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: Janka Hobbs

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, Raul Sanchez, Alex Smith, Michael Dylan Welch, Griffith H. Williams, and Bonnie Wolkenstein., from among the 43 poets contributing to this anthology.

April 24, 2026 —  The Girl Who Drew Horses 🐎✨  
with Jana Harris (poet)

6:00 pm

MC: Kari Tai
Step into the fierce, untamed world of Rosa Bonheur—a visionary artist who defied convention and redefined what a woman could be.

In this electrifying collection, Jana Harris channels Bonheur’s voice through vivid dramatic monologues that blur the line between history and imagination. Part psychobiography, part poetic revelation, these poems immerse you in the raw pulse of 19th-century Paris and beyond—where art, rebellion, and identity collide.
🎨🔥 

Born into poverty, shaped by loss, and more at ease among animals than people, Bonheur refused to conform to the rigid expectations placed on women of her time. Instead, she forged her own path—becoming one of the most celebrated painters in the world.

This is not just her story—it’s a reckoning.
A lyrical exploration of gender, class, genius, and the wild instinct to create against all odds.

✨ Audience Responds: Write & Share
Following Jana's reading, we invite you to step into the creative process. Using prompts inspired by the work, you’ll have a moment to write, reflect, and share in small groups—no experience needed. For those who feel inspired, there may be an opportunity to share with the full audience at the open mic.
Bring a notebook and pen (extras will be available).​ 

🍷 Post-Event Social
Keep the conversation going after the event! Join us for optional drinks and dinner nearby—a chance to connect more deeply with fellow attendees, artists, and the community.

The Girl Who Drew Horses is a bold, immersive tribute to resilience and artistic fire—an unforgettable journey from overlooked outsider to global icon that will inspire anyone who has ever felt called to defy the rules. 🌿

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 — The Architecture of Collapsing: Building Poems from Failure 🏗️🔥  

Craft Talk + Mini Workshop ✍️  

Iz White (poet)

6:00 p.m.

MC: TBD

Failure is not ruin. It is blueprint.  

Collapse is not an ending. It is design revealing itself.  

In this craft talk and generative workshop, poet Iz White examines how fracture becomes form.
How the pressures, breaks, and turning points of a life can be reworked into structure, rhythm, image, and dynamic architecture.

Together, we’ll examine at how poetry can build itself out of breaking through the geometry of emotion  📐, we'll explore how color 🎨, structure 🧱, and movement 🌊 transform lived experience into precise, image-driven language.

What to expect: 👇

🎙️ Hear two poems built from collapse and the creative principles behind them
🎨 Explore how image, sound, color, and narrative shape emotional truth
✏️ Move through a generative writing prompt that turns your own experience into clean, intentional lines

All genres welcome 🌍
No prior experience needed 🙌
Bring a notebook and pen 📝

Open Mic to follow 🎤
Post-event dinner + drink social 🍽️🍷

Learn. Write. Rebuild. 🔧

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.

July 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.