Tama Brisbane, Stockton’s first poet laureate, will join fellow With Our Words, WOW, poet Buddy Sahagun for the first of three Writers’ Toolbox workshops sponsored by four arts groups on Saturday, Jan. 30.

“The Writers’ Toolbox Reading Series” session on Jan. 30 will focus on poetry with arts advocate Donna Marie acting as facilitator. The program will feature poets examining and exploring their creations in relation to their subjects and audiences. Questions will be welcomed.

The event, free and open to the public, will be held at 6 p.m. at the First Unitarian Universalist Church, 2737 Pacific Ave., Stockton. A reception will follow.

Brisbane is founder and director of WOW Inc., a non-profit slam poetry collective. Sahagun resurrected the Pierced Ear Poetry Slam and coached WOW students at the summer’s Brave New Voices Tournament in Pennsylvania.

The second “Toolbox” is set for May with a spotlight on short story writers. Children’s authors will be featured at the last, in September.

The series is sponsored by the Marion Jacobs Literary Forum, the Stockton Arts Foundation, Tuleburg Press, and the Heritage Writers’ Community.

For more information, call 463-3390.