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Celebrating literary arts in Redmond since 1997
The Redmond Association of Spokenword, also known as RASP, was founded in 1997 to promote literary arts and related activities in Redmond, Washington, and eastern King County. We meet on the last Friday of each month for a featured presentation and an open-mic reading at Centro Cultural Mexicano. RASP also holds a monthly Zoom critique group, Poetry & Prose Circle, on the second Tuesday of each month. For many years we also staged the Poets in the Park festival in Redmond’s Anderson Park. All events are FREE and open to the public. Please join us!
5:30 p.m., at Centro Cultural Mexicano’s Mi Casa location by Flagpole Plaza
It’s that time of year to eat, laugh, and be merry! Meet in Centro’s “Mi Casa” location at 7945 Gilman Street in Redmond (not the main office). Bring a potluck dish (optional) or bring yourself—we’ll enjoy games, good vibes, and festive cheer. This is our annual social gathering for writers, poets, and friends—old and new. What’s happening:
🍲 Holiday potluck—bring your favorite dish (optional).
🎲 Fun games and activities.
💬 Mixing, mingling, and meeting new people.
🎤 Salon-style open mic—bring a holiday/New Year’s-themed piece if you’re so inspired.
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.
6:00 p.m.
MC: TBD
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.
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. This reading features poets contributing to Open Book.
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).
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.
6:00 p.m.
MC: TBD
Readers to be announced.
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