Past Readers
"Cheap Beer and Prose," Thursday, November 3, 2011
Steve Barker is the stage manager and co-founder of "Cheap Wine & Poetry" and "Cheap Beer & Prose". In 2009 he co-edited the chapbook "Hill Poems: A Collection of Capitol Hill Poetry." He co-hosts Hugo Literary Trivia at Richard Hugo House (the next one will be November 16), and twice a month he hosts the arts and entertainment podcast Ordinary Madness, which can be heard at ordinarymadness.org.
Corbin Lewars is the author of “Creating a Life: The Memoir of a Writer and Mom in the Making,” which has been nominated for the 2011 PNBA and Washington State book awards. Her novel is out for submission, and she is currently working on a second memoir entitled “After Glow: Life After Marriage.” Her essays have been featured in over twenty five publications as well as in two writing anthologies being published in 2011. She has been a writing instructor and coach for over ten years and holds a Master’s in Education from Antioch University.
Anne Leigh Parrish is the author of the story collection, "All The Roads That Lead From Home." Her stories can be found in The Virginia Quarterly Review, American Short Fiction, Clackamas Literary Review, The Pinch, Storyglossia, Eclectica Magazine, PANK Magazine, Prime Number and r.kv.r.y, among other publications. Visit her at www.anneleighparrish.com.
Michael Shilling is the author of "Rock Bottom," which Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company published in 2009. This summer, the book was adapted to the stage by the Landless Theater Company in Washington DC. Mr. Shilling, whose short stories have appeared in The Sun, Fugue and Other Voices, teaches at Cornish College of the Arts, and has written for The Stranger. He is working on a novel that takes place in Miami, a comedy called "The Lipizzaner."
"Cheap wine AND Poetry," THURSDAY, SEPT. 29, 2011
Elizabeth J. Colen is the author of prose poetry collection "Money for Sunsets" (Steel Toe Books, 2010), flash fiction collection "Dear Mother Monster, Dear Daughter Mistake" (Rose Metal Press, 2011).
Elaina M. Ellis is a full-time poet. She is the founder of TumbleMe Productions, a vehicle for multimedia artistic collaborations. Elaina recently earned a Masters in Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Antioch University, where she studied with the likes of Jenny Factor and Douglas Kearney. The last time she got her heart broken, she wrote about it compulsively until a book appeared. The book, “Write About an Empty Birdcage,” can be found at your local bookstore.
Jeannine Hall-Gailey is the Seattle-area author of two books of poetry, "She Returns to the Floating World," which came out from Kitsune Books in 2011, and "Becoming the Villainess," which was published by Steel Toe Books in 2006. She has a B.S. in Biology and an M.A. in English from the University of Cincinnati, as well as an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Pacific University. Her poems have been featured on NPR's The Writer's Almanac and on Verse Daily; two were included inThe Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. In 2007 she received a Washington State Artist Trust GAP Grant and a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize. She volunteers as an editorial consultant for Crab Creek Review, writes book reviews and teaches at National University's MFA Program.
Summer Robinson is a poet sometimes, a former bookstore owner, champagne bar hostess, rowboat captain, and a saint. Recently, her work has appeared in Smalldoggies Magazine, Fragments, LICK, and A Big Wind.
"Cheap beer AND Prose" Thursday, May 26, 2011
Ryan Boudinot is the author of “The Littlest Hitler” (Counterpoint, 2006), a Publishers Weekly Book of the Year. His first novel “Misconception” was published by Grove Atlantic in fall 2009. His next novel, "Blueprints of the Afterife," is forthcoming in 2012. His work has appeared in McSweeney's, The Stranger, “The Best American Nonrequired Reading” and elsewhere. He teaches at Goddard College's M.F.A. program in Port Townsend and at Richard Hugo House, where he is also writer-in-residence.
Stacey Levine wrote “My Horse and Other Stories” (PEN/West Fiction Award) and the novels “Dra—” and “Frances Johnson” (finalist, Washington State Book Award). Her short fiction collection “The Girl with Brown Fur,” which includes a story commissioned by Richard Hugo House, will be published by Starcherone/Dzanc in May 2011. A Puschcart Prize nominee, Levine’s fiction has appeared in the Denver Quarterly, Fence, Tin House, The Fairy Tale Review, Seattle Magazine, The Washington Review, the Santa Monica Review, Yeti and other venues. She has contributed to American Book Review, Bookforum, Fodor’s City Guides, The Stranger, The Chicago Reader, The Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Her one-act play, “Susan Moneymaker, Large and Small,” was published by Belladonna Books in NYC. She received the 2009 Stranger Genius Award for Literature. Her fiction has been translated into Japanese and Danish.
Maria Semple wrote for a bunch of TV shows before turning to fiction. "This One Is Mine" was her first novel. Her second will be published in 2012.
Matthew Simmons is the author of the novella "A Jello Horse" (Publishing Genius Press 2009) and the short collection "The Moon Tonight Feels My Revenge" (Keyhole Press 2010). He is the interviews editor for the journal Hobart and a contributor to HTML Giant. He lives in Seattle with his cat Emmett.
"Cheap wine AND Poetry" Thursday, April 28, 2011
Roberto Ascalon began his performance career at the age of six for the Filipino Nurses Association where his mom insisted that he perform his “Elvis the Pelvis” routine for her friends, colleagues and relatives. He's been in the spotlight ever since. A renowned teaching artist and nationally recognized performance poet, Roberto Ascalon connects to audiences via universal narratives with inimitable voice and style. He touches on themes such as first kisses, love for family, racism and Spam in poems carefully crafted for both the page and the stage. Although he's grown out of gyrating his hips and shaking his left leg at hysterical women, he will consider it, for the right price. Born and bred in New York City, Roberto has taught poetry with an array of Seattle youth programs for the last eight years: Arts Corps, Writers in the Schools, the Richard Hugo House, and Youthspeaks. He's curated poetry programs, produced major installations and performed for hundreds in venues across the country. Because of the success of the poetry and sound installation "I Wish I Knew Who I Was Before I Was Me" at the Frye Art Museum in 2010, he and his students received a once in lifetime invitation to the White House by First Lady Michelle Obama. He lives in a converted turn of the century schoolhouse in West Seattle, with a cat, a beautiful girl and a blackboard.
Elizabeth Austen recently published her first full-length poetry collection, “Every Dress a Decision” (Blue Begonia Press, 2011). She is also the author of two chapbooks, “The Girl Who Goes Alone” (Floating Bridge Press, 2010) and “Where Currents Meet” (one of four winners of the 2010 Toadlily Press chapbook award and part of the quartet Sightline). In 2006 she produced skin prayers, an audio CD of her poems. Elizabeth spent her teens and twenties working in the theatre and writing poems. A six-month solo walkabout in the Andes region of South America led her to focus exclusively on poetry. She produces poetry-related programming for KUOW 94.9 and makes her living as a communications specialist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she also offers retreats and journaling workshops for the staff.
