Dec. 6, 2023: Branwyn Holroyd
Branwyn Holroyd's poetry is informed by over twenty years of working as a social worker, primarily in the area of child protection. She currently lives on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia where she is employed as a barista. She has an MFA from Oklahoma City University and is working on her first full length poetry manuscript. She has publications in Cirque, San Pedro River Review, Room Magazine and Taos Journal of International Poetry and Art.
Emcee: Mary Crane Jan. 3, 2024: Tristan Tugade
Tristan Tugade was born somewhere in England (scientists debate the precise location). Ten years later he and his family moved to a small, Western Washington town called “Duvall”. Fifteen years after this (approximately 1 year and 2 months ago) he wrote his first poem. Experts say he wrote this initial poem on his phone, while on a lunch break at work. He has written several poems since then, and it is speculated he may continue doing so indefinitely. He began attending Duvall Poetry meetups in April 2023, after which Wednesday became his favorite day of the week.
Emcee: TBA Feb. 7, 2024: Catherine Broadwall
Catherine Broadwall is the author of Water Spell (Cornerstone Press, forthcoming 2025), Fulgurite (Cornerstone Press, 2023), Shelter in Place (Spuyten Duyvil, 2019), and other collections. Her writing has appeared in Bellingham Review, Colorado Review, Mid-American Review, and other journals. She was the winner of the 2019-2020 COG Poetry Award, and a finalist for both the 2021 Mississippi Review Prize in poetry and the 2021 Pinch Literary Awards in poetry. She is an assistant professor at DigiPen Institute of Technology, where she teaches creative writing. Her website is www.catherinebroadwall.com.
Emcee: TBA |
March 6, 2024: Bonnie Wolkenstein
Bonnie Wolkenstein’s journey to writing has been multifaceted. Having written throughout childhood, she wanted to study writing at college but was encouraged to take a more professional degree, and psychology beckoned. She is now a writer, photographer and psychologist based in Seattle. Her poetry, essays and photography explore what lies below the surface of everyday moments. Work has appeared in Penumbra, Poetica Magazine, New Note Poetry, Kitchen Table Quarterly, The Good Life, Kansas City Voices, Drash; Northwest Mosaic, 56 Days of August, (Re) An Ideas Journal and La Presa. She has been a featured reader around the greater Seattle area, and has participated in international poetry readings in Guanajuato, MX and Seville, SP. She is the host of the Guanajuato Writing Retreat. Her first book, Dreaming in Cantera/Sueños en Cantera, is a bilingual collection of poems (WordTech Editions, 2023).
Emcee: TBA April 3, 2024: Bennett, Stewart, Hayden"I Am Not Cursed": A Reimagining of the Persephone-Demeter-Hades Myth
Three poets—Laura Lee Bennett, Elizabeth Carroll Hayden, and Chi Stewart—have been writing together since 2012. At some point, they decided to challenge themselves by writing persona poems, and looked to mythology for inspiration. They found a dysfunctional family saga and decided to play with it and see if they could bring it into the here and now. In January 2016, they debuted this poetic collaboration, a voice play of sorts—channeling the characters of Persephone, Demeter, and Hades. Years later, they have evolved the narrative and put poems to the page. Please join the authors for a reading of their new chapbook, I Am Not Cursed. 
The poets: Laura Lee Bennett, Chi Stewart, and Elizabeth Carroll Hayden. Photo: Emily Getts
Chi Stewart is an artist and writer. Her writing career began in an abandoned chicken house on a nearby farm in South Jersey where—at age 10, she hid from the rest of the world to write stories. Earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing, Stewart worked for 14 years in healthcare settings in Chicago, Oregon, Washington state and Saudi Arabia. With the birth of her third child, she became an at-home mom for the following two decades. She then attended Gage Atelier in Seattle for 2 years and continues to show her art in Seattle and East-Side venues. She lives the belief that knowledge can lead to compassion, and that no act of creativity is ever wasted.
Elizabeth Carroll Hayden is a writer and lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest. A former teacher of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing students in Bellevue and Seattle school districts, she is the mother of two very creative adult children. Hayden is published in the anthologies Here, There, Everywhere, and 10x10, as well as the online journal, Belletrist, and has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. When not writing, she can be found ballroom and swing dancing. Laura Lee Bennett is a writer and community organizer, holding a Master of Fine Arts in Short Fiction from the Creative Writing program at University of Oregon, Eugene. She is a past president of Redmond Association of Spokenword (RASP) and serves on the boards of Venues for Artists in the Local Area (VALA Eastside) and the Redmond Historical Society. Her chapbook, Snake Medicine: First Step, was published by nine muses books in 2017. Emcee: Pamela Denchfield May 1, June 5, July 3, Aug. 7, Sept. 4, Oct. 2, Nov. 6, Dec 4, of 2024: TBAWatch this space!
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