featured!

Lena Khalaf Tuffaha, whose workshop, Self-Portrait, Selfie, and Snap Poems, will be offered in Bellingham on Saturday, December 7, 2019, was the featured poet on Poetry Daily this past Sunday. Read her poem Miss Sahar Listens to Fairuz Sing “The Bees’ Path” and then visit the Workshops page to read the description of her workshop. There are still a few spaces available!

Bellingham: Poetry Reading & Book Launch

On Friday, November 15, 2019, 7:00pm, three outstanding poets will share words from their new books at St. Paul’s Old Parish Hall in Bellingham (across the street from the church):

Jory Mickelson (center, above) will read from Wilderness//Kingdom (Floating Bridge, 2019), Dayna Patterson (left) will read from Titania in Yellow (Porkbelly Press, 2019), and Megan Spiegel (right) will read from Luminance (Dancing Girl Press, 2019).

JORY MICKELSON is the author of Wilderness//Kingdom. His poems have appeared in print and online in the US, Canada, and UK. He has received fellowships from Lambda Literary Foundation, The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, and Centrum’s Port Townsend Writers’ Conference. Originally from Montana, he now lives in Bellingham.

DAYNA PATTERSON is the author of Titania in Yellow and the forthcoming If Mother Braids a Waterfall (Signature Books, 2020). Her creative work has appeared recently in POETRY, AGNI, and Passages North, among others. She is the founding editor-in-chief of Psaltery & Lyre and a co-editor of Dove Song: Heavenly Mother in Mormon Poetry.

MEGAN SPIEGEL is the author of Luminance, a graduate of the multi-genre MFA program at Western Washington University, and a hybrid genre editor at Psaltery & Lyre. She blends images and ideas from the sciences, visual arts, and public domain archives into writing that inhabits the space between poetry and prose.

Jack Straw voices

You have two opportunities to hear the 2019 Jack Straw Writers, this year selected by curator (and former Washington State Poet Laureate) Kathleen Flenniken.

Today, Saturday, November 2, 2019, at 2:00pm, the Downtown Seattle Public Library will present new work by Dianne Aprile, Shankar Narayan, Rena Priest, Sylvia Byrne Pollack, Samar Abulhassan, Christianne Balk, Leanne Dunic, Michael Schmeltzer, Josh Axelrad, Gabrielle Bates, and Suzanne Warren, hosted by Kathleen Flenniken.

Tomorrow, Village Books in Bellingham will host a six-pack of Jack Straw writers reading selections from the 2019 Jack Straw Writers Anthology. Join the audience at 4:00pm to hear Dianne Aprile, Christianne Balk, Leanne Dunic, Sylvia Byrne Pollack, Rena Priest, and Suzanne Warren.

Both readings are free.

More about Jack Straw.

Bellingham: reading & book launch

Stefania Heim, who will be teaching a workshop on ekphrastic writing on Saturday, October 26, 2019, will also be the featured poet at a dual book launch, 4:00pm on Sunday, October 27.

BRUNA press + archive in downtown Bellingham will present the sixth event in the MUTTER COURAGE program, an occasional reading series and conversation space curated by Yanara Friedland. Stefania Heim will read from Geometry of Shadows (A Public Space Books, 2019), her translation of the Italian-language poetry of surrealist Giorgio de Chirico, and her own collection, Hour Book (Ahsahta Press, 2019). The event is free.

workshop reminder

Just a quick reminder that there are terrific poetry workshops coming up in Bellingham on Saturday, October 26, and Saturday, December 7, 2019. Terrific instructors. No previous poetry experience needed, but advance registration is required. All the details on the WORKSHOPS page.

celebrating Bertolino

TODAY, October 4, is Jim Bertolino’s birthday.

TOMORROW, October 5, 2019, you can help Jim celebrate at SpeakEasy 26: Reading Bertolino, an evening of poetry honoring this prolific and influential poet. It’s free, in Bellingham, at the Mount Baker Theatre Encore Room. Please join us!

Reading Bertolino

SpeakEasy 26: Reading Bertolino will be a lively evening of poetry written by James Bertolino and honoring this prolific and influential poet.

Jim’s poetry has been published internationally in hundreds of magazines, scores of anthologies, and dozens of books over the past 50+ years. He holds an MFA from Cornell University, has won numerous awards, and taught creative writing for more than 36 years. Jim’s first book was published in 1968, and his recent publications include Ravenous Bliss: New and Selected Love Poems (MoonPath Press, 2014) and Last Call: The Anthology of Beer, Wine & Spirits Poetry (World Enough Writers, 2018), which he edited. Bertolino’s poem “A Wedding Toast” was featured on Ted Kooser’s syndicated column, American Life in Poetry, on June 29, 2019.

This free, public event will be held at the Mount Baker Theatre Encore Room in Bellingham, Washington on Saturday, October 5, 2019, at 7:00pm. Please join us.