Recommend using Renaissance Place 3-hour free underground parking garage. Stairs in southeast end take you to Second Street or follow signs to movie theater.
This is a free event; there is no cover charge. We hope attendees will support the featured poets by purchasing a book as well as support the businesses that support us. Consider seeing a film at Wayfarer Theater before or after.
Upcoming Dates for Readings & Open-Mics at The Wayfarer Theater, 1850 Second Street, Highland Park, IL
March 14, 2026 - Mark Turcotte, Illinois Poet Laureate
April 11, 2026 - Melissa Huff & John S. O'Connor
May 9, 2026 - Carol Alfus & Terry Loncaric
June 13, 2026 - Selected poets from The Songs of Summer: Poems About Baseball edited by Tom Erickson & Ed Werstein
July 11, 2026 - Teresa Dzieglewicz & Joseph Kuhn Carey
August 8, 2026 - Lisa Low & Olivia Maciel
September 19, 2026 - 2026 Winner of Prairie State Poetry Prize & Monty Mittleman - Note new date - not our usual second Saturday.
October 10, 2026 - Charlotte Digregorio & Trudy Kleckner
November 14, 2026 - Cynthia T. Hahn
December 12, 2026 - William T. Carey
If you are interested in becoming a featured poet, please reach out. Okay to inquire about dates for 2027.
Other Local Poetry Events & Opportunities
Some of these events are not hosted by Highland Park Poetry but we are pleased to share this information with our friends and followers.
Daily Poems from December 2025
Here are the poems posted on Highland Park Poetry's Facebook page from December 2025.
Thank you to our contributors to this special section: Jan Chronister, Daniel Cleary, Catherine-Esther Cowie, Whitnee Coy, JK Durick, jacob erin-cilberto, Terry Glass, Colleen McManus Hein, Richard V. Kaufman, Carol Parris Krauss, Arlene Gay Levine, Terry Loncaric, William Marr, Heather Mirassou, Khalid Mukhtar, Mike Orlock, Carl "Papa" Palmer, Dennis Patton, Ivan Pozzoni, Marjorie Rissman, David J. Rogers, Raj Shah, Terry L. Slaney, Alice Marcus Solovy, Nick Sweet, Peggy Trojan, Donna Vorreyer, RM Yager, and Mantz Yorke. Please also enjoy our Muses' Gallery. Join us on Facebook and Instagram.
Highland Park Poetry seeks submissions of shorter poems for our Daily Poem posts. Collaborations are welcome as are poems in non-English languages when accompanied by an English translation. Send 1 - 5 short poems as text in an email with "Daily Poem Submissions + your name" in the subject line. If you must, send only a single attachment - either .doc or .pdf. We don't do Google docs. Send to jennifer[at]highlandparkpoetry.org.
Celebrate words and carry poetry in your heart!
Thank you to our contributors to this special section: Jan Chronister, Daniel Cleary, Catherine-Esther Cowie, Whitnee Coy, JK Durick, jacob erin-cilberto, Terry Glass, Colleen McManus Hein, Richard V. Kaufman, Carol Parris Krauss, Arlene Gay Levine, Terry Loncaric, William Marr, Heather Mirassou, Khalid Mukhtar, Mike Orlock, Carl "Papa" Palmer, Dennis Patton, Ivan Pozzoni, Marjorie Rissman, David J. Rogers, Raj Shah, Terry L. Slaney, Alice Marcus Solovy, Nick Sweet, Peggy Trojan, Donna Vorreyer, RM Yager, and Mantz Yorke. Please also enjoy our Muses' Gallery. Join us on Facebook and Instagram.
Highland Park Poetry seeks submissions of shorter poems for our Daily Poem posts. Collaborations are welcome as are poems in non-English languages when accompanied by an English translation. Send 1 - 5 short poems as text in an email with "Daily Poem Submissions + your name" in the subject line. If you must, send only a single attachment - either .doc or .pdf. We don't do Google docs. Send to jennifer[at]highlandparkpoetry.org.
Celebrate words and carry poetry in your heart!
