Saturday, April 23, 2016, 2 – 4 p.m.
Seattle Central Library, Level 1, Microsoft Auditorium
SEATTLE (April 19, 2016) — The Poets Are In! is an intergenerational reading featuring Seattle’s Civic Poet, Youth Poet Laureate and friends on Saturday, April 23 from 2 – 4 p.m. at the Seattle Central Library, Level 1, Microsoft Auditorium. Hear six poets share what it means to live, love and remember in the Emerald City. Civic Poet, Claudia Castro Luna, Youth Poet Laureate Leija Farr and Anastacia Rene’e Tolbert, Alan Chong Lau, and youth poets Maya Chinen and Max Taylor will share individual work and together create a poetic cartography of Seattle.
The reading celebrates National Poetry Month and marks the inaugural reading of The Poet Is In!, Claudia Castro Luna’s tenure as artist-in-residence at the Seattle Public Library. Castro Luna will lead month-long interactive poetic explorations in a number of branches inspired by the everyday life of a neighborhood. At least one branch in each quadrant of the city will host a session with the Civic Poet.
About the Poets:
Claudia Castro Luna, Seattle’s first Civic Poet was born in El Salvador. She has a MA in Urban Planning, a teaching certificate and an MFA in poetry from Mills College. She writes because the flesh remembers even when the mind forgets and moving the hand across a page is a measure of resistance. Her poems have appeared in Riverbabble, the Taos Journal of Poetry and Art and are forthcoming in Poetry Northwest and Dialogo. She is working on a memoir about her experience escaping the Salvadoran Civic War; an excerpt of which appears in the 2014 Jack Straw Writers Anthology.
Maya Chinen, a first-year student at Seattle University, is pursuing degrees in both Environmental Studies and Spanish. She grew up on south Beacon Hill and began her walk with the spoken-word in a classroom on First Hill. She continues her writing today through creative non-fiction and page-poetry.
The first ever Youth Poet Laureate in Seattle history, Leija Farr became serious with poetry after winning a spoken word contest as 12 years old with a poem on teens and drugs. Since then, she has grown mentally and physically through open mics across the city.
A poet and visual artist, Alan Chong Lau is the recipient of numerous awards, and his poems have been widely anthologized. He is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Blues and Greens: A Produce Worker’s Journal and no hurry. He serves as Arts Editor for the International Examiner.
Queer super-shero of color moonlighting as a writer, performance artist and creative writing workshop facilitator, Anastacia Renee Tolbert has received awards and fellowships from Cave Canem, Hedgebrook, VONA, Jack Straw, Ragdale and Artist Trust. She was recently selected as the 2015-16 Writer-in-Residence at Hugo House, a place for writers in Seattle. Her chapbook 26 was published by Dancing Girl Press. Her poetry and fiction have been published in Literary Orphans, Bitterzoet, Radius Poetry, Seattle Review, Duende, Bone Bouquet, Dressing Room Poetry and many more.
Max Taylor is most often seen residing at his house in Wallingford or stroking his chin at the front row of an open mic. He is graduating this year as a senior at Roosevelt High School, but takes advantage of Washington’s Running Start program to take his classes at North Seattle College. He finds his passion in poetry and performance art and hopes to develop his writing wherever the future may take him.
Library events and programs are free and everyone is welcome. Registration is not required. This event will be recorded for future podcast.
*Central Library 206-386-4636 or Ask a Librarian
Space is limited at library events. Please come early to make sure you get a seat. Due to the fire code, we can’t exceed the maximum capacity for our rooms.
