the coolest cats

You are most cordially invited to a reading and release party for Nine Lives Later: a Dead Cat Anthology. Writer/editor Dee Dee Chapman presents this unique collection of poetry and fiction that embraces the unusual motif with sincerity, honest grief, humor, and love. The evening features readings by Jessica Lee, Rena Priest, Duncan Shields, Luther Allen, Malcolm Kenyon, Nancy Canyon, and Dee Dee Chapman.

Let the fur fly. Join the hep cats at Honey Moon in Bellingham, on Thursday, November 30, 2017, at 8:30pm.

Peace Arts Workshops

 
 
Set aside some time on Tuesday, October 24, and Wednesday, October 25, 2017, and participate in one, two, or all three Peace Arts Workshops offered by the Whatcom Peace & Justice Center (WPJC).
 
Transform Your Writing
with poet Betty Scott and songwriter-musician J.P. Falcon Grady
10:00am-Noon, Tuesday, October 24

This workshop will help you explore how the world of peace and justice can be realized through writing. Participants will transform the thought, emotion and images of a free write into a fixed form, perhaps a horoscope, a sonnet, a pantoum, or a revised chorus from a favorite song. Through writing, discussion, and performance examples, participants will look for the gifts that structure and re-visioning provide, then partner with musician J.P. Falcon Grady to enhance their writing with chords and rhythms.

Peace Collage Workshop
with Nancy Canyon
2:00-4:00pm, Tuesday, October 24

Spend the afternoon with Nancy Canyon, author and artist, creating a 6 x 8 inch Peace Collage. Let go of the thinking mind. We’ll work from a space of non-judgment, collecting magazine images that describe the complexities of the concept of peace. The process will feel leisurely and meditative as we cut and move pieces around the matt board, arranging colors and shapes in engaging composition. At the end of class, we’ll share our collages. Magazines and matt board will be provided. Please bring scissors and glue sticks and additional magazines, if you can.

Writing for Peace and Resistance
with Abbe Rolnick
​4:30-6:30pm, Wednesday, October 25

Interactive workshop that highlights storytelling using both fiction and non-fiction techniques to present ideas of justice, resistance, and peace. Core principles of authenticity — original thinking, transformed into meaningful essays or stories.

All three workshops will be held at WPJC, 1220 Bay Street in downtown Bellingham. To register, visit the WPJC Peace Arts Workshops page.

PoMoSco

The Found Poetry Review is at it again. For the past several years, FPR has marked National Poetry Month with a challenge to poets to create new work using various methods of finding language. (You may recall our coverage of Sheila Sondik’s gorgeous chapbook, Fishing a Familiar Pond, which grew out of FPR’s 2013 Pulitzer Remix.)

This year, PoMoSco (short for Poetry Month Scouts) has 213 poets generating new poems in five categories: remixing, erasure, out and about, conceptual and chance operation. There are six “badges” in each category, with badges earned for each prompt used. (See the 30 badges here and click to read the instructions for each prompt.) As the poets (who are called “scouts”) finish a poem, they post it on the PoMoSco site, so you can read their found poems as well as “self-interview” introductions.

There’s much more on the PoMoSco site — and, of course, more to come through the month of April. (Note: in the past, FPR has taken their project sites offline shortly after completion. If you want to see this one, do so during April.)
. . . . .
Thanks to scout Nancy Canyon for the PoMoSco reminder.

poetry tonight!

Please join Jeni Cottrell and the Firehouse Performing Arts Center, 1314 Harris Avenue in Fairhaven (Bellingham, Washington), this evening — Friday, August 22, 2014 — as they host a reception and poetry reading for Whatcom Women Words and Works.

The exhibit, which remains on view at the Firehouse Café through the month of August, features art and poetry by Sheila Sondik, J.I. Kleinberg, Nancy Canyon and Anita K. Boyle.

The reception begins at 6:30pm, the poetry reading (in the performance space) runs 7:15-8:00pm and the reception ends at 8:30pm.

Art reception and poetry reading

Organized by Jeni Cottrell and featuring work of four artist-poets, Whatcom Women Words and Works is currently on display at the Firehouse Café, 1314 Harris Avenue in Fairhaven (Bellingham, Washington). The café is open 7:00am to 5:30pm daily.

Each of the artists – Anita K. Boyle, Nancy Canyon, J.I. Kleinberg and Sheila Sondik – has both artwork and poetry in the exhibit and all four will talk about their work and read poetry at the reception/reading next Friday, August 22, 2014. The reception begins at 6:30pm, the reading (in the adjacent Firehouse Performing Arts Center) runs 7:15-8:00pm, and the reception ends at 8:30pm. The reading is free, with donations appreciated to cover venue costs. All artwork is for sale.

Poetry Alive!

