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March 11, 2023 Declared City of Literature Day

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Seattle City of Literature received Mayoral Proclamation for their tireless work on behalf of Seattle’s literary community 

On Saturday, March 11, Mayor Harrell proclaimed it both City of Literature and Civic Poet Day. Both proclamations were presented by royal alley-barnes, Interim Director, Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) at the reading of SEISMIC: Seattle City of Literature (which was a finalist for the 2021 Washington State Book Award for Creative Nonfiction) and the release of the Seattle Literary Map. Former Seattle Civic Poets Anastacia Reneé, Claudia Castro Luna, and Jourdan Imani Keith joined SEISMIC editor Kristen Millares Young for the reading, which was hosted at Folio: The Seattle Athenaeum.  Folio is a nonprofit library and cultural center in Pike Place Market. Folio offers cultural and civic programs, author events, book discussions, a lending library, intimate concerts, and access to beautiful and affordable reading and workspaces. 

“Seattle is one of two Cities of Literature in the United States and one of 42 Cities of Literature worldwide. The work they do on a global scale support our writers, publishers and literary sector locally. The publishing of SEISMIC and the participation of our Civic Poets is incredible.”  

royal alley-barnes, ARTS Interim Director.

The reading was held in conjunction with the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference (AWP), (hosted in Seattle, March 8-11) which estimated over 8,000 attendees, over 150 free or low-cost offsite literary events — including at least over 50 sponsored by Seattle-area organizations — and a giant book fair with over 500 literary organizations and presses. It is also estimated that the AWP Conference generated $15M during the conference. 

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The 2019-2022 Seattle Civic Poet Jourdan Imani Keith is being honored by US Water Alliance receiving the US Water Prize for Outstanding Artist 2022

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Announced on September 13th at the One Water Summit in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the US Water Alliance awarded Seattle Civic Poet Jourdan Imani Keith the US Water Prize for Outstanding Artist, 2022. Awarded on an annual basis, the US Water Prize celebrates outstanding achievements in the advancement of sustainable, integrated, and inclusive solutions to our nation’s water challenges. It is the preeminent national recognition program for exemplary efforts to secure a One Water future for all.  

Civic Poet Jourdan Imani Keith; Photo by Marcus R. Donner

The US Water Prize for Outstanding Artist honors an artist or culture bearer that has used artistic interventions or creative practices to center water issues, management, infrastructure, or communicate the value of water in their work. The winner of the Water Prize for Outstanding Artist will also be awarded $5,000 to support continuing their work. 

“We are honored to have our Civic Poet recognized by the US Water Alliance. Jourdan Imani Keith’s work is inspirational, uplifting and deeply centered on our communities and our shared responsibility to care for our earth and for one another. As we think about the challenges facing our environment, too often we respond with pessimism and a defeatist attitude, but Jourdan’s poetry is powerful in its ability to instead empower by meaningfully connecting us to water, waste and the broader social and environmental issues that are part of our daily lives.” 

Mayor Harrell

“It is an honor to receive the US Water Prize Outstanding Artist Award. As Black Indigenous Women of Color in Seattle, we share the urban wilderness of the Salish Sea with the endangered Killer Whales. Our bodies face the same cumulative risks of environmental toxins and the harms of objectification, yet we both survive and are reviewed by the cumulative benefits of matrilineal wisdom, tradition and community. Our brilliance and wellness is entwined with the need for healthy and protected social and natural ecosystems.”  

Jourdan Imani Keith

Keith created a multi-media/event project Women & Whales First, Poetry in Climate Change as the City of Seattle’s 2019-21 Civic Poet, examining how poetry can be used as a tool to illuminate environmental and social issues. The project centered on the experience of Black Indigenous Women* of Color and explore, through art, the impact of our choices on the environment we all share. Part of that body of work included the poem Essential which was composed during the COVID pandemic. Essential was commissioned to celebrate Seattle Public Utilities’ (SPU) Community Centered, One Water, Zero Waste, vision and Strategic Business Plan.  *Keith’s use of the word women embraces all women and people who self-identify with the experiences of women. This includes but is not limited to Trans Women, cis-women, Femmes, Two-Spirit, Gender Diverse and non-conforming people. 

Weaving together Seattle’s 2020 pandemic experiences through the lens of City water and waste services, Jourdan’s poem Essential uses images of water as a unifier and connector to Black Lives Matters demonstrations of the present and to the power we have to shape our future.  Each stanza brings forth and reveals a deeper part of SPU’s often invisible inner workings and the utility’s purpose in our lives allowing the listener and reader to see SPU’s work in an essential light. It inspires social and environmental action and reflection. Essential also becomes a reminder and ode to our pandemic experiences establishing the power of uninterrupted, essential service delivery and the heroism of essential service workers during that blur of time when little else was normal.  

