Join us as the St. Petersburg literary community comes together to present local author Gianna Russo. Keep St. Pete Lit hosts this quarterly author series at our local, downtown, community Mirror Lake Library, and now Book + Bottle is the local bookstore to sell copies of this local author’s book at the event!

Not only is she a renowned poet, Gianna is the founding editor of YellowJacket Press. Named Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay Local Poet in 2017, she holds an MFA in Poetry from The University of Tampa. Gianna is an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Saint Leo University, where she teaches in both the undergraduate and graduate programs and serves as editor-in-chief of Sandhill Review and director of the Sandhill Writers Retreat.

The candid poems in Gianna Russo's One House Down are grounded in experiences of ambivalence and oneness, not unlike those we sometimes find in true love. Russo ruminates on the past and scrutinizes the present in her hometown of Tampa with honest affection, concern, anger and delight. She asks an essential question: How can we treasure a place whose history and values have sometimes supported injustice? And if those wrongs are still evident today--then what? With family roots in Tampa that go back over a century, Russo skillfully pursues an answer in these inventive, surprising poems.

Seating starts at 5:00PM. Opening remarks begin at 5:30 followed by the author’s talk. A reception & book signing will be held from 6:30 to 7:00.