Founder of SPokenword LAB in Columbia City, or SPLAB, Paul Nelson authored a book on poetics Organic Poetry & a serial poem re-enacting the history of Auburn, Washington entitled “A Time Before Slaughter,” (shortlisted for the 2010 Stranger Genius Award). In 26 years of radio he conducted over 500 hours of interviews, including Allen Ginsberg, Michael McClure, Anne Waldman, Sam Hamill, Robin Blaser, Eileen Myles, Wanda Coleman, Joanne Kyger, Jerome Rothenberg & others. He’s written several essays on Michael McClure’s work, serves as Seattle editor of the Pacific Rim Review of Books and has work published around the world in The Argotist, Golden Handcuffs Review, Blackbox, Unlikely Stories and other publications. He presented on Projective Verse at the Tools of the Sacred Conference in Brussels in 2010 and will present on Pacific Rim Poetics at the Qinghai Lake International Poetry Festival in China in August 2011. He writes one American Sentence every day and has done so for over ten years.
Katharine Ogle was reared and feared in Virginia until she moved to Seattle several years ago. She writes poetry and works as a teacher, journalist, editor, caregiver, tutor and personal shopper.
"Cheap wine AND Poetry" THURSDAY, mARCH 10, 2011
Graham Isaac is Northwest-born and writer of poetry, short fiction and the odd music review. He holds an MA in Media and Creative Writing from the University of Wales in Swansea, where he co-founded and hosted The Crunch, one of South Wales' largest regular-running spoken word open mics. In 2009 he was the Swansea representative for the Southbank Centre's Global Poetry System and in 2010 he served as Communications Intern for the Zine Archive and Publishing Project in Seattle. His work has appeared online and in print in Jeopardy, Kill Poet, Licton Springs Review, The Antagonist, Roundyhouse and more. He lives and writes in Seattle, WA.
Rebecca Hoogs is the author of a chapbook, "Grenade" (2005), and her poems have appeared in journals such as Poetry, AGNI and Crazyhorse. She is the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and Artist Trust of Washington State. She won the 2010 Southeast Review poetry prize for her poem “Miss Scarlett,” a comic look at the tragic Clue character. She received her M.F.A. in Poetry and an M.A. in English from the University of Washington. She is the Director of Education Programs and curator for the Poetry Series for Seattle Arts & Lectures, and was the co-director of the Summer Creative Writing Program in Rome through the University of Washington in 2009 and 2010.
During the turn of the 21st century Emmett Montgomery was a rising star in the Salt Lake City spoken word scene but the lure of the adult world caused him to give up poetry and attempt to be an adult. Fortunately the adult world wasn't very interesting and Emmett has been performing stand-up comedy with a passion since 2004 and some people seem to like it. "Cheap Wine and Poetry" will mark his return to the poetry stage after over a decade and he is excited to be performing both old and new pieces.
Sierra Nelson earned her MFA from U.W. in 2002 and her poems can be found in Crazyhorse, Poetry Northwest, Black Boot, Thermos and other locations. Her choose-your-own adventure chapbook created with artist Loren Erdrich recently won NYU’s Collaboration Award. She is co-founder of the poetry-science performance group the Vis-à-Vis Society, whose statistical musical “Hello, Again, Hello” will debut at the NW Film Forum in May. She hearts typewriters, Icelandic sagas and cephalopods.
"Cheap beer AND Prose," tHURSDAY, january 21, 2011
Suzanne Morrison is the author of “Yoga Bitch: One woman's quest to conquer skepticism, cynicism, and cigarettes on the path to enlightenment,” a memoir that will be published in the United States by Broadway Books in August of 2011 and in Germany, the Netherlands, Israel and Russia in 2012. “Yoga Bitch” is based on her long-running one-woman show of the same title, which has been called “Ambitious, ballsy, and hilarious” by Seattle Weekly and “New Age Nirvana” by Time Out London. A 2009 and 2010 recipient of 4Culture grants for solo performance, Suzanne has been touring “Yoga Bitch” around the States and the UK since 2007 and is developing a new show, “Optimism,” about her adolescent fascination with Ted Bundy, who was a family friend. You can find Suzanne at the Huffington Post, where she blogs about the reading life, and at her own blog, suzannemorrison.blogspot.com, where she writes about absolutely everything she’s reading, writing, and rehearsing.
Jeremy Richards is a writer, actor, and an on-air producer for NPR member station KUOW. His work has appeared widely, including in The Poetry Foundation, The Spoken Word Revolution Redux, McSweeney's, Rattle, The Morning News, and on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, Day to Day, and All Things Considered. "Nietzsche! The Musical," for which he wrote the book and lyrics, premiered at Seattle's Market Theater in June 2010. Richards holds a BA from Gonzaga University and an MA in cultural studies from the University of Washington.
David Schmader is a writer and performer who's been living and working in Seattle since 1991. His solo plays include Letter to Axl and Straight, which he's performed in Seattle and across the U.S. Since 1999, Schmader's been a writer and editor for the Seattle newsweekly The Stranger, for which he writes the weekly pop culture-and-politics column "Last Days." He's currently writing a new solo show which will premiere at Richard Hugo House in the fall of 2011
Emily White Emily White is a writer of both fiction and nonfiction. She has published two books: "Fast Girls, Teenage Tribes and the Myth of the Slut" (Scribner 2002) and "You Will Make Money In Your Sleep: The Story Of Dana Giacchetto, Financier to the Stars" (Scribner 2007). Her short stories have appeared in The Iowa Review, The Greensboro Review, The Sonora Review and Black Clock. Her articles — about topics like teenagers, imposters, Frances Farmer, military recruiters and gaming addicts — have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Stranger, Bookforum, Nest, the Village Voice and Seattle Metropolitan among others. Her novel "The Third River" will be published by Clearcut Press as soon as Clearcut Press finds some money. She has been a Stegner Fellow at Stanford, as well editor of The Stranger. In 2007 she was invited to speak at the Harvard – Berlin dialogues about the persistence of the Slut archetype in American high schools. In 2011 her short story “The Romance” will be published in the “Remix” edition of Black Clock — editors choosing stories to show again, in case people did not see them the first time around. Tonight she will read from her new novel, "What Ever Happened to John West." Thanks to the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs for their generous grant toward the completion of this book.
"Cheap WINE AND POETRY" Thursday, November 3 at richard hugo house
Elissa Ball is a writer and riot grrl from Yakima, Washington. She's been performing spoken word poetry since 2002, and has written about feminism, racism, rock 'n' roll, Lisa Simpson, Lisa Frank, rattlesnakes and that rap scene from Teen Witch. Elissa currently lives in Seattle and keeps a daily haiku blog at www.thehaikudiary.wordpress.com. Her forthcoming poetry book, "The Punks Are Writing Love Songs," will be published by Blue Begonia Press in Fall 2011.
Evan J. Peterson lived twenty seven years in Florida before fleeing to Seattle. His first full-length poetry collection is making the rounds with publishers. Recent or forthcoming writing and book reviews may be found in Court Green, Ganymede Unfinished, specs, Sweet, NANOfiction and TheRumpus.net. For more, check out his blog at Poemocracy.blogspot.com.
Sean O'Connor has been writing mildly amusing essays for magazine and radio, and presenting his work on stage since 2004. He is an award-winning humor writer and his recorded work has been featured on NPR stations nationally. He performs locally in various solo showcases and, on occasion, he wades tentatively into the shallow end of the poetry pool, water-wings firmly in place and treads water until he is breathless and humbled.