Jourdan Imani Keith, City of Seattle’s 2019-2022 Civic Poet, is a black, LGBTQ+, teaching artist, naturalist, and poet, focusing on creative and environmental work with a racial equity and social justice lens. Keith founded and directed a 10-year non-profit youth program, Urban Wilderness Project (UWP) to ensure youth of color have access to and are engaged in the environment and related issues. Racial equity and sustainability of the natural world are through-lines of all their work. 

Keith’s work at the City of Seattle is supported by the Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) and Seattle Public Utilities (SPU). ARTS manages the Civic Poet Program, a two-year commission that celebrates Seattle’s rich literary community while investing in the future of literary arts through community engagement.  

ARTS Seeks 2023-24 Seattle Civic Poet

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The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS), in partnership with the Seattle City of Literature, commissions and supports an experienced poet with a two-year City residency to serve as a literary ambassador for the City of Seattle. In addition to annual City events, the Civic Poet will foster community dialogue and engagement between the City, the public, and other artists, while celebrating the literary arts.   

Civic Poet Jourdan Imani Keith at the 2019 Mayor’s Arts Awards; Photo by Marcus R. Donner

“Each year Seattle’s Civic Poet brings an efficacy of innovative creativity and authentic narratives about diverse peoples and places. The Seattle Office of Arts and Culture (ARTS) looks forward to continued engagement with poets and communities as we seek the next cultural ambassador for Seattle’s rich literary tapestry.”

royal alley-barnes, Seattle Office of Arts & Culture Interim Director
Learn About Civic Poet

Eligibility and Funding

This call is open to Seattle-based poets who have an established body of work including published/self-published works, reading/spoken word plus project planning experience, and applied racial equity practice. Applicants must:   

  • Be based in Seattle (residence in the City of Seattle),   
  • Be eligible to work in the U.S.   
  • Have demonstrated interest/experience in promoting equity and inclusion through the arts, and   
  • Show strong program planning and implementation with partnerships.  

The compensation for the two-year Civic Poet commission is $15,000. Funding covers a two-year period. It covers time for writing, administration, other artist fees, performances, event costs, materials, travel, fees, taxes, and other project-related costs. 

Deadline

Wednesday, July 13, 2022; 5 p.m. Pacific Time  

Application

Contact

Please direct any questions about the program to Irene Gómez, Project Manager at irene.gomez@seattle.gov or (206) 684-7310. 

The Civic Poet program is made possible by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture (ARTS) in partnership with the Seattle City of Literature. For questions about this program, please contact Irene Gómez, Project Manager at irene.gomez@seattle.gov, (206) 684-7310.

Civic Poet, Jourdan Imani Keith, Launches Women & Whales First, Poetry in a Climate of Change Podcast

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Seattle’s Civic Poet, Jourdan Imani Keith, has partnered with Jack Straw Cultural Center for the new podcast, Women & Whales First, Poetry in a Climate of Change. Launching on June 19, this podcast will host conversations between Jourdan and local poets about how poetry can be a tool to illuminate environmental and social issues. Episodes will launch on Soundcloud every Saturday through July 30.

See the full list of upcoming episodes below: 

Saturday, June 19
Episode 1: Whales and Dragons 

Jourdan Imani Keith interviews poet, artist, and activist Jae Eun Kim who speaks about the mythological connections between dragons and whales.  
 
About the Guest: An alum of the University of Washington, Jae has worked at non-profits Powerful Voices and Young Women Empowered and facilitated many arts-based and social justice education programs for young people. Kim creates within various mediums, speculative fiction, poetry, urban mythology, performance, visual, and fiber arts. In 2015, they were invited to stay at Hedgebrook for a short-term writers residency. 

Saturday, June 26
Episode 2: The Risks of Gender

Jourdan Imani Keith interviews Aleyda Marisol Cervantes, who speaks about the risks associated with gender, colonialism, and environmental activism. 
 
About the Guest: Aleyda Marisol Cervantes is a self-identified third-world woman, who grew up in a small town in Guadalajara, Mexico. She co-wrote and published a chapter in the anthology Gendering Globalization, Globalizing Gender: Postcolonial Perspectives Edited by Gül Çalışkan. She currently works at a community college building bridges between underrepresented students and the world of higher education and serves as a board member in Mujer al Volante, an organization cultivating leadership and autonomy for immigrant women. She also makes the time to write and dream a little more in occupied Coast Salish territory. 

