Thurs. Oct. 9, 2008 #231

6-7:45
Ballard Library

Carolyne Wright will emcee tonight's reading.
Thank you Carolyne.
Craft Talks continue next month

Elizabeth Socha Davis retired from two careers – zoology, then family therapy. She took a series of write-your-life-story classes, including ones from Esther. Elizabeth began writing poetry, has been published in Spindrift, The Oak, The Crone Connection, and has given readings at many locations in Seattle.

Susan Blair was a computer systems analyst, a salesperson, a Personnel Liaison Specialist with the federal government, and an aerobics instructor. Now she's a poet, a certified Nia instructor, a professional speaker --- and a whole lot happier! Seven of her poems have been published in Las Cruces Poets & Writers Magazine.

Brian McGuigan is a poet, performer, arts administrator and raconteur. He works at Richard Hugo House and is the co-founder and curator of "Cheap Wine and Poetry," Seattle's coolest reading series. Currently, Brian is at work on a
full-length manuscript of poems about gentrification entitled "Eat the Rich" and writes a regular column, "Bus Bitch," for The Rainier Valley Post. For more Brian: brianwithani.com.

Kate Lebo was raised in southwest Washington and lives in Seattle, where she works for Richard Hugo House, Seattle's literary arts center. Her poetry has been published in Filter, Knock, and the Seattle Public Library's "Lines on a Spine" project, and she was a senior editor for Rivet Magazine. She's working on her first chapbook.
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Don't forget to vote for Poet Populist

It's About Time Poet Populist nominee, Mike Hickey is from Belleville, IL., and the oldest of eleven children. He received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, 1987, an MFA from the University of Washington, 1992, and is currently working on a sequel to his first novel, Counterclockwise. He has also published a poetry chapbook, In Defense of Eve. as well as won awards for poetry, teaching, and as a labor leader for the American Federation of Teachers. In addition to being a tenured creative writing instructor at South Seattle Community College, he has taught as a volunteer to children at summer bereavement camps, to at-risk youth in White Center, and to prisoners at the Monroe Correctional Complex. He lives in West Seattle with his wife, Mona, and their two-year-old son, Nathan.

It's About Time nominated Mike Hickey for Poet Populist because: He has been participating in the It’s About Time Writers Reading Series for over a decade. Not only has he read his own work and presented a popular Writer’s Craft talk, he brings his students from both South Seattle Community College and UW Experimental College to participate, either through reading themselves or listening to others read. Mike’s years of teaching, as well as his involvement with the wider community, reflect his devotion to furthering fairness and justice in the public sphere. He represents It’s About Time's vision.

Vote for Poet Populist

Thurs. Aug.14, 2008 #229

6:00 - 7:45 p.m.

Ballard Library

The Writer's Craft: Ron Starr on No Things But in Words: Chance, Form, and Procedure

Ron Starr lives and writes in Seattle. He is an editor at Floating Bridge Press and the author of A Map by a Dim Lamp (Ravenna Press). His work has appeared in the Oulipo special issue of Drunken Boat.

Nora Jarvis, a native of Seattle, graduated from Earlham College in Indiana where she majored in Peace and Global Studies and minored in Creative Writing. She has been writing poetry since she was child but has become more invested in it over the past few years. She has been published in a few mildly discerning literary magazines and currently works for a Day Care Center, bountiful in poetic material.

Janet Leister, a Washington native, has worked as a life drawing model, bikini seamstress, technical support rep, cab driver and reference librarian. She was a founding member and original webmaster of poetry site quillandparchment.com. Janet currently lives in SW Washington, where she is publisher and editor of Flamestomper Press/Helios House. She is a member of the Poetry in Motion band, and her book, Eclipse, is just out.

Rosemary O'Hara is a Seattle poet whose work appears in local and national journals including Willow Review, Spindrift, and Vox Populi, 2007. She was born in West Virginia, had a nursing career in New York City and retired after twenty years from a private practice in Marriage and Family Therapy. Rosemary studies piano at Cornish College of the Arts and is a docent at the Seattle Japanese Garden.

CRYSTA CASEY

May 27, 1952 - June 24, 2008

Our lovely Crysta died yesterday at 6:01 a.m., probably earlier. Her dear friends George, Irene, Deborah, Cody, Sherry, Monica & others stood vigil through the last weeks. Irene was with her until the end.

Crysta helped define Seattle's literary landscape and we will miss her. Her first book, Heart Clinic, was published by Bellowing Ark Press in 1993. She had been reading for It's About Time since 1992. July's reading will be dedicated to her.

Crysta waged a fifteen year battle against cancer, all the while managing her schizophrenia. She was one of the most courageous people I've known. She died at the VA hospital in Seattle. May her memory be for a blessing.