LiTFUSE 2022!

Great news from Tieton, Washington, this week: the LiTFUSE faculty lineup for 2022 has been announced, PLUS a new monthly reading series and open mic, Fuel, has been added to LiTFUSE programming.

For LiTFUSE 2022, September 23-25, faculty will feature keynote poet, Kim Addonizio, featured guest, Washington State Poet Laureate, Rena Priest, and additional faculty Brooke Matson, Gabrielle Bates, Robert Lashley, Xavier Cavazos, Aileen Koewn Vaux, Matt Trease, Luther Hughes, Kathryn Hunt, Lyn Coffin, Mathias Svalina, Taneum Bambrick, and Gary Copeland Lilley.

Fuel happens every fourth Wednesday at 7:00pm at the Fueling Station in Tieton. On May 25, you can hear Raúl Sánchez reading from his new book, When There Were No Borders.

Keep an eye on the LiTFUSE website or Facebook page, or get your name on the mailing list for all the latest info.

Thursday in Seattle and online

This Thursday, November 18, 2021, 6:30pm, Margin Shift: Friends in Poetry will present a hybrid in-person/online reading featuring Piper J Daniels, Meca’Ayo Cole, RL Sendra, and Raúl Sanchez. You can see them in person at Common Area Maintenance or streaming live on Facebook.

Thank you!

Year in and year out, whatever the circumstances, our poets laureate encourage and support the presence of poetry in our lives. If they’re paid, it’s a pittance, though they say the rewards are considerable. Some laureates serve for a year, some for two, some, well, just serve. At the close of this highly irregular year, some of our regional poets laureate are completing their terms, others are continuing behind the scenes to figure out ways to bring poetry into our homes and hearts during 2021. This post is simply an acknowledgment and thank you to this group of creative individuals. You are appreciated!

(pictured from left)
Top row
Claudia Castro Luna (Washington); Susan Landgraf (Auburn); Tia Hudson (Bremerton)
Second row
Gwendolyn Morgan (Clark Co., WA); Sady Sparks (Olympia); Raúl Sánchez (Redmond)
Third row
Jourdan Imani Keith (Seattle Civic Poet); Bitaniya Giday (Seattle Youth Poet Laureate); Chris Cook (Spokane)
Bottom row
Abby E. Murray (Tacoma); Susan Lynch (Vashon); Anis Mojgani (Oregon)

If we’ve missed anyone, apologies, and please let us know in the Comments. Also, we note that Ellensburg, Washington, has recently approved a city poet laureate position, but has not yet named the first poet to serve.

THANK YOU, poets laureate!

poetry outside

Located about nine miles north of downtown Seattle, Shoreline, Washington, has just launched a new program of site-specific poetry.

Inspired by the sense of place in Chinese poetry, the Voices in the Forest project connects residents and visitors with the work of local poets who have written about specific places in Shoreline. All of the poems are tied to physical locations, providing details that readers will recognize from their own encounters in the field. In addition to reading the poem for yourself, you are also invited to listen to each poem as it is read by its author. As the project progresses, poems will be translated into multiple languages.

Shown above is “Vertebrae” by Raúl Sánchez. The poem is sited on the west end of the I-5 overpass at 195th Street NE. Copies of the poem are available in the box.

More about the poets, the poems, and downloadable maps at Voices in the Forest.

there’s still time…

There are four remaining spots in each of the Egress Studio workshops scheduled for the afternoon of Saturday, March 9, 2019. Raúl Sanchez and Jed Myers will each offer a two-hour workshop on the theme of Mixing Poetry & Politics, held at Egress Studio in Bellingham. See the complete workshop descriptions, poet bios, and enrollment information on the Egress Studio blog. And if you plan to sign up, don’t delay!

tonight! Seattle!

Come hear a rollicking collection of voices at a MoonPath Press reading curated by Risa Denenberg, tonight, Saturday, November 3, 2018, at 7:00pm, at Open Books in Seattle. The stellar lineup features MoonPath poets Ronda Piszk Broatch, Glenna Cook, Alice Derry, Lorraine Ferra, Christopher J. Jarmick, Carol Levin, Rena Priest, Raul Sanchez, and Connie K Walle. See the poets’ bios here, then join them in person.

Sunday in Seattle

Lyn Coffin and Raúl Sánchez will present a bi-lingual reading in English and Español of Lyn’s brand new book, Esta vida verde, translated by Sergio Royo Bueno, published by Pregunta Ediciones in Spain, and introduced at the Soria International Poetry Festival (Spain) in August. Lyn and Raúl will also read some of their new poems and talk about Spanish-American connections and conundrums.

The reading, which is free, will be held Sunday, September 16, 2018, 2:00pm, at the Seattle Public Library, downtown.

LiTFUSE your summer

LiTFUSE Poets’ Workshop 2018 features Kevin Prufer, with Katrina Roberts, Cindy Williams Gutiérrez, Jonathan Johnson, Rick Barot, Christopher Howell, Jennifer Boyden, Kevin Goodan, Douglas Manuel, Kimberly Burwick, Imani Sims, Joanna Thomas, Raul Sanchez, and a special performance by Gerardo Calderon.

It’s happening Friday, September 28, through Sunday, September 30, 2018, in Tieton, Washington.

Registration is open and Early Bird rates apply through August 31. Registration includes Friday night’s Poetry Slam, Saturday and Sunday classes and readings, and the annual Poets’ Banquet with keynote on Saturday night. Master Classes, taught by Kevin Prufer, Katrina Roberts, and Cindy Williams Gutiérrez, will be offered Friday and Saturday for an additional fee.

Space is limited. Imagination is not. Reserve your spot at LiTFUSE.

winter Clover

Mary Gillilan and Norman Green launched Clover, A Literary Rag in the summer of 2010 with the writing of contributors from the Independent Writers’ Studio — 17 in all. Thirteen editions later Clover has published a total of 234 writers — about half from Washington State, around 40 from Whatcom County, and 11 from international locations.

To see and hear what Clover has become, attend the reading for Volume 14 at Village Books in Fairhaven on Sunday, February 11, 2018, at 4:00pm. Featured contributors are Luther Allen, Janet Bergstrom, James Bertolino, Susan Chase-Foster, David Drummond, John Green, Frances Howard-Snyder, Paul Hunter, Andrew Shattuck McBride, Janet Oakley, Raul Sanchez, Harvey Schwartz, Karen VandeBossche, and Betty Scott. The reading is free and copies of Clover will be available for purchase.

(Submissions for Volume 15 are open until April 30, 2018.)

poetry in Kirkland

Tomorrow, Saturday, March 18, 2017, would be a good time to go to Kirkland. Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall will lead a FREE workshop at BookTree from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. and then be a featured reader in the 3rd Saturday Poetry Is Everything Reading and Open Mic, 6:15 to 8:00 p.m., along with co-feature poet Raul Sanchez. Tod’s workshop is “Three Notes on a Silver Flute: Making Metaphors.”

Details on the BookTree website and on Facebook.