Saturday, July 3
Episode 3: Diving for Our Ancestors

Jourdan Imani Keith interviews Ebony Wellborn about ancestry and scuba-diving. 
 
About the Guest: Ebony Wellborn is originally from the South, but has been an active community member in King County for the last three years. As her life has progressed, Ebony has learned just how interconnected we are with our non-human friends. 

Saturday, July 10
Episode 4: Whale Song and Lullabies

Jourdan Imani Keith interviews Kamna Shastri about the lullabies of her youth and the songs of the whales.  
 
About the Guest: Kamna Shastri is a community journalist with a background in sociology and environmental studies. Shastri is especially interested in the messiness of cultural identity and breaking down the false distinction between humanity and nature. Poetry has been her lifelong method of self-expression.

Saturday, July 17
Episode 5: Mysteries of the Marine World

Jourdan Imani Keith interviews Savannah Smith about being drawn into the mystery of the marine world.  
 
About the Guest: Savannah grew up in an animal-loving home. Her early exposure to a variety of different creatures taught her that every animal — no matter the size or species — has its own unique characteristics and soul. Savannah is passionate about fostering positive outdoor experiences for BIPOC, especially in marine environments. 

Saturday, July 24
Episode 6: Stories of Migration

Jourdan Imani Keith has a conversation with Rasheena Fountain, who speaks on migration and displacement for humans and whales. 
 
About the Guest: Originally from Chicago, Rasheena Fountain is a multi-genre writer and interdisciplinary educator living in Seattle. A past Walker Communications Fellow with National Audubon, she is currently an MFA Prose Candidate at the University of Washington, where she is working on an environmental essay collection. 

Saturday, July 30
Episode 7: We Are Cousins 

Jourdan Imani Keith closes out this seven-part podcast series with a discussion on the impacts of environmental toxins on her family and whales. Jourdan Imani Keith is a storyteller, essayist, playwright, naturalist, and activist. A student of Sonia Sanchez, her TEDx Talk, “Your Body of Water,” the theme for King County’s 2016-2018 Poetry on Buses program won an Americans for the Arts award. Her poetry is largely anthologized. She has been awarded fellowships from Hedgebrook, Wildbranch, Santa Fe Science Writing workshop, VONA, and Jack Straw. Her memoir in essays, Tugging at the Web, is forthcoming from University of Washington Press.  

The Women & Whales First, Poetry in a Climate of Change Podcast was created in partnership with the Civic Poet, the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, Urban Wilderness Project, and Jack Straw Cultural Center. Visit the Civic Poet page for more information about Jourdan and her work. 

Seattle Civic Poet solicits poetry for a new community project

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A pod of orca swim just below the surface of the water, their fins and backs sticking up.

Jourdan Imani Keith invites you to submit pantoums for inclusion in her new project Women & Whales First, Poetry in a Climate of Change, a virtual event in April, 2021, in partnership with Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and the Seattle Space Needle. 

Poetry submissions due April 11, 2021 

Apply

The Seattle Civic Poet, in partnership with the Office of Arts & Culture, seeks poetry in the form of a pantoum from new, emerging, and experienced poets for the Women and Whales First, Poetry in a Climate of Change collection. Up to 14 selected poems will be presented along with the work of the cohort at a public reading and panel discussion in late April. We will be seeking to publish the collection either in print and/or digitally. The application deadline is Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 11:59pm (Pacific Daylight Time).  

Women & Whales First, Poetry in a Climate of Change is a multi-event project of 2019-21 Civic Poet Jourdan Imani Keith. The project seeks to center the experiences of Black Indigenous Women of Color and explore, through art, the impact of our choices on the environment we all share.

“As Black Indigenous Women of Color in Seattle, we share the urban wilderness of the Salish Sea with the endangered Killer Whales. Our bodies face the same cumulative risks of environmental toxins and the harms of objectification, yet we both survive and are revived by the cumulative benefits of, matrilineal wisdom, tradition and community. Our brilliance and wellness is entwined with the need for healthy and protected social and natural ecosystems.”

Jourdan Imani Keith

Black, Indigenous, Women of Color of all ages are strongly encouraged to apply. The deadline for applications is Sunday, April 11, 2021 at 11:59pm (Pacific Daylight Time). Applicants will be notified as to the status of their application in early April. Selected applicants will be invited to participate in a virtual public event in late April.   