Mary Purdy has been a solo performer and writer for over 10 years and is co-founder of Unicycle Collective in Seattle dedicated to developing solo works. Her one woman show "PURDY WOMAN" was produced in NYC, the Piccolo Spoleto Fest and the Bumbershoot Festival in 2005. Her 2nd solo piece “Judy Blume Owes Me” was produced in both LA and NYC as well as featured in a variety of comedy festivals. Her shorter solo pieces have been seen in Seattle at such venues like On the Boards, Hugo House, Annex Theatre and Live Girls! Theatre. She has performed improv, sketch and stand up throughout NYC and regionally, was also a comedy contributor to NPR's "The Next Big Thing” for 3 years, and was seen Off-Broadway in “LIFE GAME”. She is also a Registered Dietitian and eats an absurd amount of kale.
"Cheap beer AND ProsE," Thursday, Sept. 30 at richard hugo house
Wilson Diehl holds an M.F.A. in creative nonfiction from the University of Iowa. Her work has appeared in The Iowa Review, Mudfish, Paterson Literary Review and on buses around Seattle. If you attend queer film festivals, you may have seen her mock-educational short, “How to Go on a Man Date.” She is currently working on a book of personal essays about bra shopping, being a reader in a runner’s world and all the things they don’t tell you about pregnancy until it’s too late. (Varicose veins on your private bits. Need I actually say more?
Karen Finneyfrock is a novelist, poet and teaching artist living in Seattle, WA. Karen is the author of two books of poetry including the recently released, “Ceremony for the Choking Ghost” (Write Bloody Press.) She is a writer-in-residence at Richard Hugo House and teaches for Seattle Arts and Lectures’ Writers-in-the-Schools. Her first young adult novel, “Celia the Dark and Weird,” will be released by The Viking Press in summer of 2011. A member of three National Poetry Slam teams, Karen was honored as a “Slam Legend” at the National Poetry Slam in 2006.
Paullette Gaudet is a licensed barber who completed her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Washington in 2009. Her short story, "Celebrity Sperm Bank," was a finalist in The Ledge Magazine's 2009 Fiction Awards Competition, and will be published next year in The Ledge No. 33. She is completing her first novel, a romantic comedy about Biloxi casinos, Eastern-European acrobats and Gulf fried shrimp.
Margot Kahn is the author of "Horses That Buck", winner of the 2009 High Plains Book Award. Her work has appeared in Pindeldyboz, Ohioana Quarterly and Mare Nostrum and is forthcoming in the collection "Night Lights". She is the recipient of 2010 individual artist awards from the Seattle Mayor's Office for Arts and Culture and 4Culture, the King County arts commission. She received an MFA from Columbia University, where she was a Hertog Fellow, and is currently the director of youth programs at Richard Hugo House in Seattle.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, May 27 at Richard Hugo House
Ryan Boudinot is the author of “The Littlest Hitler” (Counterpoint, 2006), a Publishers Weekly Book of the Year, and “Misconception” (Grove Atlantic, 2009). His work has appeared in McSweeney's, The Stranger, “The Best American Nonrequired Reading” and elsewhere. He teaches at Goddard College's M.F.A. program in Port Townsend.
Seattle poet John Burgess has two books from Ravenna Press, “Punk Poems” (2005) and “A History of Guns in the Family” (2008). He was a 2006 Jack Straw writer; co-founder of the Burning Word Festival; and the 2008 Words' Worth curator for the Seattle City Council. He's currently editor for the online lit journal Snow Monkey.
Keri
Healey is a playwright,
director, and actor living in Seattle. Her plays include
DON’T YOU DARE LOVE ME, ONE TWELVE, THE IKEA CYCLE: TINY
DOMESTIC DRAMAS (co-written with Bret Fetzer), PARROT FEVER (OR, LIES
I'VE TOLD IN CHAT ROOMS), CHERRY CHERRY LEMON and PENETRALIA. Her plays
have been performed in Seattle, Austin, Dallas, Vail (Colorado),
Adelaide (Australia), and Singapore. Keri is also the author of a
collection of short stories entitled Jealous of Boys. In 2002 and 2006
she was a writer-in-residence at the Espy Foundation in Oysterville,
WA. Her next play, a musical thriller about a motel lounge cover
band’s murderous spree, is being developed by
Printer’s Devil Theater, where she is a company member.
Nicole Hardy lives in Seattle where she works as a waitress and a teacher. She is the author of "Mud Flap Girl's XX Guide to Facial Profiling," a finalist in Main Street Rag's 2006 chapbook contest and was published as part of its Editor's Choice chapbook series, and "This Blonde." She earned her MFA at the Bennington College Writing Seminars, and was nominated for a 2007 Pushcart Prize. Her poems have appeared in many journals and have been rejected from many more. More about Nicole and her poems can be found at hardygirl.com.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, April 22 at Richard Hugo House
Sara
Brickman is a ten-year
veteran of the spoken word stage and has competed nationally
representing the youth community of Ann Arbor, the Hampshire College
Slam Collective, the Seattle Poetry Slam and the great state of
Brickmania. An instructor and student at Seattle’s Bent
Writing Institute and adult mentor for Youth Speaks, she teaches and
performs nationwide with friends such as Shira Erlichman, Karen
Finneyfrock, Marty McConnell, Buddy Wakefield, Danny Sherrard and Tara
Hardy. She prefers her ukulele tuned and her sweaters argyle. She gulps
her breath-notes in Seattle, Washington.
Felicia Gonzalezwas born and raised in Cuba. An alumna of Hedgebrook Writers Retreat, she is a recipient of a 2007 Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship. Currently, she’s flirting with flash fiction, working on a collection of interrelated short stories entitled "Swimming in Mercury. "
Carol
Guess is the author of six
books, including the prose poetry collections "Tinderbox Lawn" (Rose
Metal Press, 2008) and "Doll Studies: Forensics"
(Black Lawrence Press, forthcoming). She is Associate Professor of
English at Western Washington University, where she teaches Queer
Studies and Creative Writing.
Martha Silano is the author of two poetry collections, "What the Truth Tastes Like" and "Blue Positive." Her poems have appeared widely in such places as Paris Review, AGNI, TriQuarterly and American Poetry Review, and in over a dozen anthologies, including The Best American Poetry 2009 and Starting Today: 100 Poems for Obama’s First 100 Days. Martha has been a fellow at the Millay Colony for the Arts, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the University of Arizona Poetry Center, and she was the 2004 Margery Davis Boyden Writing Resident. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize seven times, Martha teaches at Bellevue College.
"Cheap Beer and Prose," Thursday, March 11 at Richard Hugo House
Janna
Cawrse Esarey is the author
of the Indie bestselling travel memoir, “The Motion of the
Ocean: 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers, and a Woman’s Search
for the Meaning of Wife” (Touchstone 2009). It’s
the true story of a woman who sails across the Pacific on her
honeymoon, only to find her relationship on the rocks.
CNN.com’s The Frisky called it “hilarious, poignant
and completely relatable.” (The Today Show and Parade
Magazine liked it, too, but who can forego the sound of “The
Frisky?”) Janna was a 2008 Jack Straw Writer and currently
juggles writing, parenthood, and partnership, only dropping a few balls
daily. Visit her at www.byjanna.com.
Jonathan Evison is the author of “All About Lulu,” winner of the 2009 Washington State Book Award for fiction, and the forthcoming West of Here, which will be released in the fall of 2010 by Algonquin. In 2009, he received a fellowship from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation. He like rabbits and beer, and lives on Bainbridge Island.
