A Poetry and Prose Open Mic Night at Itasca State Park – Writing the Wild: Poetry and Prose Open Mic Night – will be held on Thursday, August 6, 2026, from 7:30-9 p.m. Meet at Lake Itasca Amphitheater in the picnic grounds. If raining, meet at the Biome Center, University of Minnesota Itasca Biological Station (along Main Park Drive)

Come and present — or listen to — prose and poetry about nature as the students from the Itasca Biological Station present their work from the class Writing the Wild. Essayist and poet Kathryn Nuernberger and biologist and author Marlene Zuk, along with their students, will showcase the writing from their class. Audience members can contribute their own short works for everyone to enjoy, or if there’s a passage from a favorite writer that you’d love to share, feel free to do that as well. There will be an open mic portion of this reading. Share your writing inspired by Itasca (3 minutes or less please) or read a favorite poem or short writing by someone else that captures the spirit of Itasca. Look for the sign-up sheet when you arrive.