Harm Unlimited – Poetry Reading and Masquerade Ball

Spirit Room is inviting all emerging or established poets who are seeking to share their work with the Fargo/Moorhead community to submit their work (with a brief artist’s statement) to: fargospiritroom@gmail.com. The event is being held to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the publication of “Harm Unlimited” by Austin-Alexius Klein. (The Spirit Room is not wheelchair accessible).

Austin-Saint-Alexius Klein’s Artist Statement:
I was born in Bismarck, ND to a German/Ukrainian mother and father. I spent most of my time in the Bismarck Public Library reading and writing until I packed my bags (and a couple rolls of film) and moved to Fargo in 2015. I wrote my debut novel in 2022 and the rest is a mystery. The public reception for my first novel, titled, “Harm Unlimited,” is happening at the Spirit Room from 6:30pm to 8:30pm Friday November 17th 2023. The public reception is a masquerade ball and hopes to raise awareness about the “masks” victims of domestic violence wear in public. The project itself (the book) consists of around 50 pages of poetry and old-school black and white photography (all portraits) filtered through a red lens to distill a sense of “emergency” and “danger” in the reader. The books were never meant to be sold (the pdf is available for free online) but I will accept donations on behalf of the Spirit Room. The director of the Spirit Room wrote this press release at the end of September: “Spirit Room is inviting all emerging or established poets who are seeking to share their work with the Fargo/Moorhead community to submit their work (with a brief artist’s statement) to: fargospiritroom@gmail.com.” I added that this event is being held to celebrate the 1-year anniversary of the publication of my book, “Harm Unlimited,” hence the title. I am setting up an information booth at the Christkindlmarkt the day before the masquerade ball on November 17th at the Fargo Events Center. –AAK