Bret Fetzer writes plays, screenplays, fiction, journalism, pretty much anything except poetry, though he has written some charming doggerel. His plays for adults include “The Three Policemen,” “Planet Janet,” “The Story of the Bull” and “Passport.” Most recently, “Blind Spot,” co-written with Juliet Waller Pruzan, was produced by Annex Theatre. His collections of original fairy tales, “Petals & Thorns” and “Tooth & Tongue,” are available through www.pistilbooks.com. He has written for Seattle Weekly, The Stranger and Amazon.com. He is currently working on a young adult novel about teenage superheroes.
Stacey Levine wrote a recently published fiction collection, “The Girl with Brown Fur.” She also wrote “My Horse and Other Stories” and the novels “Dra---” and “Frances Johnson.” A Puschcart Prize nominee, Levine’s fiction has appeared in Fence, Tin House, The Fairy Tale Review, Yeti and other venues. She wrote a libretto for an opera, “The Wreck of the St.Nikolai,” based on battles between the Pacific Northwest Quilyeute tribes and Russian fur traders. She likes to stay at home.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, January 28, 2010 at Richard Hugo House
Rory
Douglas is from Everett,
Washington, and works at a large
Presbyterian church in Seattle. He just finished his MFA at Goddard
College and writes a mixed martial arts column for McSweeneys.net.
People still mistake him for his mom on the phone.
Midge Raymond’s short story collection, “Forgetting English” (Eastern Washington University Press, 2009), received the Spokane Prize for Short Fiction. “Parts of these polished stories,” wrote the Seattle Times, “sound like a smart patient describing a dream to a psychoanalyst.” Her work has appeared in TriQuarterly, American Literary Review, Ontario Review, North American Review, the Los Angeles Times and other publications. Her current projects are supported by an Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Fellowship.
Maria Semple is the author of the novel, “This One Is Mine,” (Little, Brown 2008) which is currently nominated for a PNBA award. Before turning to fiction, she wrote for many Emmy-award winning television shows such as “Arrested Development,” “Mad About You” and “Ellen.” She is currently at work on her second novel. Please visit her at www.mariasemple.com.
Matthew Simmons is the author, most recently, of the novella “A Jello Horse” from Publishing Genius Press. He blogs at themanwhocouldntblog.blogspot.com, edits interviews for hobartpulp.com and is a regular contributor to HTML Giant.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, November 5 at Richard Hugo House
Seattle Poet John
Burgess has two books from
Ravenna Press, “Punk Poems” (2005) and “A
History of Guns in the Family” (2008). He was a 2006 Jack
Straw writer; co-founder of the Burning Word Festival; and the 2008
Words' Worth curator for the Seattle City Council. He's currently
editor for the online lit journal Snow Monkey.
Kate Lebo was raised in southwest Washington by two Iowans and a bunch of vigilant daycare employees. She graduated from Western Washington University in 2005. Now she lives in Seattle, where she works for Richard Hugo House, a literary arts center. You can find her poems in Crab Creek Review, Smartish Pace, Filter and Knock magazines. She's (still) working on her first chapbook manuscript. To read more about Kate (and her tasty homemade pies), visit her blog at goodeggseattle.blogspot.com.
Born and raised in Queens, NY, Brian McGuigan is a poet, performer, arts administrator and raconteur currently residing in Seattle. He works in marketing and programs at Richard Hugo House and is the co-founder and curator of "Cheap Wine and Poetry," Seattle's coolest reading series. His chapbook, “More Than I Left Behind,” was published by Spankstra Press in 2006. Currently, Brian is at work on a full-length manuscript of poems and a novel. For more Brian: brianwithani.com.
Elissa Washuta is a Seattle-based, Jersey-raised writer. In 2009 she completed an M.F.A. at the University of Washington, and she received her B.A. from the University of Maryland in 2007. She is the host of Richard Hugo House’s monthly open mic. When not working on putting the finishing touches on her memoir, “The Kindling Effect,” Elissa can be found knitting, singing karaoke or talking about the fact that she used to fence before she injured her knees.
"Cheap Beer and Prose," Thursday, September 10 at Richard Hugo House
Ryan
Boudinot is the author of
“The Littlest Hitler” (Counterpoint, 2006), a
Publishers Weekly Book of the Year. His novel
“Misconception” is forthcoming from Grove Atlantic
in fall 2009. His work has appeared in McSweeney's, The Stranger,
“The Best American Nonrequired Reading” and
elsewhere. He teaches at Goddard College's M.F.A. program in Port
Townsend.
Cienna Madrid is a local writer and humorist whose articles have appeared in The Stranger, Arcade Journal, SubTerrain Magazine and the Boise Weekly. She is a writer-in-residence at Richard Hugo House, where she is working to complete her first novel. In her free time Madrid volunteers at Heritage House and mentors a teen writer who often exhibits more discipline and skill than Madrid herself.
Mary Purdy is a transplant from NYC where she was a regular on the comedy scene. Her solo show "PURDY WOMAN" was produced at several Off-Broadway venues in NYC as well as featured in the Piccolo Spoleto Fest in Charleston, SC, and Bumbershoot Festival 2005. Her 2nd solo piece "Judy Blume Owes Me" was produced in both LA, NYC and Seattle as well as featured in a variety of comedy festivals. Mary was a regular comedy contributor to NPR's "The Next Big Thing" for 3 years. Her work has been seen here in Seattle at On the Boards Live Girls! Theatre, Spin the Bottle, The Stay Up Late Show, Macha Monkey Cabaret and Hugo House among other places. She is also co-artistic director and founder of UnicycleCollective.org dedicated to producing new & original solo theatrical works.
David Schmader is a writer and performer who's been living and working in Seattle since 1991. His solo plays include Letter to Axl and Straight, which he's performed to great acclaim in Seattle and across the U.S. In his spare time, Schmader is also the world's foremost authority on the brilliant horribleness of Paul Verhoven's Showgirls, hosting annotated screenings of the notorious stripper drama at film festivals across the country and supplying the commentary track for MGM's special-edition Showgirls DVD in 2002. Since 1999, Schmader's been an editor and staff writer for the Seattle newsweekly The Stranger, for which he writes the weekly pop culture-and-politics column "Last Days." He's currently completing the new live cinema essay Nomi's Inferno: An Abridged and Annotated Tour of American Cinematic Failure, and a new solo play, Litter.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, MAY 28 at Richard Hugo House
Larry Crist has poems or short stories appearing or soon to appear in Hawaii Review, J. Journal, Alimentum, Rattle and Floating Bridge Press. He has been published in Pearl, Karamu, Red Rock Review, Slipstream, Nerve Cowboy, Dos Passo Review, Phantasmagoria, Permafrost, Stringtown, Rainbow Curve, Pontoon and many other publications. His poems can be regularly found in Real Change, Seattle's homeless newspaper. Larry has written and narrated a pair of short films by Salise Hughes for the Northwest Film Forum and has also worked as an actor and is a long time active member of Effective Arts.
Stacey Levine wrote a recently published fiction collection, “The Girl with Brown Fur.” She also wrote “My Horse and Other Stories” and the novels “Dra---“ and “Frances Johnson.” A Puschcart Prize nominee, Levine’s fiction has appeared in Fence, Tin House, The Fairy Tale Review, Yeti and other venues. She wrote a libretto for an opera, “The Wreck of the St.Nikolai,” based on battles between the Pacific Northwest Quilyeute tribes and Russian fur traders. She likes to stay at home.
