Join the library to hear from a group of Finishing Line Press' best poets. Kelly Dolejsi, Mary Strong Jackson, Cheryl Howard, and Karen Petersen will all read from their works and discuss writing and publishing. 

KAREN PETERSEN has published poetry, short stories, and flash both nationally and internationally. A former foreign correspondent and combat photojournalist, in this last decade she has been fiercely devoted to a literary life. Her poems have been translated into Persian and Spanish, and she has been nominated for numerous prizes, including ten Pushcarts.

KELLY DOLEJSI recently won first place for fiction in the Santa Fe New Mexican’s annual writing contest. Her second poetry book, The Missing Sea, was published in 2025 by Finishing Line Press. She has published poetry and fiction in numerous literary journals and in the book September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond, edited by William Heyen. She lives in Los Alamos, NM, with her family.

MARY STRONG JACKSON's work has appeared in journals and anthologies in the United States and England. Her chapbooks include, Dreaming In Grief, From Other Tongues, The Never-Ending Poem by the Poets of Everything, Witnesses, No Buried Dogs, Between Door and Frame, and Clippings. Mary resides near Santa Fe, NM with Steve the man, Hank the dog, and Cyd the cat. 

CHERYL HOWARD is a poet and visual artist living and working in the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico. She is firmly rooted in the geography of the southwest. She studied and worked at the University of New Mexico, and retired from teaching Sociology for 21 years at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). Until recently, she wrote sporadically and didn’t pursue publishing opportunities while raising a family and teaching full-time. This is her first chapbook.