2026: Schedule of Readings

21^st Annual: Scissortail Creative Writing Festival
April 2 - 4, 2026
East Central University
Ada, Oklahoma 

Thursday, April 2

I. 9:30 – 10: 45 Estep Auditorium 

Cody Baggerly: East Central University
Hardly Been Born
Ann Howells: Carrolton, Texas
Travelin Shoes
Paul Austin: Norman, Oklahoma
Two Love Stories: Lost and Found 

II. 11:00 – 12: 10 Estep Auditorium

Tom Murphy: Corpus Christi, Texas
To All the Women
Linda Neal Reising: Poseyville, Indiana
One Hundred Years of Kicks
Walter Moore: Tarleton State University
My Lungs are a Dive Bar & other poems 

III. 11:00 - 12:10 Regents Room

Ron Wallace: Durant, Oklahoma
Somewhere There’s a Horse
Luri Owen: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Along the Way
Alan Gann: Dallas, Texas
Consider the Dirt 

*** Lunch ***

IV. 2:10 – 3:20 Estep Auditorium

Hank Jones: Tarleton State University
Ordering the Chaotic Universe
Angela Hooper: Oklahoma City
Past, Present & Future: poems dealing with trauma and hope
Jim Roberts: Arthur City, Texas
And Your Byrd Can Sing 

V. 2:10 – 3:20 Regents Room

Brent Newsom: Shawnee, Oklahoma
Bylaws of the Louisa Ave. HOA & Other Poems
Aubrey Green: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Undying Love: a short story
Luke Fredette: USAO
Fathers and Sons 

VI. 3:30 – 4:20 Estep Auditorium

Alan Berecka: Sinton, Texas
Why Matter Might Matter
Melissa Heath-Lee: Red Oak, Oklahoma
Terminal Restlessness
Robert Wynne: Burleson, Texas
Recent Work 

VII. 3:30 – 4:20 Regents Room

 Corbett Buchly: Richardson, Texas
Nature, Human, Mutual Impact
Wendy Dunmeyer: Lawton, Oklahoma
Where Wildflowers Grow
Paul Juhasz: Seminole State College
Katabasis' and Other Poems 

VIII. 7:00 – 8:30 Estep Auditorium

Featuring: Joseph Fasano
(Authors’ Reception – Polo’s Restaurant) 

Friday, April 3 

IX. 9:00 – 9:50 Estep Auditorium 

Molly Sizer: Lawton, Oklahoma
The Understory and other poems
Joshua Grasso: East Central University
Flight Risk

X. 9:00 - 9:50 Regents Room

David Meischen: Albuquerque, NM
Married Woman, Alone
Peter Biles: Oklahoma State University
Invisible Sun 

XI. 10:00 – 10:50 Estep Auditorium

Zhenya Yevtushenko: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Where I Forget My Name
Ky George: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Bring Me Home 

XII. 10:00 – 10:50 Regents Room

Cullen Whisenhunt: Eastern Ok State College
Still Life
Julie Chappell: Lake Keystone, Oklahoma
An Oasis of Nostalgia 

XIII. 11:00 – 1210: Estep Auditorium

Durell Carter: Yukon, Oklahoma
Mr. Monday Morning Presents: Views from the Red-Light Aquarium
Stephanie Theban: Tulsa, Oklahoma
His Brother's Boots
Roy Beckemeyer: Wichita, Kansas
Birds and Bees: Ekphrastic poetry 

XIV. 11:00 – 12:10 Regents Room

Woodstok Farley: Mingus Texas
The Trashman Cometh
Tina Carlson: Santa Fe, New Mexico
Intermittent Rivers. 
Scott LaMascus: Edmond, OK
Let Other Hounds 

*** Lunch ***

XV. 2:10 – 3:40 Estep Auditorium

Sarah Webb: Burnet, Texas
The Girl in Red Riding Hood's Sister
Andrew Geyer: Univ. South Carolina-Aiken
Endings, Beginning, In-Betweens
Gianna Loboda: Ada, Oklahoma
Jack Rabbit's Last Dance & other poems
Mark Francis: Ada, Oklahoma
Respect Your Elders 

XVI. 2:10 -3:40 Regents Room

Jessica Isaacs: Seminole State College
A Mother’s Love
Patrick Ocampo: Southern New Hampshire Univ
Reflections on a Fantastical Life: Creative Nonfiction
Margaret Lee: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Poems from Sappho Prompts
Benjamin Myers: Oklahoma Baptist University
Ambiguity and Belonging under Friday Night Lights 

XVII. 3:50 – 5:00 Estep Auditorium

Rob Roensch: Oklahoma City University
Hospital Chapel
Corinne Gaston: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Anatomy of Belonging
Gary Reddin: Palmdale, California
Quantum Entanglement & other poems 

XVIII. 3:50 - 5:00 Regents Room

Quinn Carver Johnson: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Revolutionary Scribbles & other poems
Sally Rhoades: Albany, New York
Quietude
Paul Bowers: Ringwood, Oklahoma
Natural Horsemanship 

XIX. 7:00 – 8:30 pm Estep Auditorium 

Featuring: Traci Brimhall

Recognition of Undergraduate Writers

Open Mic (TBA)

Saturday, April 4

XX. 9:00 – 10:30 Estep Auditorium

Ashley Oakes: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Graffiti Mysteries
Wade Thompson: USAO
Narratives of Existence
Joey Brown: Joplin, Missouri
Birds & Respite
Crag Hill: University of Oklahoma
Quartets: Stanzas Toward Knowing 

XXI. 9:00 – 10:30 Regents Room 

Denise Tolan: San Antonio, Texas
The Book of Dead Boyfriends
Nathan Brown: Norman, Oklahoma
The Hidden Winter: Book 3 of the Birth of a Vagabond
Jessica Willingham: Norman, Oklahoma
Catfish Belly, and Other Poems from Beneath the Little Dixie Line
Brady Peterson: Belton, Texas
Love Letters, Fall of 2025

XXII. 10:40 -11:50 Estep Auditorium

John Morris: Cameron University
The Dream of Living for the Word
Rilla Askew: University of Oklahoma
Convergence
Phil Morgan: Blanchard, Oklahoma
Poems of the Southern Great Plains 

XXIII. 10:40 -11:50 Regents Room

Lyman Grant: Harrisonburg, Virginia
Recent Poems
Abigail Keegan: Oklahoma City
In the Heart of Sorrow's Mercies
Audell Shelburne: Northeastern State University
A Reading of New Poems 

XXIV. 12:15 – 1:00 pm Estep Auditorium

Grand Finale, Featuring: Chera Hammons

Click here for bios of all authors.