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About
LITERARY LIBATIONS – APRIL – WORK OF MAY SWENSON
Poetry Is Pleasure
Saturday, April 4, 2026 — 3:00 PM–5:00 PM
Clubhouse
Literary Libations is Salt Lake City's seasonal live podcast and boozy book club series, bringing together writers, readers, and curious minds for intimate afternoons of conversation, community, and very good wine, provided by the Wine Academy of Utah. Educational wine pairings and non-alcoholic libations are included as part of the Let’s Go Eat and Drink Podcast live audience experience.
This April, we celebrate May Swenson — born in Logan, Utah in 1913 to Swedish immigrant parents, and one of America's most quietly radical literary voices.
Swenson memorized poetry before she had a word for it. She left Utah during the Great Depression to, in her own words, "seek myself and beauty"—eventually settling in New York, where she published 59 poems in The New Yorker and became one of the most widely anthologized poets of the twentieth century. A feminist, a lesbian, and a fiercely independent thinker, she refused to let poetry be confined by gender, religion, or expectation.
For Swenson, poetry wasn't duty. It wasn't doctrine. It wasn't performance.
It was pleasure.
"I have spent my life having fun. To make poetry is pleasure."
This afternoon is a tribute to that philosophy—to curiosity, to sensual attention, to the kind of language that slips through "the curtain of things as they appear" and into something wilder and truer.
YOUR AFTERNOON INCLUDES:
- A live podcast recording hosted by Bill Allred (X96's Radio From Hell), in conversation with rare books legend Ken Sanders of Ken Sanders Rare Books — expect wit, warmth, and genuine literary depth.
- A guided wine tasting paired to the author and her work, led by Jim Santangelo, Sommelier and steward of The Wine Academy of Utah. Non-alcoholic libations included.
- Charcuterie by Beehive Cheese.
- Books available for on-site purchase, carefully curated by Ken Sanders Rare Books.
Whether you've carried Swenson's poems for years or you're arriving curious and open-handed, we'd love to have you in the room.
$35 Advance | $40 Day Of. 21+ event. Valid ID required at door. Seating is limited — advance tickets strongly encouraged.
May Swenson passed away in 1989. This event is a loving tribute to her body of work and her enduring place in Utah's literary landscape.