Ilvs Strauss is a Seattle based performer/writer/musician/wizard masquerading as a technical director/lighting designer/stage hand/wizard. She has worked for Left Field Revival, LINGO dancetheater, the Pat Graney Company, Book-It Rep, Velocity, On the Boards and One Reel. She has performed/had work shown at NW Film Forum, Cairo Gallery, On the Boards and Seattle Rep's Leo K Theater (performing slideshows + bicycling + reading)- (not all at the same time)= awesome). Also, check out: hellomynameisilvs.blogspot.com
Storme Webber is a Seattle-born, internationally nurtured poet, writer and performer. She is the founder and director of Voices Rising, which produces quarterly events showcasing the arts and culture of LGBTQ people of color. Her work has been featured in the anthologies “Beyond Borders: Black Women Writing New Worlds,” “Serious Pleasure” and “Voices Rising: 20 Years of Black LGBT Writing.” She was a main protagonist in the documentary “Venus Boyz,” featured on the Sundance Channel, and has worked widely in film, theater and international spoken word scenes in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Brazil and the United States. Most recently she has been awarded a Janet Hill/Renaissance House Fellowship, and support from Poets & Writers and Seattle Mayors Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. Storme is presently completing “Wild Tales of a Renegade Halfbreed Bulldagger,” a narrative nonfiction memoir of her Aleut/African American/European family, and developing/presenting multimedia excerpts of the work in performance.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, aPRIL 23 at Richard Hugo House
Christa Bell is an award-winning feminist folk poet, performance artist and cultural activist. She is the author of three collections of poetry, two spoken word CDs and the creatrix of the one-woman phenomenon, “CoochieMagik: A SpokenWord Musical Comedy” directed by Baraka de Soleil.
Matt Gano is a nationally known poet, writer, and performance artist residing in Seattle, Washington. He is a member of the 2008 National Poetry Slam team for Seattle and finished in top position to earn the title, “Seattle Poetry Slam Grand Slam Champion”. He was a member of the National Poetry Slam team for Seattle in 2004, and again in 2005 and remains one of the top performing artists in Seattle’s poetry circuit. His published work includes: chapbooks,"Music Maker",“Welcome Home”,“I Eight the Infinite”, and “Art Barker”, a self-titled poetry LP, and a live recording entitled “A Giant’s Pulse.” More to come soon……
Peter Pereira’s poems have appeared in Poetry, Prairie Schooner, New England Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Journal of the American Medical Association, and have been anthologized in 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Everyday, the 2007 Best American Poetry, and the recent Frye Art Museum anthology Looking Together: Writers on Art. His poems have also been featured online at Verse Daily, Poetry Daily, as well as on National Public Radio’s The Writer’s Almanac. His books include The Lost Twin (Grey Spider 2000), Saying the World (Copper Canyon, 2003) and What’s Written on the Body (Copper Canyon 2007), which was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Peter is a family physician in Seattle, and was a founding editor of Floating Bridge Press. He plans to read tonight from new work supported by a King County 4Culture grant, a poems series entitled “The Expedition of the Vaccine” exploring world health, imperialism, children’s rights, and the fate of 22 Spanish orphan boys used as vaccine carriers in the early 1800’s.
Judith Roche is the author of three collections of poetry, the most recent of which, Wisdom of the Body, won an American Book Award, She has edited a number of poetry anthologies and has worked in collaboration with visual artists on several public art projects which are installed in the Northwest area, including an installation about salmon at the Chittenden Locks. She is Literary Arts Director Emeritus for One Reel, and teaches poetry workshops throughout the country. She was Distinguished Northwest Writer in Residence at Seattle University in 2007 and is a Fellow in the Black Earth Institute. TOP
"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, March 26 at Richard Hugo House
Rebecca Agiewich is the author of BreakupBabe: A Novel published by Ballantine Books in 2006 (and which was a finalist for the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize, a literary prize devoted to "blooks."). It was inspired by her dating blog, also called "Breakup Babe," which earned her a devoted audience and scared off many potential boyfriends. She is a firm believer that the interactive nature of blogging is a boon for aspiring writers.
New York-born Roberto Ascalon is a poet, writer, arts educator and performance artist. He is an instructor at Nova High School in Seattle and teaches teenagers at Artscorp. Ascalon has participated in Bumberslam at the Bumbershoot Festival, the Seattle All City Slam Poetry Finals and two Seattle National Poetry Slams. In 2004, he self-published his book The Words Are Not Enough. His poems have appeared in the anthologies Poetry on Buses 2004: Facts and Fictions and From the Page to the Stage: National Slam Anthology
Nicole Hardy lives in Seattle where she works as a waitress and a teacher. Her chapbook, Mud Flap Girl's XX Guide to Facial Profiling, was a finalist in Main Street Rag's 2006 chapbook contest and was published as part of its Editor's Choice chapbook series. She earned her MFA at the Bennington College Writing Seminars, and was nominated for a 2007 Pushcart Prize. Her poems have appeared in many journals and have been rejected from many more. More about Nicole and her poems can be found at hardygirl.com.
Sean O'Connor has been writing mildly amusing essays for magazine and radio, and presenting his work on stage since 2004. He is an award-winning humor writer whose recorded work has been featured on NPR stations nationally. He performs locally with 60 Seconds Max, A Guide to Visitors, Unicycle Collective and others.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, January 22 at Richard Hugo House
Keri Healey is a playwright, director, and actor living in Seattle. Her plays include DON’T YOU DARE LOVE ME, ONE TWELVE, THE IKEA CYCLE: TINY DOMESTIC DRAMAS (co-written with Bret Fetzer), PARROT FEVER (OR, LIES I'VE TOLD IN CHAT ROOMS), CHERRY CHERRY LEMON, and PENETRALIA. Her plays have been performed in Seattle, Austin, Dallas, Vail (Colorado), Adelaide (Australia), and Singapore. Keri is also the author of a collection of short stories entitled Jealous of Boys. In 2002 and 2006 she was a writer-in-residence at the Espy Foundation in Oysterville, WA. Her next play, a musical thriller about a motel lounge cover band’s murderous spree, is being developed by Printer’s Devil Theater, where she is a company member.
Rebecca Hoogs is the author of a chapbook, Grenade (2005) and her poems have appeared in Poetry, AGNI, Crazyhorse, Zyzzyva, The Journal, Poetry Northwest, The Florida Review, and others. She is the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony (2004) and Artist Trust of Washington State (2005). She is the Director of Education Programs and the curator for the Poetry Series for Seattle Arts & Lectures.
Jeremy Richards is a writer, actor, and radio host living in Seattle. His work appears widely, including in “The Spoken Word Revolution Redux,” The Poetry Foundation, McSweeney's, The Morning News, Rattle, and on National Public Radio's “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” In tours and competitions, Richards was a two-time member of Seattle's National Poetry Slam team, a three-time winner of the Bumbershoot Poetry Slam and was invited to perform on HBO's Def Poetry. His new collection, “An Inaccurate Theory of Everything,” was recently released from Destructible Heart Press.
Ed Skoog's first book “Mister Skylight” will be published by Copper Canyon Press in the spring. His poems have appeared in Paris Review, The New Republic, American Poetry Review, and Poetry. He is currently a writer-in-residence at Richard Hugo House.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, November 6 at Richard Hugo House
Daemond Arrindell's full-time work is managing a teen hotline, but his passion has always been poetry. He is the Seattle Slammaster, has been curating the Seattle Poetry Slam for six years, and coached the Seattle National Poetry Slam team for five years. He is a faculty member at Freehold Theatre teaching Spoken Word & Performance Poetry. Daemond has facilitated writing workshops at Harborview Medical Center, Edmonds Community College Theater Camp, the National Poetry Slam, Monroe Correctional Complex, Echo Glen Children's Center, and Nova Project Poetry Festival. Recently, Daemond was awarded 2nd place in the Washington Poets Association Bart Baxter Performance Poetry competition and was nominated by the Seattle Poetry Slam for Poet Populist.
