2026 Readings

January 30, 2026 — Ricardo Ruiz (poet)

6:00 p.m. (new earlier start time)

MC: Michael Dylan Welch

Ricardo Ruiz, son of Mexican immigrants, is the author of We Had Our Reasons, which debuted at #1 on Amazon’s Hispanic American Poetry Chart and won the 2023 Washington State Book Award for poetry. He is currently an MFA candidate at UW Bothell and teaches with the Seattle Arts and Lectures Writers in the Schools program. Passionate about amplifying marginalized voices from rural communities, Ricardo takes pride in serving as a cultural connector and advocate. Visit him at www.poetruiz.com.

February 27, 2026 — Enchanting & Strange: Conjuring the Fantastical:
Craft Talk and Mini-Workshop with Catherine Broadwall (poet)

6:00 p.m.

MCs: Darren Nordlie and Emily Young

Have you ever invited a ghost to haunt your writing? Let a mermaid speak? Handed the mic to a goddess? In this new hybrid reading and mini-workshop, Catherine Broadwall will share poems steeped in the fantastical, pull back the curtain on how these poems came to life, and guide participants through playful, generative writing prompts that summon supernatural figures into their own work (all genres welcome—no spellcasting experience required).

Together, we’ll draw inspiration from myths, fairy tales, and pop culture to create new writing that bends reality, breaks rules, and lets the strange do what it does best—surprise us. Bring a notebook and pen (extras will be available). Learn. Write. Share! We’ll also have our usual open-mic reading and a post-event dinner/drinks social time to follow.

Catherine Broadwall is the author of Aftermath (Girl Noise Press, forthcoming 2026), Water Spell (Cornerstone Press, 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 won the 2023 Paula Svonkin Creative Arts Award and the 2020 COG Poetry Award, and was a finalist for the poetry categories of the 2021 Mississippi Review Prize and 2021 Pinch Literary Awards. Her website is http://www.catherinebroadwall.com.

March 27, 2026 — Open Book

Western Washington Poets Network Anthology Reading

6:00 p.m.

MC: TBD

Open Book is a limited-edition letterpress publication edited by Griffith H. Williams for the Western Washington Poets Network. The book will be published in March of 2026 by East Point West Press, printed on a century-old Chandler & Price 10x15 letterpress built in 1911. Scheduled readers include Kandy Blackwell, David Fewster, Michael Magee, Julie Robinett, Alex Smith, Michael Dylan Welch, Griffith H. Williams, and Bonnie Wolkenstein., from among the 43 poets contributing to this anthology.

April 24, 2026 — Jana Harris (poet)

6:00 p.m.

MC: TBD

Jana Harris has taught creative writing at the University of Washington and at the Writer’s Workshop in Seattle among other institutions. She is editor and founder of Switched-on Gutenberg. Her publications include You Haven’t Asked About My Wedding or What I Wore, Poems of Courtship on the American Frontier (University of Alaska Press), and the memoir, Horses Never Lie About Love (Simon & Schuster). Jana will be reading from a new manuscript: “The Girl Who Drew Horses, the Woman Who Painted Lions,” poems on the life and art of French Painter Rosa Bonheur (1822–99).

May 29, 2026 — Iz White (poet)

6:00 p.m.

MC: TBD

Iz White is an enrolled member of the Snoqualmie Tribe in King County. He grew up homeless in Seattle, well below the poverty line, in the 1990s. His tribe was federally recognized in 1999 and it has continued to strengthen its efficiency and stability in financial development. That has given Iz both a unique perspective and breathing room to pursue his biggest obsession in life, which has been to improve his craft of writing. He is an up-and-coming poet who speaks on social issues not only for his people, but all people affected by an ever-changing demographic in and around the greater Seattle area.

June 26, 2026 — Jack Straw Writers (poetry and fiction)

6:00 p.m.

MC: TBD

Readers to be announced.

June 31, 2026 — John Oftebro (historian and storyteller)

6:00 p.m.

MC: TBD

John Oftebro is a Washington native and Redmond resident since 1974. After graduating with a pharmacy degree from Washington State University, John practiced in the Seattle area until joining Kelley-Ross Pharmacy in downtown Seattle in 1973. Since retiring in 2008, John has remained active in volunteer work and was president of the Washington State Pharmacy Foundation for 30 years. He also serves as a WSU Foundation trustee and is a member of the WSU Dean’s Advisory Committee at the College of Pharmacy. John is currently serving as president of the Redmond Historical Society.

August 28, 2026 — Nancy Mburu (Redmond poet laureate)

6:00 p.m.

MC: TBD

September 25, 2026 — National Hispanic Heritage Month poetry reading

6:00 p.m.

MC: TBD

Readers to be announced.