An Afternoon of Poetry and Songs

Join us for an afternoon with Door County songwriter Katie Dahl and Northfield, Minnesota poets Susan Jaret McKinstry and Leslie Schultz as they share songs and poems that celebrate place, memory, and the heartening power of the arts in all of our lives.

Clear-eyed and tough-minded, songwriter/playwright Katie Dahl is known for her smart songs, wry wit, and wise spirit. A small-town celebrity on the Wisconsin peninsula where her family has lived for 175 years, Katie is also an internationally touring, radio-charting artist who “delivers razor-sharp lyrics with a hearty, soulful voice.” (American Songwriter). In live shows that are both courageously honest and devilishly funny, Katie dives deep into questions of land and love, family and body image, grief and joy. “In unsettled times,” says Peter Mulvey, “Katie Dahl brings us a grounded spirit.”

Susan Jaret McKinstry has published poems in Plain Songs I & II, The Journal of General Internal Medicine, Crosswinds Poetry Journal, Willows Wept Review, Rootstalk, and the Red Wing Poet Artist Collaboration (2020, 2023). Her first chapbook, Tumblehome, came out in fall 2024. A professor of 19th century British literature, narrative theory, journalism, and creative writing at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, she yearns for the sea and has been lucky to teach, explore, and write poetry in Ireland, Scotland, Norway, London, Florence, and Moscow.

Leslie Schultz has six collections of poetry, most recently, Geranium Lake: Poems on Art and Art-Making. Her poetry has appeared widely in such journals as Poet Lore, Mezzo Cammin, Midwest Quarterly, Naugatuck River Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Tipton Poetry Journal, The Orchards Poetry Journal, Pensive, MockingHeart Review, and Blue Unicorn. She serves as a judge for the Maria W. Faust Sonnet Contest. In addition to poems, she publishes photographs, essays, and fiction; makes quilts and soups; and happily mucks about in a garden plagued by shade, rabbits, and walnut trees.