Named an "Artist of the Year" by Seattle Magazine in 2007, awarded "Best Performing Artist" in 2006 by the readers of the Seattle Weekly, and honored twice on the Theatre Short List for The Stranger's Genius Awards, Marya Sea Kaminski is a performer, director, and writer based in Seattle. A founding member and co-artistic director of the Washington Ensemble Theatre from 2004-2008, her acting credits include WET's original adaptation entitled blahblahblahBANG!, My Name is Rachel Corrie (Seattle Times Footlight Award 2007) and Tina Landau's The Time of Your Life at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, among others. Marya Sea has also created over twenty solo shows and has performed her original work at On the Boards in Seattle, PS 122 in New York, the Myrna Loy Center in Helena, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.
Cienna "Quick Draw" Madrid is a local writer and mercenary poet who ghost writes country music lyrics for ungrateful cowboys. Her hits include "He was her steak dinner, she his side of nag" and "I'm lookin' for love, or at least a gun with my name on it, and two bullets with your balls in scope." Someday she hopes to finish her novel, which has nothing to do with any of this.
Born and raised in Queens, NY, Brian McGuigan is a poet, performer, arts administrator and raconteur currently residing in Seattle. He works at Richard Hugo House and is the co-founder and curator of "Cheap Wine and Poetry," Seattle's coolest reading series. Currently, Brian is at work on a full-length manuscript of poems about poverty and gentrification entitled "Eat the Rich” and writes a regular column, "Bus Bitch," for The Rainier Valley Post. For more Brian: brianwithani.com.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, September 18 at Richard Hugo House
Jennifer Borges Foster is a poet, bookmaker, and the editor of Filter, a limited edition hand bound literary journal. She is the recent recipient of Art Patch, 4Culture, and Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs grants, and was short listed for The Stranger’s 2007 Genius Award in Literature. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Beloit Poetry Journal, Prairie Schooner, ZYZZYVA, and other journals.
Brangien Davis is editrix-in-chief of Swivel magazine (which is currently comatose, though brainwave activity is encouraging!). Her essays have appeared a couple of times in the now defunct Lime Tea, and a couple of times in the sadly-soon-to-be-defunct Rivet Magazine. She has work existing and forthcoming in Swink magazine, which seemed defunct, but is supposed to reawaken soon. Also, in The Stranger (reportedly going strong). She used to blog at Petri Project, but now has a real job, in a cube and everything, as the Arts & Culture Editor of Seattle Magazine.
A recent alumna of Hedgebrook writers colony and Seattle Poetry Slam host emeritus, Karen Finneyfrock has achieved national acclaim for her writing and performance. Karen was honored as a 'legend' at the National Poetry Slam (Austin, 2006) and is a member of Seattle's 2008 National Poetry Slam Team. She is the author of Welcome to the Butterfly House (en theos press, 2004) and is currently working on a book of young adult fiction. A fan of haiku, Karen is also a two-time champion of the 'Haiku d'Etat' held annually by the Seattle Poetry Slam. Karen is a teaching artist for Seattle Arts & Lectures' Writers in the Schools program and for Arts Corps.
Kary Wayson's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Boston Review, Poetry Northwest, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Nation, FIELD, and The Best American Poetry 2007. Her chapbook, Dog & Me, was published in 2004 by LitRag Press. Kary was a recent visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry" May 29, 2008 at Richard Hugo House
Seattle poet John Burgess just had his second book—"A History of Guns in the Family"—published by Ravenna Press. He's a 2006 Jack Straw writer, co-founder of the Burning Word Poetry Festival, and the 2008 curator for Words' Worth, the poetry program for the Seattle City Council. He is currently working to put the lit journal Snow Monkey online. His first collection is "Punk Poems."
Jennifer Jasper has been performing and directing in Seattle for almost 20 years. She was a co-founder of Kings' Elephant Theatre (10 years) and co-founder of Pulp Vixens (10 years). She has been performing her own work in various forms including stand up comedy, monologues and is now developing a one-woman show for 2009/2010. Most recently she can be seen hosting for the Von Foxies Burlesque as the scotch-swilling "Maggie."
Jourdan Keith, Seattle's 2007 Poet Populist and storyteller, is a Jack Straw writer and Hedgebrook alum. A 2004 grant recipient from the Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs for the choreopoem, "The Uterine Files: Episode I, Voices Spitting Out Rainbows," her publication credits include ColorsNW, Seattle Woman, KUOW, the video "Silence...Broken" and the anthology, "Ma-Ka, Diasporic Juks." She is the founder of Urban Wilderness Project, which provides storytelling, restoration and adventure programs.
David Schmader is a writer and performer who's been living and working in Seattle since 1991. His solo plays include Letter to Axl and Straight, which he's performed to great acclaim in Seattle and across the U.S. In his spare time, Schmader is also the world's foremost authority on the brilliant horribleness of Paul Verhoven's Showgirls, hosting annotated screenings of the notorious stripper drama at film festivals across the country and supplying the commentary track for MGM's special-edition Showgirls DVD in 2002. Since 1999, Schmader's been an editor and staff writer for the Seattle newsweekly The Stranger, for which he writes the weekly pop culture-and-politics column "Last Days." He's currently completing the new live cinema essay Nomi's Inferno: An Abridged and Annotated Tour of American Cinematic Failure, and a new solo play, Litter.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry" April 24, 2008 at Richard Hugo House
New York-born Roberto Ascalon is a poet, writer, arts educator and performance artist. He is an instructor at Nova High School in Seattle and teaches teenagers at Artscorp. Ascalon has participated in Bumberslam at the Bumbershoot Festival, the Seattle All City Slam Poetry Finals and two Seattle National Poetry Slams. In 2004, he self-published his book The Words Are Not Enough. His poems have appeared in the anthologies Poetry on Buses 2004: Facts and Fictions and From the Page to the Stage: National Slam Anthology. Ascalon graduated from Evergreen College in Olympia, Wash., with a degree in Advanced Intercultural Communication. He makes his home in Seattle.
Elizabeth Austen spent her teens and twenties working as an actor and director in cities as diverse as London, England and Holland, Michigan. After six months of solo rambling in the Andes region of South America she recognized her true nature as an introvert, left the theatre and began writing poetry. For the past 10+ years, she’s been writing meditations – sometimes lyrical, sometimes humorous – on the nature and inter-relatedness of power, sexuality and mortality. Elizabeth served as the Washington “roadshow” poet for 2007, giving readings and workshops in rural areas around the state. She provides weekly commentary on Pacific Northwest poetry readings on KUOW, 94.9, public radio. She is the recipient of a grant from 4Culture, and is an alumna of Hedgebrook, the Jack Straw Writers Program, and Antioch University-Los Angeles. Her audio CD, skin prayers, is available at www.elizabethausten.org.
Rebecca Loudon lives and writes in Seattle. She is the author of Tarantella and Radish King from Ravenna Press, and Navigate, Amelia Earhart's Letters Home from No Tell Books. Her third collection of poetry, Cadaver Dogs, is forthcoming from No Tell Books this summer. She teaches violin to children.
