Washington State Book Awards finalists!

The Washington Center for the Book and The Seattle Public Library have just announced 39 finalists in eight categories for the 2022 Washington State Book Awards (WSBA) for outstanding books published by Washington authors in 2021.

In poetry, the finalists are

• Broken by Water: Salish Sea Years (Turning Point) by Gary Thompson
• Dialogues with Rising Tides (Copper Canyon Press) by Kelli Russell Agodon
• More American (Grid Books / Off the Grid Press) by Sharon Hashimoto
• Self-Portrait with Cephalopod (Milkweed Editions) by Kathryn Smith
• Stray Birds (Kelson Books) by Andrew Robin

Congratulations, poets!

See the complete list of 2022 finalists as well as winners and finalists from previous years, and stay tuned for the 2022 winners, to be announced on Tuesday, September 13, 2022.

Submissions are now being accepted for the 2023 book awards, for books published in 2022.

Mount Vernon reading and workshop

Spend an evening at the lovely Lincoln Theatre in Mount Vernon as Washington State Poet Laureate Rena Priest offers a reading followed by a generative poetry workshop. The event, on Saturday, September 3, 2022, at 7:30pm, is entirely FREE, thanks to Humanities Washington, the Washington State Arts Commission, Skagit River Poetry Foundation, Skagit Land Trust, and Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group.

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photo by Calvin Miller (@cmjphotojournal)

Soul Bone Literary Festival

A series of free online literary readings and master classes continues through Sunday, September 4, 2022, thanks to the Soul Bone Literary Festival. See the list of remaining programs and registration information here. (Note: some programs, like today’s presentation by Kelli Russell Agodon, are early, i.e., 8:00am Pacific!)

ModPo begins again soon

We’ve mentioned the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) ModPo (Modern & Contemporary American Poetry) a number of times over the years. Entirely free, the course is substantial enough that many people enroll again and again.

The ten-week course begins on Saturday, September 3, 2022, and enrollment is open on Coursera. Find out more on the ModPo website, including the webcast schedule.

meanwhile in New Zealand

In Wellington, New Zealand, visitors to the National Library can pull a lever on a steampunk-style machine and be rewarded with a printed poem. The brainchild of library New Media Specialist Sebastian Blair, the machine is stocked with a hundred pre-1920 poems from the newspaper archives of Papers Past.

Thursday in Seattle

This Thursday, August 25, 2022, at 7:00pm, join with Moss staff and contributors to celebrate the publication of Moss Volume 7, with readings from Kim Fu, Matt Briggs, Nanya Jhingran, Shin Yu Pai, Rita Wirkala, and Katherine Morgan. The event will be held at the Lapis Theater at Hugo House. It’s in-person and it’s free, but advance registration is requested.

The Art of Poetry

Back in 2014 (yes, we mentioned it then), the former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky conducted a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) called The Art of Poetry. While the archived version of the course is no longer available on edX, Boston University maintains a free archive of all the mini-lectures and conversations from the course. Most of the 80+ videos are brief — 5 minutes or less — and they are wide-ranging and entertaining.

For a listing of current or recent/viewable poetry MOOCs, visit Coursera, the International Writing Program (IWP) of the University of Iowa, Open Yale Courses, or edX Courses.

more poetry on film

In case you missed Love Jones in 1997, when it was released, it features an ensemble cast and spoken-word poetry by Sonia Sanchez from her book Like the Singing Coming Off the Drums: Love Poems. An Audience Award winner at Sundance, it was critically acclaimed, even as it performed modestly at the box office. The film is available for streaming and also on disc from a local library.

on poetry

“The antagonism between the poet and the politician has generally been evident in all cultures.”
Salvatore Quasimodo
(August 20, 1901 – June 14, 1968)

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Thursday reading

On Thursday, August 25, 2022, at 5pm Pacific, Poetry Northwest will launch the Summer/Fall 2022 issue with a free, online reading featuring contributors Eugenia Leigh, Laura Villareal, Martha Silano, Maya Jewell Zeller, and James Welch Prize Finalists Max Early and Tacey Atsitty.

Register here and at the bottom of the form, where it asks, “How did you hear about this event?” click Other and write thepoetrydepartment.wordpress.com. Thanks!