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.

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

April’s featured reader will be Marie Brown. Marie Brown was the first Woman of Color to qualify for the Houston Inaugural Poetry Slam Team in 2002. She has released three spoken-word albums: “Ruby Do Hair” (2003)_ “Home Grown” (2005), and “Ready or Not” (2009), with proceeds benefiting Houston Santa Maria Women’s Shelter, Texas Families Against Violence of San Antonio, and the Grip Organization in South Africa. Marie was a volunteer coach for the N.A.A.C.P. Act-So Poetry Division from 2006-2013 and received the Y.M.C.A. Achievement Award in 2013 for Community Arts. In 2018 she appeared as a paid spokesperson for a Houston Metro-Ride broadcast on ABC, NBC, and CBS,. In 2023, Marie received a scholarship for the MLK,”I Have A Dream” poetry/video contest sponsored by Texas Southern University. Marie Brown’s Memoir An American Life–an interpretation of her life written in poems, haiku, prose, quotes, short stories, and essays–is being released in 2025 — it will be available at the reading!

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