Cody Walker teaches English at the University of Washington and poetry through Seattle Arts and Lectures' Writers in the Schools program. He also serves as a writer-in-residence at Richard Hugo House. His work appears in Best American Poetry, Parnassus, Slate, Shenandoah, and Subtropics. In 2007 he was elected Seattle Poet Populist. His first book, Shuffle and Breakdown, will be published by Waywiser Press in the fall of 2008.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry" March 13, 2008 at Richard Hugo House
Katinka Kraft is a German-American spoken word poet and multi-media performance artist. She has performed in national tours at theaters, festivals, and universities, including Western Washington University, University of Washington, Portland State University, University of California, Davis, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She has been an arts educator in private secondary institutions for the last 3 years and is currently employed at Richard Hugo House. Her most current artistic endeavor took her to Poland and Germany, where she directed and filmed a documentary short with the Descendants Project (www.descendantsproject.com).
Jennifer D. Munro's stories and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Best American Erotica; Best Women's Erotica; Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica; Zyzzyva; North American Review; Boulevard; Massachusetts Review; The Bigger the Better the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty and Body Image; and Literary Mama. Her new short-story collection, The Erotica Writer's Husband, is available on lulu.com, or visit the author's website at www.munrojd.com.
Seth Rosenbloom is a writer and solo performer. Recently he has performed in Seattle at On The Boards 12 Minutes Max, the Seattle Solo Performance Festival and at Theatre Off Jackson. Seth is the co-founder of Unicyle Collective, the only company devoted to producing original solo theatre in the Northwest.
Maged Zaher was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. His poems appear in magazines such as Columbia Poetry Review, Exquisite Corpse, Jacket, Tinfish and many others. His second chapbook "the wholesale approach" was on the Seattle Times local bestseller's list in 2004.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry" November 08, 2007 at Richard Hugo House
Ryan Boudinot’s work has appeared in McSweeney’s, BlackBook, and The Best American Non-Required Reading 2003 and 2005. His collection of short stories, "The Littlest Hitler,” was named one of the best 100 books of 2006 by Publisher’s Weekly.
Rajnii Eddins is a poet, singer/songwriter, performance artist and teacher. He is the co-founder of an organization called the Poetry Experience, which he initiated with his mother, Randee Eddins, in August of 1998. Rajnii has performed at more than 300 venues including: festivals, theatres, poetry slams, colleges and universities, cafes, bookstores, and a wide variety of schools. Rajnii, as a teacher, works with many at-risk youth from primary grades through high school creating and implementing curriculums that teach non-violence through poetry and spoken word that serve to deconstruct media stereotypes reaffirm self-identity and improve self-esteem.
Chris Leasure publishes fiction under her porn star name, Leslie Anne Leasure, in such fabulous publications as Blood Sisters: Lesbian Vampire Tales, Blithe House Quarterly, and Best Lesbian Love Stories. She has an MFA from some university in the midwest and an excerpt of her experimental novel-in-progress, Solanaceae Gardens, can be found in the current issue of Del Sol Review. Chris works at Hugo House and mocks Brian's cubicle daily.
Brian McGuigan, curator of "Cheap Wine and Poetry," works at Richard Hugo House and was selected as curator of the Seattle City Council’s Words’ Worth Poetry Series in 2007. Spankstra Press published his chapbook, "More Than I Left Behind" in 2006. Currently, McGuigan is working on a follow-up to his chapbook, a few short stories, and has hopes for developing a one-man show. You can read more about Brian and his work at www.brianwithani.com.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry” August 02, 2007 at Luxcollective Gallery
"Cheap Wine and Poetry” June 07, 2007 at Richard Hugo House
Lyall Bush, Executive Director of Richard Hugo House, has written personal essays and reviews for over a decade in daily and weekly newspapers and monthly magazines, including The Iowa Review, Film Comment, MovieMaker, The Seattle Times, and Books in Canada. He has published on photography, style in American writing, Marlon Brando, documentary films, and he is currently at work on a novel and a screenplay.
Jennifer Jasper has been producing, directing and performing in original works for over 20 years. She was a co-founder of Kings' Elephant Theatre, which produced and performed original improvised plays for 10 years. She and Mia Levine began Vixen Productions in 1995 and have produced locally and nationally with the Pulp Vixen troupe through 2006. Her directorial credits in Seattle include "Anges De Castro" at the Annex, "On The Verge" at AHA! Theater, "The Holiday Survival Game Show" in 2000 and "Pirates Of Lesbos" a Vixen production at The Re-bar. She keeps busy performing as "Maggie" the scotch swilling emcee of the VonFoxies Burlesque Troupe and others as well as performing improvised stand up comedy around town. She is currently developing a full length one-woman show.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry” March 05, 2007 at Richard Hugo House
Elizabeth Austen's commentaries on Pacific Northwest poetry readings can be heard every Monday at 2 p.m. on "The Beat" on KUOW, 94.9, public radio. She is the 2006 Poetry Roadshow poet and teaches regularly at Richard Hugo House. Her poems have appeared in journals including the Bellingham Review, Swivel, the Seattle Review and Switched-on Gutenberg. Her audio CD, skin prayers, is available at elizabethausten.org.
Brian Cordell writes and lives in Irving, TX. In addition to writing, he is the editor of the online journal, iddie.net. Brian also teaches at North Lake Community College and writes a student advice column in the Beijing newspaper, English Weekly. His poems have most recently appeared in "when it rains from the ground up." Brian can be reached at becordell@hotmail.com.
Keri Healey is a playwright, director, and actor living in Seattle. Her most recent work includes several plays. She is also the author of a collection of short stories entitled Jealous of Boys. In 2002 and 2006 she was a writer-in-residence at the Espy Foundation. In 2004, she was chosen by Seattle Dramatists as one of its five inaugural Principal Playwrights. In 2005, she was selected by The Stranger as "One to Watch" in their annual Genius Awards issue.
David Schmader is the author of the solo plays Straight and Letter to Axl, which he's performed in Seattle and across the U.S. He's also an associate editor of The Stranger, the Seattle newsweekly for which he's written the pop culture-and-politics column "Last Days" since 1998. In his spare time, he's the world's foremost authority on the brilliant horribleness of the 1995 film "Showgirls,” touring his live, annotated screening "Showgirls with David Schmader" to film fests across the country and providing the commentary track to MGM's special editon "Showgirls” DVD in 2003.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry” January 11, 2007 at Richard Hugo House
Eben Eldridge is a poet, musician, and painter, who has lived in Seattle for ten odd, disturbing years. He’s been a singer and songwriter for the bands Hungarian Music Lesson, Tractor Sex Fatality, and Pluto Boy, and his solo CDs include "You Thought You Knew Me” and "Now You Know.” For more Eben Eldridge: www.allthingseben.com.
Stacey Levine is a Seattle-based author whose novel Frances Johnson, a finalist for the Washington State Book Award, was published last year by Clear Cut Press. Her books My Horse and Other Stories and Dra—, a novel, were published by Sun & Moon Press. She has written for Fence, Bookforum, The Stranger, and far more frightening venues. She also wrote a libretto for a puppet opera about the Quileute tribes of Washington State. Formerly a creative writing instructor, Stacey is now at work on other books.