On Saturday, April 26, 2014, the National Poetry Month bonanza continues in Bellingham as five local favorites share the latest inklings of their imaginations with typical aplomb and flair. Poetry Alive, with Kevin Murphy, Jim Bertolino, Nancy Canyon, Susan Chase-Foster and Matthew Brouwer, will pack enough creative juice to power a whole city block and leave you wishing that poetry month could file for an extension.

Proceeds benefit the Whatcom Juvenile Justice Creative Writing Project, which pairs teaching artists with teens in the local juvenile justice system. Following a successful Kickstarter campaign, the project has been underway for nearly a year, with a writing club that operates in detention most weeks. Proceeds from the show will ensure that the club continues through 2014 and can be offered to teens outside of detention as well.

Poetry Alive will take place at the Whatcom Museum Rotunda Room, 7:00pm. Suggested donation: $5 students, $10 adults.

Saturday reading in Bellingham

Mark your calendar and join the appreciative audience as selected contributors to Clover, A Literary Rag, volume 5, read their work at Village Books on Saturday, September 28, 2013, at 7:00pm. The featured readers are: Luther Allen, Nancy Canyon, Denise duMaurier, Paul Hunter, Jim Milstead, Marla Morrow, Jon Reitzel and Caitlin Thomson. Copies of Clover will be available for purchase.

The literary journal, edited by Mary Gillilan (Independent Writers’ Studio) and Norman Green (Threshold Documents), is accepting submissions for Volume 6 until September 30, so this reading will offer a great opportunity to decide if this is the right company for your writing.

Visit the Clover web page or Facebook page, and see the terrific article on Jim Milstead written by Alisa Gramann for The Bellingham Herald.

See you in Fairhaven!

This evening, Saturday, September 21, 2013, the first-ever Fairhaven Art Block Party brings the arts together in one FABulous evening. Lucia Douglas Gallery, Firehouse Performing Arts Center, Whatcom Poetry Series and Bellingham Repertory Dance present two art venues and an evening of performance infused with dance, poetry, music and art.

The celebration of the arts begins at 5:00pm at and in between the Firehouse Performing Arts Center (1314 Harris Ave) and Lucia Douglas Gallery (1415 13th St.).

At Lucia Douglas Gallery, Postcards from Fairhaven features work of more than 50 local artists. The Firehouse PAC presents four artists in the Café (Nancy Canyon, Joy Olney, Chris Shreve and Prentiss Cole), plus a live model sketching opportunity in the theatre. At 8:00pm, the FABulous evening performance at the Firehouse includes dance, poetry by Kevin Murphy and James Bertolino, and an infusion of art and music; $10 suggested donation.

Writing Workshops – October and November

Have you seen the lineup of fall 2013 workshops at Village Books in Bellingham? The workshops all require advance registration and will be held either in the Village Books Readings Gallery or in the Fairhaven Village Inn Conference Room. In brief…

Nancy Canyon teaches Place to Place: Writing the Environment
Thursdays, October 3, 10, 17 and 24, 6:30-8:30pm

Cami Ostman teaches What “Type” of Writer are You?
Tuesday, November 12, 7-8:30pm

Marketing specialist & publishing consultant Alice Acheson teaches two workshops
The Greatest Marketing Tool on Friday, November 15, 5:30-8:30
Your Book — What’s Next? on Saturday, November 16, 10am-5pm

Learn more about the instructors, the workshops and registration on the Village Books Writing Workshops page.

World Book Night

April 23 is Shakespeare’s birthday, the UNESCO International Day of the Book and, since 2011, World Book Night. Each year, 30 books are selected and specially printed in paperback editions that are given away by volunteers on World Book Night. In 2012, poet/writer/artist Nancy Canyon* was a volunteer ‘giver’ in Bellingham. Here’s what she has to say about the experience:

“World Book Night was exciting and eye-opening. I handed out Maya Angelou’s book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings at the train and bus station in Fairhaven. Some folks said they rarely read or had little time to read. But receiving a free book gave them incentive and they were excited to crack it open. A few folks turned down the free book. One homeless woman whom I’d seen around the area was particularly excited, as she’d lost her job and home had lots of time on her hands.

World Book Night was as good an experience for me as it was for the receivers, as I walked past many judgments I had about who would be a reader, who would be open to a gift of a book (some folks wanted to know what the catch was), and who would be friendly to a stranger approaching them. I would highly recommend participating in this event.”

To see the titles of this year’s books, click here, or visit the World Book Night website for more extensive information. To sign up in Bellingham (it’s not too soon), contact Village Books. If you’re not in Bellingham, ask your local independent bookseller for information.

*Among her many credits, Nancy Canyon was a 2007 Walk Award winner and she created the cover art and was an editor for Poetry Walk: Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest, The First Five Years. You can download Nancy’s e-books here, visit her website, and check out her writing blog and art blog.