Hello, Denver!

This is for the mile-high fans of: fresh poetry, small presses, tireless high school English teachers, public libraries, and one-time Jeopardy! contestants.

On Saturday, September 20, 2026, we’ll gather at 2 PM at the Eloise May Library, Rooms B and C, to celebrate the launch of local poet Chad Heltzel’s debut poetry collection Recordings of Dead Languages (Match Factory Editions, 2025). Through visceral imagery and powerful narrative, Chad Heltzel’s book captures this essence of disappearing, and each poem in this book is a cabinet of curiosities. But along with small exotic objects, this collection contains whole species, extinct and newly discovered ones alike, photographic and phonographic technologies, everything from a drowned world remembered only in fossils to the delicate imprints left by those who have passed.

The event emcee will be Chicago-based transnational writer and musician Snežana Žabić who is also one of the two Match Factory Editions founders and editors.

To help us celebrate, Denver poet Laura Passin will read from her new book, We the Destroyers. According to Passin’s press Riot in Your Throat, the book is “a collection of poetry about the end of days. It’s a collection about the pandemic, about grief and chaos and loss. But it’s also a collection about survival and redemption and hope.” This is a highly anticipated follow-up to Laura’s powerful debut collection Borrowing Your Body.

After the authors read selections of their poems, there will be a Q&A about poetry and publishing. Books will be available for purchase.

Where? Eloise May Library, Rooms B and C, 1471 S Parker Rd, Denver, CO 80231.

When? 2 PM to 4 PM.

Cover? None. The event is free and open to the public.

Disclaimers? One, by the Arapahoe Library District: “Granting of permission by the Arapahoe Library District to use library facilities does not constitute endorsement by the Library District staff or Board of Trustees.”