Shira Richman is delighted to have poems published in Crab Creek Review, Promethean, Snow Monkey, and Real Change. She is the 2006 winner of the Richard Hugo House New Works Competition. These days she finds herself in Spokane, where she is working on her MFA in Creative Writing at Eastern Washington University, and trying to locate her inner prairie.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry" November 09, 2006 at Richard Hugo House
Brendan Regan was born in Iowa and grew up in Northwest Ohio and Denver. His work has appeared in Chronogram (Philip Levine, Editor), Syntax, and Thunder Sandwich, and is forthcoming in Letter X.He has self-published three chapbooks, and recently received Honorable Mention in the New Millennium Writings Poetry Contest.You can sometimes find him at www.myspace.com/poetryiscoolagain.
Willie Smith is deeply ashamed of being human. His work celebrates this horror. The Seattle tabloid THE STRANGER once branded him a "Giant Asshole" and threatened to "cut off his oxygen supply." His work is unintentionally disturbing and deliberately honest. At his public readings fistfights and shouting matches are not uncommon. On a good day his work just might provoke a few calories of warmth in that cold slimy bundle of fear and grasping known as the human soul.
Deborah Woodard’s poetry and translations have appeared in Artful Dodge, the Bellingham Review, Chelsea, Harness, Monkey Puzzle, and the Threepenny Review. She has published two chapbooks of poetry: The Orphan Conducts the Dovehouse Orchestra (Bear Star Press, 1999) and The Book of Riddles (Boxcar Press, 1998). A full-length collection, Plato’s Bad Horse, is forthcoming from Bear Star Press.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry” August 24, 2006 at Richard Hugo House
Larry Crist leads a quiet life of desperation in Seattle. He has also lived in Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, London, and numerous locals in California, where life was just as desperate but not all that quiet. His fiction and poetry have most recently appeared in Rainbow Curve, Metal Scratches, Alimentum, Red Rock Review, Karamu, & Rogue.
Dana Elkun's poems have appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, Bellingham Review, Puerto del Sol and Pontoon 8. She's been facilitating writing workshops for adults since 2001. She also teaches poetry to high school students and to homeless youth. Dana was recently nominated for Best New American Poets for 2006. For inspiration in her work, she draws from dictionaries, glossaries, and the entire alphabet.
Paul Hunter has been poet, teacher, performer, playwright, musician, instrument-maker, artist, editor, publisher, grassroots arts activist, shade-tree mechanic, and worker on the land. Recipient of the 1998 Pym Cup and the 1999 Nelson Bentley Award, he lives and works in Seattle. His full-length collection of farming poems, Breaking Ground, from Silverfish Review Press, is a recipient of the 2004 Washington State Book Award.
Leanne Laux-Bachand can be found transforming magnetic doors into magnetic poetry doors, with the help of children..."Will you eat upchuck worms?" the children want to know. LeAnne wants to know how you are and what your writing doors open onto.
Brian McGuigan works at Richard Hugo House, is co-editor of when it rains from the ground up, and producer of "A Night of Cheap Wine and Poetry" series. His poems have appeared in Letter X, The Wandering Hermit, Slipstream, and others. Spankstra Press recently published his first collection of poetry, More Than I Left Behind. www.write2die.com
"Cheap Wine and Poetry” June 08, 2006 at Richard Hugo House
Toni Bajado is the daughter of Filipino immigrants, a self-proclaimed "Navy brat," originally from Bremerton, WA. She graduated from Seattle University with a degree in English, works for North Seattle Community College, and studies acting as a Diversity Scholar at Freehold Studio on Capitol Hill.
Bret Fetzer writes plays and short stories. His fairy tale "The Devil Factory" will appear in an upcoming issue of Cabinet des Fees. A play for young audiences, "Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like" (adapted from the picture book by Jay Williams), will be produced by Seattle Children's Theater in February of 2007. Bret's books of fairy tales, "Petals & Thorns" and "Tooth & Tongue," are available from www.pistilbooks.com.
Richard Loranger is a writer of poetry and prose, as well as a spoken word, performance and visual artist for over two decades. In addition to "Poems for Teeth," Richard has authored "The Orange Book" (International Review Press, 1990) and eight chapbooks, including "Hello Poems" and "The Day Was Warm and Blue," and has had work included in over sixty magazines and journals and thirteen anthologies. Richard teaches English and Creative Writing and is the director of Writing Across the Curriculum at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
Rebecca Loudon lives and writes in Seattle. She is the author of two collections of poetry, "Tarantella," and "Radish King" (both from Ravenna Press). She teaches violin to children and is the founder of The Wallingford Irregulars workshop, which is in its eighth year. She is the librettist for composer Roupen Shakarian and is currently writing the libretto to "Red Queen," an opera based on the relationship between Alice Liddell and Charles Dodgson.
Steve Potter has had work appear in recent issues of Arson, Blue Collar Review, Dirt, Freefall, Knock, Pontoon and other magazines. After two decades of job hopping as custodian, handy man, trade show carpenter, office temp, etc., he's recently gone into business for himself designing and silk screening T-shirts for sale. He is the publisher and editor of The Wandering Hermit Review.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry” March 08, 2006 at Richard Hugo House
Steve Barker lives and writes in Seattle. He's a member of the write2die poets (write2die.com), an editor of when it rains from the ground up and Letter X (LetterXmag.com), and a regular contributor to Zygote in My Coffee.
Jaime Curl teaches writing for Western Washington University and the Seattle Community College District. He is a 2005 Jack Straw Writing Fellow and has recent publications in Midwest Quarterly, Sycamore Review, and Redivider.
Chris Dusterhoff is the founder and editor of Spankstra Press. He has published books by Todd Moore, Harvey Goldner, Maged Zaher, David LaTerre, Ira Parnes and Eli Richardson. He is rumored to be living in the last roach-infested roominghouse in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle.
Poet, musician, and bon vivant, David Fewster was the recipient of a 2003-2004 AIP Grant from the Tacoma Arts Commission for his book Diary of a Homeless Alcoholic Suicidal Maniac & Other Picture Postcards. His work has also appeared in the anthologies Revival: Spoken Word from Lollapalooza 94 and Thus Spake the Corpse: An Exquisite Corpse Reader Vol. 2.
Amanda Laughtland lives in the suburbs of Seattle, works part-time in a public library, and teaches part-time at a community college. Her poems have appeared recently in Letter X, Knock, and Shampoo.
Arne Pihl has officially spent most of his life in the trades. Time does funny things to us. He tries to work words with the same ease he works a hammer. It's an ever on-going process with no retirement plan. Everything--lumber, lines--everything has knots.
"Cheap Wine and Poetry” November 10, 2005 at Richard Hugo House
- Steve Barker
- Brian Cordell
- Beth Coyote
- Jaime Curl
- Chris Dusterhoff
- Bobbi-Dykema Katsanis
- David Fewster
- Harvey Goldner
- LeAnne Laux-Bachand
- Brian McGuigan
- Arne Pihl
- Mary Purdy
- Dan Raphael
- Pappi Tomas
- Nico Vassilikas
"Cheap Wine and Poetry” May 29, 2005 at Richard Hugo House
- Joe Aguilar
- Toni Bajado
- Steve Barker
- Ruben Casas
- Chris Dusterhoff
- Harvey Goldner
- T. Hetzel
- LeAnne Laux-Bachand
- Mike Matthews
- Brian McGuigan
- Nicole Sarrocco
- Pappi Tomas
Co-sponsored by Richard Hugo House