May 23!

Please be sure to mark your calendar for the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest Awards Ceremony — one of the highlights of the Whatcom County poetry scene — on Thursday, May 23, 2024, at 7:00pm, at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal in Fairhaven.

The evening’s events will include music by the Jansen Jazz Orchestra, readings of Walk and Merit Award poems by their authors, the debut of this year’s beautiful poem placards, chapbooks of winning poems, and more! See you there.

conference season: 2

On June 28 and 29, 2024, the Chuckanut Writers Conference will return to live and in-person programming at Sehome High School in Bellingham, with a full complement of speakers, education sessions, author signings, meet-and-greets, agent consultations, and exhibits. After two years of virtual conferences, this year’s theme is, appropriately, “Return to Your Senses.” The schedule is still in the planning stages, but you can see a list of 2024 presenters, register, and also sign up for email updates.

Poetry Fest!

Poetry festival season is well under way, and with so much going on, it might just be time for a reminder of Poetry Fest at Village Books in Bellingham.

Events continue today, Sunday, April 14, 2024, at 4:00pm, with An Afternoon with Local Poets Jeffrey Morgan, Jessica Gigot, and Kevin Murphy.

That will be followed at 6:00pm with Anastacia-Renée reading from her brand-new book, Here in the (Middle) of Nowhere.

Next up is An Evening with Local Poets Jennifer Bullis, Jeremy Voigt, Linda Conroy, and Ryler Dustin, on Tuesday, April 16, at 6:00pm.

On Thursday, April 18, at 6:00pm, Mary Lou Kayser will read from her new collection, The Far Unlit Unknown.

On Sunday, April 21, at 2:00pm, Paul Nelson, Jason Wirth, and Adelia MacWilliam will read from Cascadian Zen, an anthology of nonfiction, poetry, interviews, translations, and artwork celebrating Zen within the Cascadia bioregion.

There are also three remaining Poetry Fest workshops:

• Wednesday, April 17, 6:00pm, Luther Allen presents How to Write a Poem About a Rock (and Everything Else)
• Friday, April 19, 10:30am, Subhaga Crystal Bacon presents Writing Erasure Poems. (And be sure to note that on Saturday, April 20, at 6:00pm, Subhaga Crystal Bacon will read from their Isabella Gardner Award-winning collection of elegies, Transitory.)
• Sunday, April 21, 4:00pm, Jessica Gigot presents Mothering as Transformation: a Poetic Journey

There’s more in store at Village Books for National Poetry Month, including VB Writes, Chuckanut Writers, and Open Mic with Seán Dwyer (for kids AND adults).

poetry of deliciousness

If you have an appetite for poetry, come on down to Village Books in Bellingham this evening, Monday, April 8, 2024, at 6:00pm, when contributors will read from The Empty Bowl Cookbook. Co-presented with the North Cascades Institute for the Nature of Writing Series, this scrumptious volume combines poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and art, in a cookbook that is quite unlike any other. Reserve a seat and see the readers’ bios here.

festival season

In spring, as Cascadians emerge from their dens and begin to forage for sustenance, festivals and conferences put on a feast for hungry creatives.

In Bellingham, Village Books presents the first Poetry Fest, a month of readings, events, workshops, and general celebration of poetry and local poets. Join the festivities in April.

planning for… National Poetry Month

Yes, it’s still February, but April will be here in a minute and there will be a plethora of delicious poetry on offer, so get out your calendar and start taking notes…

In Bellingham, Village Books is presenting the first Poetry Fest: a series of readings and workshops scheduled throughout the month. And of course poetry happens year-round at Village Books, so keep an eye on their Events page.

Wilcox and Daley in Bellingham

You’re invited to join Finn Wilcox and Michael Daley (pictured above in 1982 being ticketed in Portland, Oregon, for trespass on a freight train) as they read recent poems from their own books, Too Late to Turn Back Now (Empty Bowl) by Finn Wilcox and Reinhabited: New and Selected Poems (Dos Madres) and True Heresies (Červená Barva) by Michael Daley.

Wilcox and Daley will read at Honey Moon in Bellingham on Saturday, March 9, 2024, at 8:00pm, with jazz provided by Chuck Easton on guitar.

. . . . .
photo by Steve R. Johnson

SpeakEasy returns!

Back in 2019, when Luther Allen, Susan Alexander, Bruce Beasley, Jennifer Bullis, and Dayna Patterson began writing a series of linked poems on spirituality, it seemed like the resulting poems would be presented as the next SpeakEasy, in early 2020. It wasn’t long before things went sideways, and, thanks to COVID, every aspect of the project became more challenging. Finally, a year after the poets began, the poems were presented as SpeakEasy 27 in a series of Zoom readings and conversations.

Now, at long last, SpeakEasy 27.5 will bring the poets together in person for the first time to read a selection from the series and to launch a book of the full collection, A Spiritual Thread (also available at Village Books).

This Sunday, February 25, 2024, at 4:00pm, SpeakEasy 27.5 will be the first event in a new poetry series, Strong Waters, at a new venue, Faith Lutheran Church, 2750 McLeod Road, in Bellingham, with special thanks to pastor/poet Jory Mickelson.

The event is free, with plenty of free parking. A Spiritual Thread and the poets’ own books will be available for purchase. Hope to see you there.

Chuckanut Writers Conference 2024

Summer will be here before you know it, and that means the in-person return of the Chuckanut Writers Conference. This year’s CWC will be held June 28-29, 2024, at Sehome High School in Bellingham. Registration is now open and if you use the code EarlyBird now through March 15, 2024, you can save $100 off the registration price!

this evening at Village Books

John Morgan, who divides his time between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Bellingham, Washington, will once again enliven the Village Books Readings Gallery as he reads from his new book, The Hungers of the World. The poems are based on a journal that Morgan kept during his residency at Denali National Park in June, 2009, and the collection was published in 2023 by Salmon Poetry. Please join John Morgan at 6:00pm this evening, Monday, January 8, 2024, at Village Books.