Poems must be in the form of a Pantoum and explore the interconnectedness of the health of women, our water, and our whales. For more information on this connection, visit: https://urbanwildernessproject.com/2021/02/20/all-ages-general-public-call-for-poetry-womxn-whales-first-poetry-in-a-climate-of-change/ 

Detailed information about the call is available on Submittable: https://seattlearts.submittable.com/submit/189256/call-for-poetry-womxn-and-whales-first-poetry-in-a-climate-of-change 

For further information on the Call for Poetry: Women & Whales First, Poetry in a Climate of Change, please visit Urban Wilderness Project’s website here or contact Carol Roscoe at croscoe@seattleu.edu. 

#    #   #  

The Women & Whales, Poetry in a Climate of Change is presented in partnership with the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, Jack Straw, Seattle Public Library Foundation, Seattle City of Literature, and the Seattle Space Needle.  

ABOUT JOURDAN IMANI KEITH: 

The City of Seattle’s 2019 -2021 Civic Poet, Jourdan Imani Keith is a storyteller, essayist, playwright, naturalist and activist. A student of Sonia Sanchez, her TEDx Talk, “Your Body of Water,” the theme for King County’s 2016-2018 Poetry on Buses program won an Americans for the Arts award. Her poetry is largely anthologized and was long listed by Danez Smith for Cosmonauts Avenue poetry prize. Keith’s Orion Magazine essays, “Desegregating Wilderness” and ” At Risk” were selected for the 2015 Best American Science and Nature Writing Anthology (Houghton Mifflin). She has been awarded fellowships from Hedgebrook, Wildbranch, Santa Fe Science Writing workshop, VONA, and Jack Straw. Her memoir in essays, Tugging at the Web, is forthcoming from University of Washington Press.

Civic Poet honors our Seattle Living Legacies

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Saturday, June 29, 2019, 2:30 – 6:30 p.m.
ARTS at King Street Station
303 S. Jackson St, Top Floor
Seattle, WA 98104

On Saturday, June 29 writers and poets will recognize and honor our 2019 Seattle Living Legacies:  Storme Webber, Georgia MCdade, and Mary Ann Moorman with written work and readings. The inaugural celebration will focus on active and instrumental ways each nominee has raised the bar and who live exemplary lives that change and impact multiple people in many ways. The reading and celebration will take place after the nominees are interviewed about being a Living Legacy by Seattle Civic Poet Anastacia-Renee. 

photo by Brad Curran

Mary Ann Moorman (Seattle’s Aunt Mama Storytable) is being honored for her storytelling, artistic, multicultural commitment to diversity and personal social change agent contributions to Seattle communities (and beyond), which have been historical and monumental.

Storme Webber’s cultural, artistic, humanitarian, philanthropic and interdisciplinary work for and about-marginalized voices are only a few of the contributions she has made to Seattle communities (and beyond). Over the years, her grassroots’ work with Voices Rising and pivotal public readings and programming have been historical, her/storical and monumental.

Georgia McDade is being honored for her work as the charter member for the African American-American Alliance Writers as well as being a trailblazer and role model as the first African American woman to earn a Ph. D. in English from the University of Washington. In addition she has made numerous creative, humanitarian, philothrapical and social justice contributions to Seattle communities (and beyond).

Thoughts on “Living Legacy” by Civic Poet Anastacia-Renee

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photo by Brad Curran

As Seattle Civic Poet (and writer, mother, artist and educator), I’ve been thinking a great deal about what it means to be a “Living Legacy.” In the last three Speak to Me Series’, I have posed this question to intergenerational audiences and featured writers and there have been so many answers and interpretations, but one particular amalgamation of the answer seems to be:

Someone who is active and instrumental (publicly or privately) in their community or across communities who in terms of their own style of living, raises the bar and lives an exemplary life that changes and affects and impacts multiple people in positive ways. 

This month I’d like to hear from YOU Seattle on your thoughts about what it means to be a “Living Legacy!” Send me your poems, prose or a hybrid piece to be included in a public display of poetic affection honoring some of Seattle’s Living Legacies and a night of celebration.

Your work will be published on the Seattle Civic Poet Blog and will be chosen as part of the installation of poetry. Stay tuned for the announcement of the amazing nominees chosen by the Seattle community of Living Legacies!

Please send your work between NOW and May 6th to: writenow2day@hotmail.com with “Living Legacy” as the subject heading.

