Embedded Files
The Redmond Association of Spokenword held the following readings and other events in 2009. See other past readings.
January 31, 2009 — Richard Gold (poet)
January 31, 2009 — Richard Gold (poet)
Richard Gold founded and runs the Pongo Teen Writing Project, a nonprofit that offers therapeutic creative writing programs to adolescents who are homeless, in jail, in psychiatric care, or in other ways leading difficult lives. Many Pongo authors have suffered early childhood trauma, such as abuse and neglect. And many Pongo authors use poetry to communicate for the first time about their feelings and experiences. To do its work, Pongo sends teams of trained volunteers inside institutions and agencies to run extended writing projects. In its 13-year history, Pongo has worked with 4,000 teens, published 12 anthologies, and given away more than 13,000 books. The Pongo Publishing web site is www.pongopublishing.org. Before founding Pongo, Richard was managing editor of Microsoft Press. A book of Richard’s own poetry, The Odd Puppet Odyssey, was published by Black Heron Press in 2003.
February 28, 2009 — Anu Garg (nonfiction)
February 28, 2009 — Anu Garg (nonfiction)
Anu Garg is the founder of Wordsmith.org, a community of more than half a million readers in some 200 countries. He has authored three bestseller books on words: A Word A Day: A Romp Through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English (Wiley, 2002), Another Word a Day: An All-New Romp through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English (Wiley, 2005), and The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words (Penguin, 2007). Garg grew up in rural India. He learned the English language and moved to the United States to study computer science in graduate school. He worked as a software engineer at a number of corporations including AT&T Labs. Eventually, he gave up his career in software for the love of words and founded http://wordsmith.org to spread the magic of words. He has been profiled in The Smithsonian, The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Guardian, and on NPR and the BBC, among others. For news clippings, see http://wordsmith.org/awad/articles.html.
March 28, 2009 — Rebecca Hoogs (poet)
March 28, 2009 — Rebecca Hoogs (poet)
Rebecca Hoogs is the author of a chapbook, Grenade (2005), and her poems have appeared Poetry, Agni, Crazyhorse, Zyzzyva, The Journal, Poetry Northwest, The Florida Review, and elsewhere. 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 and host for the Poetry Series for Seattle Arts & Lectures.
April 25, 2009 — Kunle Oguneye (children’s literature)
April 25, 2009 — Kunle Oguneye (children’s literature)
Kunle Oguneye was born and raised in Nigeria. He has lived in the United States for the last thirteen years, spending the last four of those years in the Puget Sound Area. He gave up a career in technology in order to pursue his love for children’s storytelling. Sikulu and Harambe by the Zambezi River is his first book. More information about Kunle and his book is available at http://www.sikulu.com/.
May 30, 2009 — Katherine Grace Bond (poet, novelist)
May 30, 2009 — Katherine Grace Bond (poet, novelist)
Katherine Grace Bond is the author of the bestselling Legend of the Valentine (Zonderkidz) and of three collections of poetry, The Sudden Drown of Knowing, Yielding to Calliope, and Considering Flight (Brass Weight Press). She has contributed to more than twenty additional books, including Gayle Brandeis’ Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write (HarperSanFrancisco) and Peculiar Pilgrims: Stories from the Left Hand of God (Hourglass Books). A certified K-12 teacher, Katherine offers writing classes for youth and adults. She is the creator of Teen Write, an acting/writing camp modeled on the Hero’s Journey. She is currently at work on a Young Adult novel. Find Katherine at www.KatherineGraceBond.com.
June 27, 2009 — Michael Schein (poet)
June 27, 2009 — Michael Schein (poet)
Michael Schein is recognized as a 20th Avenue Northwest Treasure by a guy who hangs out in Seattle’s Salmon Bay Park. He is the author of Just Deceits: A Historical Courtroom Mystery (Bennett & Hastings, 2008), described as “the perfect book for lovers of courtroom thrillers, historical fiction, mysteries, or anyone looking for an exciting page-turner that also stimulates the mind.” His Web site is http://www.michaelschein.com/. Michael is director of the LitFuse Poets Workshop, and former executive director of Tieton Arts & Humanities. His poetry has been widely published, twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and stuck to refrigerators by magnets.
July 25, 2009 — William Scott Galasso (poet)
July 25, 2009 — William Scott Galasso (poet)
William Scott Galasso is the author of eleven books of poetry, including his latest, Laughing Out Clouds, published in 2007. He’s won numerous awards, has published more than 1,100 poems, and his work has appeared in more than 130 journals and magazines in Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, England, Croatia, Romania, and throughout the United States. In March 2006, he participated in the reading of Eliot Weinberger’s “What I Saw in Iraq,” as the voice of Gen. Colin Powell. In January of 2007, he collaborated with the University of Washington group Earth Now, which sponsored a reading on ecology and the environment. In March of 2008, he was a featured reader for the PoetsWest poetry series on KSER 90.7 FM in Everett, Washington. His next book, Collage (New and Selected Poems), is due out in 2009.
August 29, 2009 — Island Style Slam Makes a Comeback
August 29, 2009 — Island Style Slam Makes a Comeback
As an international art form, the Island Style Slam may rank as the world’s most quickly written poetry. As entertainment, the Slam has elements of the 100-meter sprint and the tortoise’s victory. As a competition . . . well, let’s say everyone has a lot of fun. In an Island Style Slam, competitors are offered three words (or six, or nine, depending on the host). As fast as they can, they write a poem that contains all three/six/nine words and conforms to any poetic form. As described on Wikipedia, this is a “competition at which poets read or recite original work. . . . These performances are then judged on a numeric scale by previously selected members of the audience.” Former RASP President Allan Rousselle describes a RASP Slam on his blog — House of Cards. The Slam has been a regular feature at RASP since our beginnings, and it’s always a rewarding experience, in the sense of being fun, or—for winners—a few dollars more than you started with. (Since it’s based on writing skill and a judged process, the Slam isn’t gambling.) Rules are explained at the beginning of the session.
September 26, 2009 — Barbara Carole (memoir)
September 26, 2009 — Barbara Carole (memoir)
Barbara Carole is a Fulbright scholar with an M.A. in comparative literature. She lived in Paris as a translator and assistant editor of the Paris Review before returning to the United States to teach French and French literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. She also worked as a writer and researcher for explorer Jacques Cousteau’s televised undersea expeditions, and was ghostwriter on two of his books. Her other publications include a short story in The Paris Magazine, literary reviews for The French Review and FM Magazine, dance-concert reviews for the Los Angeles Times; and numerous articles for the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. Barbara now lives with her husband and pets on a forested mountain in the Pacific Northwest where she continues writing. Barbara Carole’s memoir, Twelve Stones: Notes on a Miraculous Journey, was just published by Regal Books, and her Web site is www.barbaracarole.com.
October 31, 2009 — Raúl Sanchez (poet)
October 31, 2009 — Raúl Sanchez (poet)
Raúl Sanchez is a working Seattle poet. He has been published in a handful of journals and online. Raúl’s most recent publications include appearances in The Sylvan Echo (online, spring 2009) and in Floating Bridge Review, Volume 1, Poetry from the left corner. In November 2008, he conducted the Day of the Dead celebration at the Mighty Tieton Poets Workshop in Tieton, Washington. He has been published in Mexico City by the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México in Speaking Desde las Heridas: Cibertestimonios Transfronterizos/Transborder Testimonies, an anthology published by CISAN. Keeping ties to his native land, Raúl’s poems may be splattered with words in Spanish or Nahuátl. He volunteers as a DJ on Sabor! for KBCS 91.3 FM, a community radio station. Raúl’s reading is participatory and you can “help” by bringing a photo of a loved one who has passed away. It doesn’t have to be recent. Bring the photo to be set on the small “Day of the Dead” altar that will be set up at the reading location that will include some of the traditional elements used in the offering. If you are willing to share a memory about your loved one with the audience, you are welcome to do so. Your memory doesn’t have to be in the form of a poem, just something simple to bring the name of the person back to life. Raúl said, “There are three kinds of death. One is when the body’s functions cease, two is when we are buried or incinerated, and three is when no one remembers your name. Therefore, the Day of the Dead is a day of remembrance.”
November 21, 2009 — Jack McCarthy (poet)
November 21, 2009 — Jack McCarthy (poet)
Jack McCarthy calls himself a “standup poetry guy.” Others have called him “legend.” The Boston Phoenix named him “Best Standup Poet.” The Boston Globe said, “In the poetry world, he’s a rock star.” Stephen Dobyns calls him, “one of the wonders of contemporary poetry.” He’s an engaging minor character in the film Slamnation, was a semifinalist for the Individual Slam Championship in 2000 and won the haiku championship at the Individual World Poetry Slam in 2007. His work has appeared in the anthologies The Spoken Word Revolution, The Spoken Word Revolution Redux, Poetry Slam, and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Slam Poetry (The adjective “Complete” is thought to modify the noun “Guide,” not the noun “Idiot’s”). Now living in Everett, Washington, he brings books and CDs to his readings on the off chance that someone might want to take some of him home. His website is www.standupoet.net.
December 26, 2009
December 26, 2009
[no reading or party scheduled]
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