November 6, 2019: C.W. Buckley
A fourth-generation West Coast native, C.W. Buckley lives and works in Seattle with his family. Corporate by day, Catholic by faith, he graduated from Stanford University with a degree in Human Biology before earning an M.A. in Religion after spending two years as a chaplain resident at the Stanford and Packard Children’s Hospitals. His writing explores geek culture, conscience, faith, and fatherhood. Reading regularly at Easy Speak Seattle in that city’s northeast, his work is forthcoming in Catamaran and Image Journal and appears in Timberline Review, Raven Chronicles Journal, Tiferet: A Journal of Spiritual Literature, Rock & Sling | a journal of witness, Lummox Journal, POESY Magazine, and the Bay Area Poets Coalition Anthology 23. He is the author of BLUING, a chapbook from Finishing Line Press. You can follow him as @chris_buckley on Twitter.
Emcee: Mary Crane December 4, 2019: Jillian Ingram
Jillian Ingram is a singer/songwriter, poet and activist from Albuquerque New Mexico. She earned her degrees from UW in mass media communications and sociology of law, politics and social policy in 2003 on the Marty Wilson memorial scholarship. Jillian worked in television and radio production and script development, and was an assistant producer on the Emmy nominated documentary film "Perfect Illusions: Eating Disorders and the Family." Frequently asked if she regrets choosing her music and poetry over "using her degrees" at this point in her life, she states that sociologists are people who study the world and document their findings, which is exactly what good poets do. She has published two books of poetry, and has been featured in books such as "Everett's Finest Poetry Anthology" as well as the literary magazine "Labor of Love" out of Toronto. Her band, Rare Birds and Rosemary, has created two demo albums followed by their first professionally produced record "Dollar Store Unicorn", which was released in 2017. She has been a featured poet at Everett Poetry Night, and is currently working on a project to draw attention to and end stigmatization and the abuse of mental health patients by hospitals in Washington State, using poetry as a tool to create that change. Jillian is much more skilled at the art of self-expression than she is at staying silent in the face of prejudice and ableism. Poetry for her is about shared humanity. It is impossible to write and consume large amounts of poetry and stay ignorant about ourselves or others. Poetry is an act of compassion for her.
Emcee: Jeremy Robkin January 8, 2020: B.B. Ullman
B.B. Ullman was born in Seattle where Dad was an electrician for Boeing and Mom was a secretary in the fire department. She had four brothers and one sister, and they were a scrappy lot. Despite hardship, conflict, and time, they remain her people.
B.B. graduated from WSU where she studied art. She married Jim Ullman, raised two girls, painted pictures, took care of Grandma, and, in 2006, published The Fairies of Nutfolk Wood, a Book Sense pick that received a star on Book List. Ullman was nominated to state awards for children's literature in Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Georgia. Whistle Bright Magic followed—another mid-grade novel that was a standalone sequel to Nutfolk Wood, mixing real kids and real concerns with a dash of enchantment. Now it’s Bad Order, an MG Sci-fi that’s a story of four working-class kids, three holograph aliens, and two men in black who must work together to find out why the aliens have suddenly come knocking—and figure out how to stop an interdimensional catastrophe on the brink. Paranormal meets action with a heartfelt twist. When negative thoughts threaten humanity, the biggest gun and smartest computers are useless. Hope lies in the strength and kindness of love. Emcee: Pamela Denchfield Feb. 5, 2020: Janka Hobbs
Janka glanced at the bios for the other readers, and came down with a bad case of impostor syndrome. The rest of these people have written loads of books and won multiple awards! Janka occasionally reads at RASP open mike, where she hopes to make people laugh, mainly because she has trouble reading her more serious stuff out loud.
You can find Janka’s poems in Here, There and Everywhere, 56 Days of August, on urbanfantasist.com, and a few other places. She has also released several short stories into the wild. Emcee: Mary Crane March 4, 2020: Joannie Stangeland
Joannie Stangeland is the author of several collections, most recently The Scene You See. She received the 2019 Crosswinds Poetry Journal grand prize, and her poems have also appeared in Boulevard, Prairie Schooner, The Southern Review, and other journals. Joannie holds an MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop.
