When Ron Koertge writes about Persephone, Nancy Drew, and Dracula’s wives in the same poetry collection, he’s creating the unexpected literary terrain that has defined his decades-long career.
The longtime Pasadena City College professor will read from “Pandora’s Kitchen: Poems” at Vroman’s Bookstore on Monday, October 6, at 7 p.m. in conversation with Lindsay Hill.
The free event celebrates Koertge’s newest collection, published September 16 by Red Hen Press, featuring his signature mythic and pop-culture mashups that locate “Jane Austen at the mall” and comfort “the sun itself.”
“It’s so great to be a poet. I’m basically self-employed with nobody to please but myself,” Koertge wrote in an early poem included in the collection. Yet pleasing fans remains central to his work, earning praise from fellow poets who call his poems “masterful, quirky, deliciously sly, inventive and surprisingly sweet.”
Koertge’s prolific career spans more than a dozen books of poetry during his 37 years teaching at Pasadena City College. His accolades include a Pushcart Prize, appearances in Best American Poetry in 1999 and 2005, and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and California Arts Council.
Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins praises Koertge’s work: “They are poetry at its best, causing his readers to laugh, think, and feel anew.”
Poet Amy Gerstler captures the latest collection’s essence: “Moral certainties and stereotypes vanish in these sly/subversive, satiric/tender, achingly funny/humane poems.”
Ron Koertge, in conversation with Lindsay Hill, reads from & signs Pandora’s Kitchen: Poems will run on Monday, October 6 at 7:00 p.m. Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 449-5320 or visit https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2025-10-06/ron-koertge.
