Poet Jessica Manack and science fiction writer Marie Vibbert will kick off the 2025 season of Lit Youngstown’s First Wednesday Reader Series.

Manack, who lives in Pittsburgh, is a Pushcart Prize nominee and the author of “GASTROMYTHOLOGY.” Her work has appeared widely in literary journals.

Vibbert is a Hugo and Nebula nominee whose short fiction has been published more than 90 times, including such magazines as Nature, Analog and Clarkesworld.

She is the author of the novel “Galactic Hellcats,” and her work has been translated into Czech, Chinese and Vietnamese. She works as a computer programmer in Cleveland.

The reader series started in 2015 at Suzie’s Dogs and Drafts before moving to Soap Gallery, both in Youngstown. It went online during the COVID-19 pandemic and returned to Soap until the gallery closed in 2023. Its current home is Westside Bowl, 2617 Mahoning Ave., Youngstown.

According to Lit Youngstown Organization Director Karen Schubert, “This monthly reading has given us a chance to invite 240 authors to share their work, and it’s been a blast. When I was a student, I was thrilled to meet visiting writers, and I love that Lit Youngstown can offer these live readings, maybe a conversation with the author, a new book to take home.”

The 2025 schedule features:

• Feb. 5 — Cherise Benton (Cleveland, originally of Youngstown) and Paula J. Lambert (Columbus)

• March 5 — Jennifer Hambrick (Columbus) and Christopher Johnston (Cleveland)

• April 2 — Amanda Stovicek D’Alessandro (Cleveland) and Jyotsna Sreenivasan (Columbus)

• May 7 — Jon Graham (Dover) and David Prather (Parkersburg, W.Va.)

• June 4 — Marion Boyer (Twinsburg) and Steve Henn (Warsaw, Ind.)

• July 9 — Dianne Borsenik (Cleveland) and Steven Concert (Harvey Lake, Pa.)

• Aug. 6 — Melissa Craig (Kent) and Dana Reeher (Hermitage, Pa.)

• Sept. 3 — Mary Quade (Madison) and Steve Skovensky (Columbus)

• Oct. 1 — Mike Dittman (Butler, Pa.) and Shei Sanchez (Cincinnati)

• Nov. 5 — Jane Ann Fuller (Logan) and Wendy McVicker (Athens)

• Dec. 3 — Jason Harris (Cleveland) and Mark Sebastian Jordan (Columbus)

This month’s reading starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Westside Bowl’s Trophy Room, which only is accessible by stairs. It will be co-hosted by Carrie Leonard and followed by an open mic.

ASL interpretation will be provided by Meagan Albani.

Admission is free. For more information, go to lityoungstown.org.