Sedona, A — On Wednesday, August 20th, at 5pm the Verses in the Village autumn poetry series will debut at Patio Las Campanas in Tlaquepaque. The outdoor reading series will take place on the third Wednesday of every month, August 20th, September 17th and October 15th. Each of the shows will feature local authors, local topics. The audience will be filled with friends and neighbors.
The shows will be hosted by Sedona’s inaugural Poet Laureate Gary Every who said the choice of where to produce the first Poet Laureate presents program was an obvious one. Patio Las Campanas is gorgeous, with sweeping staircases, fossils, statues, fountains, arches and clinging ivy. The finals of the competition to determine the Poet Laureate were held there and we could not have asked for a more magical evening. We are hopeful of more magic as verse throwers and villagers gather to listen to words and ideas.
Such a setting is deserving of the best wordsmiths the Verde Valley has to offer and Verses in the Village is proud to present an all-star lineup. The August 20th show will feature the inaugural Sedona Youth Poet Anya Blue Lior. She will be followed by Sedona favorite Honshin. Crowds flock to his first Friday poetry readings to listen to his metaphysical musings. Famous as a painter, Nicholas Honshin has been running one of the longest continuous poetry readings in Sedona, every first Friday at Honshin Fine Art. Closing the show will be Sedona’s own Christopher Fox Graham. Graham has performed on poetry slam stages across the country and has been the host of the Sedona Poetry Slam for sixteen years. His work onstage is riveting and thought provoking.
Anya Blue Lior is the first Youth Poet Laureate for Sedona. Her goal before leaving for college is to give back to the town that raised her and leave her mark on the people here and sharing the thing that she loves (poetry) with the town she loves is the perfect way to do that.
Honshin is an internationally renowned painter. He calls himself a symbolist a term that could be used to describe his use of language. As part of the first Friday gallery traditions of Sedona, Honshin has been hosting poetry readings every month in his Honshin Fine Art gallery, (located on one of the corners of Patio Las Campanas) for many years. These popular and eclectic events feature wine, friends, and good verse shared with good friends. Honshin has promised to bring both the thoughtful words and festive atmosphere to Verses in the Village.
Christopher Fox Graham has been a slam poet since October 2000 and host of the Sedona Poetry Slam since 2009. He won the 2004 NORAZ Poets Grand Slam, the 2005 Arizona All-Star Poetry Slam, the 2021 All-Arizona Poetry Slam, was a member of 12 Flagstaff National Poetry Slam Teams from to 2018 and sponsored all seven of the Sedona National Poetry Slam Teams from 2012 to 2018. He has slammed poetry in 38 states, Canada, Ireland, Scotland and the United Kingdom. Lowell Observatory renamed Asteroid 1999 (AQ23) to “29722 Chrisgraham” in his honor in 2025. He has been a journalist since 2004 and managing editor of Larson Newspapers since 2012, winning state awards for his editorials and news reporting. With his wife Laura, he has three children whose legal names are haikus.
Verses in the Village will happen every third Wednesday in the autumn, August 20th, September 17th, and October 15th . The September show will feature members of the Route 666 Poetry Slam Team including Josh Wiss, Tempest Black, and Valence. The October show will feature Paul Jones Jr. and Michael Coyote Peach. Sound for all Verses in the Village shows will be provided by former Dore Records artist Gary Scott, who might play a little guitar if asked nicely.
Won’t you join us Wednesday, August 20th from 5 – 630 pm at Patio Campanas to listen to some well-crafted words and ideas in a gorgeous setting among friends and neighbors.