Poet V.B. Price to read at events in Albuquerque, Santa Fe

POET READS IN ALBUQUERQUE, SANTA FE

Noted Albuquerque poet V.B. Price will read from the second edition of his collection “Innocence Regained: The Christmas Poems 2025-1969,” giving three readings this week, two in Albuquerque and one in Santa Fe.

The first Albuquerque reading will be at 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, at Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW. The second will be part of the Chatter Sunday program at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, at 912 Third St. NW.

The third reading will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 20, as part of Chatter North program, at the Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail in Santa Fe.

The Bookworks event is free. Tickets for the Chatter events, available at chatterabq.org or at the door, start at $5 and include chamber musical performances.

“In 1969 I started writing the poems,” Price said in an interview. “My late wife, Rini, and I had just gotten married and we realized that Christmas was very special to us.”

“The amazement and the astonishment (of creating poems) came together at one time and at one place.”

Price said he began writing single poems for Christmas in 1969. Then for about the past 10 years he had started writing suites of five or six poems instead of just one.

“They don’t seem to stop,” he said.

This year, Price wrote five poems about geodes. The suite is titled “Geode Universe.”

Usually, he said, he writes the Christmas poetry in the summer “when the spirit is alive and well.”

AT COLLECTED WORKS

The Santa Fe bookstore is hosting several events this week.

At 6 p.m. Monday, Dec. 8, author-journalist Reynolds Holding will be in conversation with U.S. District Judge Martha Vásquez about his new book “Better Judgment: How Three Judges Are Bringing Justice Back to the Courts.”

The three judges of the title are Vásquez, who sits in Santa Fe, Jed Rakoff and Carlton Reeves. The book explains how the federal district courts can restore their power and Americans’ access to justice.

Elisabeth Reed, Santa Fe-based author of “The Last Assignment” will be in conversation with Marilyn Preston about Reed’s crime novel at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9.

The story is about Miranda, who attempts to track down her missing husband, Jack, who is working undercover for the FBI. A storm drives him off course and he ends up in the territory of a Caribbean drug lord.

Desperate for answers, Miranda accepts a catering job on the same island where Jack was last seen, plunging her into a deadly underworld.

Six storytellers will participate in “Step into the Story: Santa Fe Story Lab Holiday Edition” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11.

The storytellers and their subjects are Elizabeth Elkins (Pioneer Day), Nancy King (Hanukkah), Wayne Lee (Fourth of July), Alfredo Celedón Luján (New Mexico Christmas), Issa Nyaphaga (Kwanzaa) and Violet Stone Gutierrez (40th birthday).

Each shares a personal tale that reflects who we are and what brings us together. Following the stories, the floor will be open for a Q&A with the speakers.

Collected Works is located at 202 Galisteo St. in Santa Fe.

Poet V.B. Price to read at events in Albuquerque, Santa Fe