Upcoming Book Signings / Readings
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025 @ 7 pm
Salem Poetry Project
Hosted by Marc Janssen
Featuring: Shawn Aveningo Sanders
Bush Barn Art Center Annex
600 Mission Street SE, Salem, Oregon
(Open Mic after the feature)
Saturday, November 1st @ 2pm
Poets in Conversation
Shawn Aveningo Sanders & Judith Montgomery
Chaparral Books
5210 S Corbett Avenue, Portland, OR
Saturday, January 17 @ 7pm
A Poetry Reading
Claudia Saleeby Savage, Christopher Luna
& Shawn Aveningo Sanders
Second Shapes Bookstore
8124 N. Denver Ave, Portland, OR
Sunday, June 28 @ 4pm
Humble Poets Open Mic
Hosted by Debra Elise & Eric Fair-Layman
Featuring: Shawn Aveningo Sanders
Stacks Coffeehouse
1831 N Killingsworth St, Portland, OR
My New Book from MoonPath Press!
Order a Signed Copy of POCKETS
Who Is the Red Shoe Poet?
Shawn Aveningo Sanders grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri. A true “show me” girl at heart, she loves writing and reading poems that show as well as tell stories to stir emotion and move the needle forward on the empathy meter in hopes of creating a more compassionate world.
Shawn graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maryland while living in Stuttgart, Germany and has been lucky enough to live in a variety of states including Alabama, Virginia, Georgia, Indiana, and California. A proud mom of three and Nana to one adorable little girl, she now shares the creative life with her husband Robert, in Oregon, where together they have published over 160 poetry books through their press, The Poetry Box®
Shawn’s poetry has appeared in print worldwide in Australia, Croatia, England, France, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United States,. Her poems have been published recently in literary journals such as ONE ART, cho: contemporary haibun online, CALYX, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Cloudbank, Willawaw, Verseweavers, Sheila-Na-Gig, Quartet; Timberline Review, Naugatuck River Review, About Place Journal, Tule Review, Snapdragon, Northampton Poetry Review, Amsterdam Quarterly, and others. She was also the editor of The Poeming Pigeon (2014-2024).
Shawn’s newest collection, Pockets, was a finalist in the 2024 Concrete Wolf Chapbook Contest and was released by MoonPath Press in August, 2025. Her previous works include What She Was Wearing, a chapbook that reveals her #metoo secret after thirty years.
Her poems have garnered multiple nominations for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, as well as won or placed in contests sponsored by the Oregon Poetry Association, Lincoln Writers, Benicia Literary Arts, and Sacramento News & Review. She also won first prize in the inaugural El Dorado Country Poetry Slam with a prize of $107—Who says poetry doesn’t pay?!
When she’s not writing or spending time with her family, you’ll probably find her shopping for shoes—especially red ones!