happening in Everett

Perhaps you’re familiar with the long-running every-Thursday Everett Poetry Night at Café Zippy, but did you know there’s a second weekly poetry scene in Everett? The Poetry Laboratory happens every Monday at Black Lab Art Gallery, with featured poet, open mic and artwork on the walls. Visit the Poetry Laboratory Facebook page for the latest.

hearing from Hedgebrook

For more than a century, U.S. writers and artists have nurtured their creative impulses at retreat centers around the country. From Thornton Wilder and Aaron Copland to Louise Erdrich and Michael Chabon, literary and artistic figures have benefited from the freedom and creative space offered by colonies and retreat centers.

In 1985, Hedgebrook was established on a Whidbey Island farm by Seattle philanthropist Nancy Nordhoff. The retreat center would be a place for women to come and be in solitude and community. Nancy’s vision has evolved into a global community of writers enriched by diversity: of culture, nationality, voice, genre, generation, perspective, religious beliefs and political affiliations. Nearly two thirds of Hedgebrook’s alumnae are women of color, and they come from all over the world, and all walks of life. They are emerging and published, ranging in age from 18-85, and writing in all genres.

On February 5, 2017, Hedgebrook founder, Nancy Nordhoff, and dynamic executive director, Amy Wheeler, will tell the Hedgebrook story firsthand at Vashon Center for the Arts as part of its Arts & Humanities series. For ticket information and additional details, visit Vashon Center for the Arts.

good idea

It’s hard to say this more clearly than the Books On The Subway site, so we quote…

It’s like a public library, but on the New York Subway.

We go out and leave some of our favorite books on the New York subway. There are new books every day, and they’re there to be taken, read, shared, and most importantly, enjoyed! We want everyone to get involved and fall in love with reading again and we want to make the subway a more friendly and enjoyable experience.

So, if you find a book from us on the subway, feel free to pick it up and take it home with you, but when you’re done, be sure to put it back on the subway for someone else to enjoy.

Launched in 2013 by Rosy Kehdi and Hollie Fraser (Fraser had started Books on the Underground in London a year earlier), BOTS gets books from authors, publishers and ordinary readers. The books are left on benches, or just about anywhere there’s a shelf, and returned when readers have finished them. There are now stickers to identify BOTS books. If the photos are any indication, the offerings seem shy of poetry. So we add this:

Calling all authors & publishers! Please feel free to reach out to us if you would like to send us your books to distribute on the subway. If you would like to get your own sticker to place on your books and distribute, drop us an email to bookssubway@gmail.com.

Read more about Books On The Subway and like them on Facebook.

Poet, submit!

It may still be winter, but deadlines are busting out all over. This list includes Cascadia-region publications that have current/ongoing submissions calls. There are many other fine journals in the region, but if they are not accepting submissions, they are not included here. Dates are 2017. Follow the links for details.

• Bricolage deadline February 12 for anyone associated with the UW
• Burnside Review open submissions
• The Capilano Review Issue 3.32 (Spring 2017) – Food theme – deadline: April 1, 2017
• Cascadia Review open submissions
• The Cascadia Subduction Zone reads submissions year round
• Cirque Journal deadline for June issue March 21
• Clover, A Literary Rag submissions open
• CutBank print edition submissions open until February 1
• EVENT accepts submissions year round
• Geist accepts work (by postal mail only) with a Canadian connection year round
• Gramma reads submissions year-round for Daily Gramma
• High Desert Journal reviews submissions year round
• Image Journal and the Good Letters blog accept submissions year round
• Isthmus reopened for submissions January 1
• Jeopardy Magazine accepts submissions Western Washington University students, staff, faculty, and alumni through March 19
• The Monarch Review reads submissions year round
• Open Spaces by invitation only
• The Other Journal lists themes but not deadlines for upcoming issues; accepts writer queries on posted themes on the role of faith and spirituality
• Pacifica Literary Review submissions open through May 15
• PageBoy Magazine reads submissions throughout the year
• Poetry Northwest welcomes unsolicited submissions of poetry, original or in translation through March 15
• PRISM international accepts submissions year round
• The Raven Chronicles guidelines for Volume 24 will be posted at the end of January
• Ricepaper accepts submissions from Asian-Canadian writers year round
• Room Magazine call for issue 40.3 on the theme Migration closes January 31
• The Seattle Review accepts long-form submissions year round
• Shark Reef deadline March 31 for summer edition
• Silk Road Review reads submissions year round
• StringTown reads submissions year round
• subTerrain has upcoming deadlines on February 1, May 1 and September 1 for themed issues
• Sweet Tree Review submissions open through March 19
• Switched-on Gutenberg issue 24 submissions open through April 30
• Tin House accepts submissions in March and September only
• Willow Springs poetry submissions open through May 31
• Windfall has two deadlines: February 1 for the spring issue and August 1 for the fall issue