In Peace and Poetry,

Anastacia-Renee

Seattle Civic Poet Speak to Me! Series (II)

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Collage of the four poets in Speak to Me (II)November 20, 2018, 7 – 9 p.m.
Jack Straw Studios
4261 Roosevelt Way NE Seattle WA 98105

Speak to Me Series (II) Volume I

This years Speak to Me! Series (II) focuses on the theme of “Living Legacy.” Poets will share their work and a brief Q & A will follow. Features poets:

Gary Copeland Lilley is the author of eight books of poetry, the most recent being The Bushman’s Medicine Show, from Lost Horse Press (2017), and a chapbook, The Hog Killing, from Blue Horse Press (2018). He is originally from North Carolina and now lives in the Pacific Northwest. He has received the Washington DC Commission on the Arts Fellowship for Poetry. He is published in numerous anthologies and journals, including Best American Poetry 2014, Willow Springs, Waxwing, the Taos International Journal of Poetry, and the African American Review. He is a Cave Canem Fellow.

Amber Flame is a writer, composer and performer, whose work has garnered artistic merit residencies with Hedgebrook, The Watering Hole, Vermont Studio Center, and Yefe Nof. Flame joins the Hugo House in Seattle as the 2017 poetry Writer-in-Residence, and is a queer Black single mama just one magic trick away from growing her unicorn horn.

Sierra Golden graduated with an MFA in poetry from North Carolina State University. Her manuscript The Slow Art won the Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize and was published by Bear Star Press in September 2018. Golden’s poems appear in literary journals such as Prairie Schooner, Permafrost, and Ploughshares. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies by Hedgebrook, Hugo House, and The Elizabeth George Foundation. Although she calls Washington State home, Golden spent many summers in Alaska, working as a commercial fisherman. She now works in nonprofit communications in Seattle.

Azura Tyabji is a born-and-raised Seattle poet, facilitator, and organizer. Brought up through Youth Speaks Seattle, she encourages other young people to unapologetically speak their truth through the dynamic art of spoken word. What drives her activism is a deep passion and respect for art as an indispensable tool for social change. As this year’s Seattle Youth Poet Laureate, she hopes to continue challenging and expanding her craft for the communities that inspire her. Her debut poetry collection will be released in the upcoming spring.

 

 

 

Join us for Volume I of Civic Poet Anastacia-Renee’s Speak to Me! Series

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Sunday, December 3, 2017, 1 – 3:30 p.m.
The Black Zone
2301 South Jackson Street, Suite 203
Seattle, WA 98058

Seattle Civic Poet Anastacia-Renee begins the Speak to Me! series, a FREE intergenerational monthly workshop and reading series showcasing emerging and seasoned poets. Speak to Me! Volume I will feature readings by Quenton Baker, Jalayna Carter, Robert Francis Flor, and a Seattle Youth Poet. The readings will be followed by an optional 30-minute generative writing workshop lead by Anastacia-Renee.

Featured Poets:

Quenton Baker is a poet and educator from Seattle. His current focus is anti-blackness and the afterlife of slavery. His work has appeared in Jubilat, Vinyl, Apogee, Pinwheel, Poetry Northwest, The James Franco Review, and Cura and in the anthologies Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Meters and It Was Written: Poetry Inspired by Hip-Hop. He has an MFA in Poetry from the University of Southern Maine and is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee. He is a 2017 Jack Straw fellow and is the recipient of a James W. Ray Venture Project award from Artist Trust. His first collection, This Glittering Republic, came out from Willow Books in 2016.

Jalayna Carter is a multimedia storyteller living in Seattle, WA. Currently she writes stories for Habitat for Humanity – Seattle King County about the humanity of their homeowners, how they lead varied and resilient lives and what the impact of having basic needs met (like living in a decent place at a sustainable price) can be. Her work has been published in: Third Point Press, 2Leaf Press and Fig Root Press with forthcoming pieces in Reality Beach and Puerto del Sol. Her work can be found on her website, JalaynaCarter.com or sprinkled between memes and pictures of food on her social media channels: @just.jalayna.

Robert Francis Flor is a Seattle native raised in the city’s Central Area and Rainier Valley. His poems appeared in the Raven Chronicles, Soundings Review, the Field of Mirrors anthology (2008) and Poetry on the Bus.  In 2012, several poems were published in two anthologies Voices of the Asian American Experience by the Univ. of Santa Cruz and “Where Are You From?” the Thymos Book Project.  His chapbook “Alaskero Memories” was published in 2016 by Carayan Press.

Anastacia-Renee is the current Seattle Civic Poet and former 2015-17 Poet-in-Residence at Hugo House. She is a hybrid genre writer, workshop facilitator and multivalent performance artist. She is the author of four books: Forget It (Black Radish Books), (v.), (Gramma Press), Answer(Me) (Argus Press), and 26 (Dancing Girl Press) and her poetry, prose and fiction have been published widely.

*Book of the Month: The Racial Imaginary, Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind