2016 Readings

January 29, 2016 — Christopher J. Jarmick

Christopher J. Jarmick has curated poetry nights and special events in the Pacific Northwest since 2001. His newest collection of poetry, Not Aloud, was published by MoonPath Press in 2015. His previous collection, Ignition: Poem Starters, Septolets, Statements and Double Dog Dares, was published in 2010. Christopher is currently editing the poetry anthology BANG! and accepting submissions through February 15, 2016. His “Poetry Is Everything” blog publicizes dozens of readings occurring primarily in Western Washington State. Christopher also cowrote the novel The Glass Cocoon (2001), wrote the award-winning one-act play Clash of Cultures, and has published articles, poetry, and interviews in a variety of print magazines, newspapers, and literary journals.

February 26, 2016 — Laura LeHew

Laura LeHew’s collections include Becoming (Another New Calligraphy, February 2016), Willingly Would I Burn, (MoonPath Press), It’s Always Night, It Always Rains (Winterhawk Press), and Beauty (Tiger’s Eye Press). Lana Hechtman Ayers says “As dark as the reality of Becoming is, the journey is redeemed by unflinching examination, moments of unwavering generosity, and the faithful testimony of survival.” In her other life Laura owns a computer forensics and network security consulting company. Laura received her MFA from the California College of Arts. She edits her small press Uttered Chaos www.utteredchaos.org. Her website is lauralehew.com. Laura always thought she’d be an astronaut.

March 25, 2016 — G. Elizabeth Kretchmer

G. Elizabeth Kretchmer holds an MFA in writing from Pacific University. She is the author of The Damnable Legacy, a novel about a midlife mountaineer wrestling with a decision to place her daughter for adoption thirty years ago, and the just-released short story collection Women on the Brink, in which women aged 13 to 90 struggle against life’s unwelcome realities. Her short fiction, essays, and freelance work have appeared in The New York Times, High Desert Journal, Silk Road Review, SLAB, and other publications. When she’s not writing, she’s facilitating therapeutic and wellness writing workshops in the greater Seattle community or spending time with her husband and Lani (pronounced “Lonnie”) the Labradoodle. Her website is www.gekretchmer.com.

April 29, 2016 — Joannie Stangeland

Joannie Stangeland is the author of In Both Hands and Into the Rumored Spring, both published by Ravenna Press, two chapbooks, and the pamphlet A Piece of Work. Joannie’s poems have also appeared in Front Porch Journal, Off the Coast, Hubbub, Santa Fe Literary Review, and other publications. Joannie has been a Jack Straw Writers Program fellow, taught writing classes at Hugo House and LiTFUSE, and served as a poetry editor for two journals. Read her blog at http://joanniestangeland.com/.

A Wine and Poetry Pairing: Not only is Joannie Stangeland a poet, she co-owns a winery with her husband, winemaker Tom Stangeland. Cloudlift Cellars crafts Bordeaux-style and Rhone-style wines in Seattle’s Georgetown winery—and at the April RASP reading, you can sample them.

May 27, 2016 — Martha Brockenbrough

Martha Brockenbrough is the author of The Game of Love and Death, a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and one of Publishers Weekly’s Top 10 Books for Teens in 2015. She is the founder of National Grammar Day and author of several other books for young readers and adults. Read more about Martha and her books at http://martha-brockenbrough.squarespace.com/.

June 24, 2016 — All Open Mic (bring something “grande” to read)

Here’s your opportunity to take as long as you want to read—up to 10 minutes. Fiction writers, we’re calling you. You need more time than our standard three minutes? This is for you. And poets, want to explore your inner “T. S. Eliot?” Or, test drive that batch of serial poems you’ve dreamed of connecting? Want to be a “performance poet” for the evening? Want to gather several of you together and do “call and response.” This is your chance to entertain us with your epic works. Ten full minutes each—woohoo! BTW, 10 minutes is about three and a half pages. Please practice a few times with a timer.

July 29, 2016 — Dan Gemeinhart (young adult fiction)

Dan Gemeinhart is the author of the middle grade novels The Honest Truth (2015, a New York Times Editor’s Choice), and Some Kind of Courage (2016, an Amazon Book of the Month), both of which are set in Washington state. His third novel, Scar Island, will be published by Scholastic in January, 2017. He works half-time as a librarian for kids, and is passionate about reading, writing, and sharing kid lit. He lives in Cashmere, Washington with his wife and three children. Read more about Dan and his books at dangemeinhart.com. See video overviews of his The Honest Truth and Some Kind of Courage.

August 26, 2016 — Laura Lee Bennett (poet)

Portrait by Savvy Dani, “San Serif,” 2015. Collection of the artist. www.savvydani.com

Laura Lee Bennett received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Oregon. She is a past president of the Redmond Association of Spokenword (RASP) and actively supports the written and spoken arts in her community. To support her writing habit, she edits software manuals and historical articles about Redmond, Washington. In December 2015, Laura Lee was honored along with four other women artists/activists in the show “[R]evolution” at VALA Eastside in Redmond. There she also collaborated with two other poets, Chi Chi Stewart and Elizabeth Carroll Hayden, on I Am Not Cursed, a retelling of the Demeter-Persephone-Hades myth in three voices. She channels Persephone on a daily basis.

September 30, 2016 — Jack Straw Writers:
Ramon Isao, Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum, and Ruby Hansen Murray (fiction)

Ramon Isao is a recipient of the Tim McGinnis Award for Fiction, as well as a writing fellowship from Jack Straw Cultural Center. His stories have appeared in The Iowa Review, Ninth Letter, Hobart, and The American Reader. His screenplay credits include Dead Body, Zombies of Mass Destruction, and Junk (in which he costars). He has an MFA from Columbia University, and he teaches creative writing at Hugo House in Seattle.

Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum is the author of two collections of short fiction, This Life She’s Chosen and Swimming With Strangers. She has been the recipient of a PEN/O. Henry Prize and fellowships from the Sewanee Writers Conference and the MacDowell Colony. She is a 2016 Jack Straw Writing Program resident, and she teaches at the Attic Learning Community in Woodinville and at Seattle’s Richard Hugo House.

Ruby Hansen Murray’s prose and poetry appears in Wild in the Willamette, Oregon Humanities Magazine, Yellow Medicine Review, Tribal College Journal, Salal, The Lake Rises, and About Place. She teaches creative writing in rural and tribal settings. A VONA fellow, she’s been awarded residencies at the Sitka Island Institute, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Brush Creek, Jentel, Playa, and Hypatia-in-the-Woods. She is completing an MFA in creative writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts.

October 28, 2016 — Peter Ludwin (poet)

Peter Ludwin has received a literary fellowship from Artist Trust. His new book is Gone to Gold Mountain, from MoonPath Press. In 2016, he was also a poetry finalist for the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Awards, the second-place winner of the Kay Snow Writing Awards sponsored by Willamette Writers, and his poem Wolf Concerto won The Comstock Review’s Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Award, judged by Marge Piercy.

November 18, 2016 — Tod Marshall (Washington State Poet Laureate)

Tod Marshall was born in Buffalo, New York, and grew up in Wichita, Kansas. He studied English and philosophy at Siena Heights University, earned an MFA from Eastern Washington University, and graduated with his PhD from the University of Kansas. He directs the writing concentration at Gonzaga University where he is the Robert K. and Ann J. Powers Endowed Professor in the Humanities. He enjoys backpacking and fishing and spends about a month of every year in a tent. From 2016 to 2018, he is serving as the Washington State poet laureate. His work has been published in three collections (Dare Say, The Tangled Line, and Bugle) and many journals.

December 9, 2016 — Holiday Party

Join us for our VALA & RASP Holiday Party! Bring a dish/snack/drink to share. We’ll have an Island Style Slam (get three words and write a poem) and an art activity. Talk to other writers/artists. Enjoy the art. Party with the artists.