We are excited to introduce November’s featured Poet of the Month: mace dent johnson!
mace will give a reading and lead us through a generative writing workshop from 7pm-8:30pm on November 4th, 2025 at 12Gates, located at 106 N 2nd St. Doors open at 6:30pm and close promptly at 7pm.

Curated by Sanam Sheriff, THE POETS' STUDIO is a monthly gathering for local poets who are interested in writing, sharing, and connecting through poetry. This event is free and open to all who are interested in engaging more deeply with lyric and the written word. 

This Month’s Poet is mace dent johnson, who will be giving a reading and leading us through this November’s writing workshop where poets will have the opportunity to generate and share new work.

mace dent johnson is a poet from Columbus, Georgia. They received an MFA in Poetry from Washington University in St. Louis, where they then taught as the senior poet in residence. They are a fellow of Cave Canem, Bread Loaf, and the Watering Hole. They were a finalist for the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics Prize and the Ploughshares Emerging Writers contest. mace lives in Brooklyn, and also works in essay, theater, and collage.

Sanam Sheriff is a queer poet, artist, and educator from Bangalore, India. Their debut poetry collection “Hum ہم” (University of Nebraska Press) will be published in the fall of 2026. Sanam has received support from the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, Kundiman, Tin House, the Fine Arts Work Center, and The Watering Hole. Sanam’s work has been published or is forthcoming in POETRY, Indiana Review, The Rumpus, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Academy of American Poets, The Offing, Outlook India, and elsewhere. Sanam holds an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. For the past three years, they served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Bryn Mawr College where they organized the Reading Series. Sanam is currently Editor in Chief of the anthology ‘On Liminality’, forthcoming January 2026 with Seventh Wave.