Lions Like Us Roars on Tour, Launch

Poet, teacher and all-around badass Hollie Hardy celebrated the publication of her latest book in June 2024 by Red Light Lit with a cross-country tour.

Lions Like Us is Hollie’s second full-length poetry collection, following her award-winning survival compilation How to Take a Bullet, which was published by Punk Hostage Press in 2014.

She kicked off her book release tour with a reading at One Page Salon on April 4, 2024. It was just the first of many stops that took her back to her beloved Oakland, West Hollywood, northbound to the Pacific Northwest, and then back to Austin.

On Aug. 18. members of the Armadillo Authors Society joined a packed house of poets, musicians, and lovers of literature to celebrate the publication of Lions Like Us at Vintage Bookstore and Wine Bar. Her Austin tour also included a stop at Alienated Majesty Books on Aug. 15.

As she does wherever she goes, Hollie gathered a community of amazing poets and musicians to share the moment in a celebration of song and verse. Hollie read a selection from Lions Like Us called “Lighthouse.” Her dear friend—and fellow Armadillo—Heidi Kasa read a poem from her upcoming poetry collection. Other readers at the event included local literary treasures Dale Bridges, C. Prudence Arceneaux, and KB Brookins.

She wrapped up her book tour with final stops in Michigan in September.

In preparing for her Seattle appearance, Hollie said: “When times get tough, all our friends come together and the jubilance of our party will be a spectacular act of living defiance. This is how we do and how we’ve always done.”

What people are saying about Lions Like Us:

“It caught me and held me. Her use of imagery is impeccable. Her words bring images to mind that are haunting and lovely.” Nadia Bruce Rawlings

“Reading this book is like falling in love, then parting, then returning to the beloved, again and again and again. Reader, enter to weep, to laugh, to find solidarity. Enter to find, in its purest, most intense, most direct and available form, poetry.” Matthew Zapruder, author of Story of a Poem

You can purchase Lions Like Us on Bookshop.org, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or order it from your favorite local independent bookstore if it’s not on the shelf.

For more about Hollie’s work, including her classes and events, visit her website holliehardy.com or follow her on Instagram.