Emcee: Mary Crane |
April 1, 2020: Rayn Roberts
Rayn Roberts studied American and British Poetry under legendary poet and professor Dr. Lee Gerlach and Dr. Betsy Walsh at the University of San Diego. He is published in Anthologies: Illuminations, Expressions of the Personal Spiritual Experience (Celestial Arts an imprint of Ten Speed Pres, 2006), The Book of Hope (Beyond Borders Press, 2002), The World Healing Book (Beyond Borders Press, 2002) -- Journals: City Works, Rattle, Retort Magazine, The Seattle Star, San Diego Poetry Annual, The Pedestal Magazine, The Sow's Ear Poetry Review, Thunder Sandwich, Void Magazine and many others. He has traveled extensively and taught English in Japan, S. Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, Hawaii, Spain, Canada and the U.S. He is heard on Radio KSER 90.7 Everett in Washington State; has read all over the nation and the west coast. In 2003, he toured various libraries, coffee houses, art centers and bars in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York and Brockton, Massachusetts. Currently, he hosts a well-established reading at the Green Lake Public Library in Seattle for PoetsWest featuring some of the best poets in Washington, Oregon and California along with an open mic. Find books and poems online or at his blog, “Poetry, Etc.” & Poets & Writers. He did a reading tour in the fall of 2018 of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales where he was invited to read by Geoff Haden at the birthplace of Dylan Thomas on the poet's birthday October 27th. He has two books in print and is currently in the final stages of a third which will be out this year 2019.
Emcee: Pamela Denchfield May 6, 2020: Michael Haeflinger
Originally from the Midwest, Michael Haeflinger is the author of two chapbooks, Love Poem for the Everyday (2011) and The Days Before (2014), both from Dog On A Chain Press. In 2016, he released Let's Don't Be Crazy, a spoken word album. His latest collection, Low Static Rage, will be published in September 2019 by Blue Cactus Press.
He is the recipient of the Rutgers-Camden Award for Community Engagement (2013), The Amocat Award for Community Engagement (2017), and a Tacoma Arts Initiative Program Award (2015). He is the Executive Director for Write253, a literary arts organization in Tacoma, WA. Emcee: Jeremy Robkin June 3, 2020: Sibyl James
Sibyl James is the author of twelve books--poetry, fiction and travel memoirs--including In China with Harpo and Karl (Calyx Books), The Adventures of Stout Mama (Papier-Mache Press), China Beats (Egress Studio Press), The Grand Piano Range (Black Heron Press) and, most recently, Hard Goods & Hot Platters (Last Word Press). She has taught at colleges in the U.S., China, Mexico, and--as Fulbright professor--Tunisia and Cote d'Ivoire. Her writing has received awards from Artist Trust and the Seattle, King County and Washington State arts commissions.
Emcee: Mary Crane July 1, 2020: To Be AnnouncedWatch this space!
August 5, 2020: Savannah Slone
Savannah Slone is a writer, editor, and English professor who currently dwells in the Pacific Northwest. Her poetry and short fiction has appeared in or will soon appear in Glass: A Poetry Journal, Crab Creek Review, FIVE:2:ONE, Pidgeonholes, decomP magazinE, Crab Fat Magazine, Pithead Chapel, Hobart Pulp, and elsewhere. She is the Editor-in-Chief of Homology Lit and the author of Hearing the Underwater (Finishing Line Press, 2019). She enjoys reading, knitting, hiking, and discussing intersectional feminism. You can read more of her work at www.savannahslonewriter.com.
Emcee: TBA Sept. to Oct. 2020: To Be AnnouncedWatch this space!
November 4, 2020: Sierra Golden
Sierra Golden graduated with an MFA in poetry from North Carolina State University. As winner of the 2018 Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize, her debut collection The Slow Art was published by Bear Star Press. The Slow Art is also a finalist for the 2019 Washington State Book Award. Golden's poems appear in literary journals such as Prairie Schooner, Permafrost, and Ploughshares. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies by Hedgebrook, Hugo House, and The Elizabeth George Foundation. Although she calls Washington State home, Golden spent many summers in Alaska, working as a commercial fisherman. She now works in communications at Agros International, a nonprofit working to break the cycle of poverty among rural farmers in Central America.
Emcee: TBA |
