Free and open to the public

Inprint is proud to serve as the host for the First Fridays Reading Series. The First Fridays Reading Series is the oldest poetry series in Houston and was organized by Robert Clark from 1975-2019. Today, First Fridays are curated and hosted by local community members.

First Fridays is proud to present Chris Wise, a poet, novelist, voice actor, and television host. He was featured in the Huffington Post’s Video Reading series; was animated as a cartoon, appearing as himself in the comedy series The Damn Show. He hosts The Crawl, where he travels to wineries, distilleries, and breweries, tasting flavors and meeting the people who make them. He has performed at the Moth, was a featured poet for Houston Poetry Month, and had one of his radio interviews syndicated by NPR. His major publications include Colliding with Orion (an innovative textbook on writing poetry and short stories, Weasel Press, 2017), Smirk of Fortune (an outlandish satirical novel, The Atomic Underground, 2020), and Thirsty Earth (a journey through addiction and heartbreak) a full-length poetry collection, The Atomic Underground, 2021). He has many music collaborations including a collaboration with musician Ryan Harris for the album Two Line: Beggar’s Dozen, writing the lyrics to “Hypocrite’s Delight” on Tex Allen’s album Tex Allen and the Sunshine Friends, and performing audio selections for the Colliding with Orion CD which accompany the textbook. He is a veteran of the US Army, earned an English degree from Texas A&M, a master’s degree in Technical Communication from UHD, and currently lives in Houston, TX.

Readings are held on the first Friday of each month. The program will include a featured reader, followed by an open mic.

For more information about the First Fridays Reading Series, click here. To join the First Fridays Facebook group, click here.