. . . . .
open sign

poetry to keep you company

Poetry Off the Shelf is a twice-monthly podcast series offered free by The Poetry Foundation. In each audio segment, producer Curtis Fox “explores the diverse world of contemporary American poetry with readings by poets, interviews with critics, and short poetry documentaries.” With podcasts dating back to April 2006, you will find new and favorite poets as well as conversations addressing topics timely and traditional. Have a listen.

. . . . .
Thanks to Sheila Sondik for the suggestion

Guidelines posted!

Whatcom County (Washington) poets, the guidelines for the 2017 Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest are now posted on the 2017 Contest page.

your poem in The New York Times

The New York Times Opinion page writer Nicholas Kristof invites you to submit a poem for his Donald Trump Poetry Contest. There’s no specific deadline, but the contest probably won’t last long, so act soon. Visit the announcement and post your poem as a comment.

attention Whatcom County poets!

Back in November, we introduced the Bellingham Poem Booth. Now, after a successful Kickstarter campaign, it’s time to move forward with the restoration and the poems.

Whatcom County poets are invited to submit a poem to be displayed in the Poem Booth at the Community Food Co-op, downtown Bellingham, Washington. Writer of the winning poem will receive $25 cash prize and a $25 Community Food Co-op gift certificate. Runner-up poems will be posted on the Poem Booth website. New poems will be selected and displayed each quarter.

The suggested writing prompt: If you could call anyone, anywhere, any century (including this one), what would you say? Submission deadline: Friday, February 17, 2017, by midnight. See the complete guidelines on the Poem Booth blog.

Short shorts in December

If blue water, balmy air and palm trees sound like the perfect prescription for December, you’d be well advised to jump all over this opportunity. It won’t last long. Registration is now open for the Hawai’i Writers’ Retreat, featuring Sheila Bender and Brenda Miller. Open to memoir writers, fiction writers, and poets, the Retreat is designed to get you to a completed 1,000-word piece in just one week, while you enjoy one of the most beautiful, inspirational places in the world — the Big Island of Hawai’i. December 10 through December 16, 2017. Details at Kahini, where you’ll also find links to the 2017 Kāpiti Writers’ Retreat (March 3-5, 2017, New Zealand).

Hear the Poetry Marathon

The Poetry Marathon challenges participants to write (and post) 24 poems in 24 hours (or 12 in 12 hours). Originated and organized by Caitlin Thomson Jans and Jacob Jans, writers and web publishers living in Cascadia, The Poetry Marathon is entirely free. In 2016, more than 500 poets worldwide participated in the full or half marathon.

SpeakEasy 18 will present a number of participating poets from the region reading selections from their marathon output. Readers include Jessica Ankeny, Ramona Elke, Janel Erchinger-Davis, Jacob Jans, J.I. Kleinberg, Nancy Pagh, Silvester Phua, Paul Sarvasy, Harvey Schwartz, Sheila Sondik, Caitlin Thomson, Jeanne Yeasting, and Tobe Zalinger.

Please join us for SpeakEasy 18 on Saturday, January 28, 2017, at 7:00pm, in the Encore Room at the Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham, Washington. The event is free and copies of the 2016 Poetry Marathon Anthology will be available for purchase.