Poet Kathleen Flenniken Reads Tonight

Here she comes! The long-awaited reading from Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken, and the grande finale to the 2012-2013 Artsmith Salon Series. Tonight! May 14, 2013 at 6:00 pm at Darvill's Bookstore in Eastsound. The reading will be followed by an open mic.

Kathleen Flenniken's most recent poetry collection, Plume (University of Washington Press, 2012), contains "nuclear age songs of innocence and experience," based on Flenniken's childhood growing up next door to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation where her father and later Flenniken herself worked. Plutonium from Hanford was used for the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki, and the site is now the most contaminated nuclear facility in the country. Flenniken's book takes readers from personal and political history to the current environmental disaster of long-term radioactive waste leaching into soil, working its way into the Columbia River, and spreading to downriver populations and eventually contaminating the world's oceans for centuries to come.

Plume video
Author website

The Lyric Essay Workshop and Reading with Ira Sukrungruang and Katherine Riegel

One of this year's Artsmith Artist Residency Fellows, Ira Sukrungruang, returns to Orcas Island with his wife, Katherine Riegel, for a special Writers' Roundtable workshop on the Lyric Essay this Saturday at Orcas Public Library, followed by a reading at Darvill's Bookstore. Both events are free and open to the public. This is a rare opportunity to hear these two talented writers from Florida..

The Lyric Essay: How to Re-Conceptualize Space

Orcas Public Library, May 11, 1-3:00 PM

Since the emergence of the Lyric Essay in 1997, the essay form has become even more amoebic and malleable. In this Roundtable, we will  explore the different ways an essay can take shape--in both the literal and metaphoric sense. We will discuss various structures of  the essay--the braid, the golfball, the e-narrative--and see how  thinking in structure can lead to inventive ways of talking about the life.

Author Reading and Book-Signing

Darvill's Bookstore, May 11, 6:00 PM

Katherine Riegel

has published two books of poetry, What the Mouth Was Made For (2013) and Castaway (2010). Her work has appeared in journals  including Brevity, Crazyhorse, and Fourth Genre. She is poetry editor  for Sweet: A Literary Confection and teaches at the University of South Florida.

www.katherineriegel.com

Ira Sukrungruang

is the author of the memoir Talk Thai: The Adventures of Buddhist Boy and the coeditor of two anthologies on the topic of  obesity: What Are You Looking At? The First Fat Fiction Anthology and Scoot Over, Skinny: The Fat Nonfiction Anthology. His poetry collection, In Thailand It Is Night, was awarded the Anita Claire Schraf Award. His work has appeared in many literary journals, including Post Road, The Sun, and Creative Nonfiction. He is one of the founding editors of Sweet: A Literary Confection (sweetlit.com), and teaches in the MFA program at University of South Florida and the low-residency MFA program at City University in Hong Kong. For more information about him, please visit:

www.sukrungruang.com.

Dwell Press & Artsmith Broadside Contest

Announcing the second annual Dwell Press / Artsmith Summer Solstice Broadside Contest. The winning entry will be produced in a limited, numbered edition broadside of 75 prints: 50 for the author and 25 for the press. The winning poem will also be published and the broadside featured on the Artsmith and Dwell Press blogs.

Winner(s) will be selected anonymously by the editor and letterpress printer, Juniper White. In the event of a tie, the press may publish co-winners. Honorable Mentions and Finalists will be listed on the Artsmith and Dwell Press blog.

All broadsides are printed from hand-set metal type on archival quality 100% cotton paper, with original artwork completed in woodcuts, or pen and ink and polymer, and through equal parts of deliberation, consternation, and delight hand fed through a thigh-powered 1916 Chandler and Price 10 x 15 letterpress, aka ‘Sweet William.'

For full guidelines and to enter, visit Dwell Press. For the 2012 co-winners, read on...

"What I Know of Summer Solstice" by Lana Hechtman Ayers and here.

Pen and Ink, polymer, hand set type, 1916 C & P, 5 color,

118# Cover Savoy Reich Paper. Dimensions - Page size 9 5/8 x 13

"On Turning One" by Derek Sheffield and here.

Poem previously published in Orion.

Wood block, polymer, hand set type, 1916 C & P, 3 Color 

118# Cover Savoy Reich Paper. Dimensions - Page size 13 x 12.5

____________

Honorable Mentions

"Replenish" by Lynne Shapiro, Hoboken, NJ

"The Light" by Molly Sutton Kiefer, Red Wing, MN

Casey Fuller & Tina Schumann Read Tuesday, April 9

Northwest poets Casey Fuller and Tina Schumann will read from their collections, A Fort Made of Doors, and As If, respectively, this Tuesday at Darvill's Bookstore on Orcas Island. From being mistaken for a homeless man to contemplating the exquisite delicacy of decay, Casey and Tina explore what it means to thrive and sometimes barely survive in this sumptuous yet, fragile life.

The Artsmith Reading Series at Darvill's Bookstore
Words, wine and nibbles. Open mic.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013, 6:00 PM

Neva Hassanein 2013 Artsmith Scholar of the Year

Mid- to advanced-career scholar? Check
Incredibly thoughtful and generous? Check
Engaging, energizing, and inspiring teacher? Check
Giving of her time and expertise to make the world a better place? Check, check, check!

Meet Neva Hassanein, PhD and Professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Montana. Awarded the 2013 Artsmith Scholar of the Year Award, Neva will spend a week in retreat on Orcas Island, where we'll have a chance to meet her in person, and hear about her efforts to bring together entire communities to develop environmentally and economically sustainable food systems. In short, she's amazing, and more than deserving of recognition for her selfless generosity and forward vision as a scholar among scholars. For a reminder that there are still people who turn ideals into practice, you can read more about Neva's accomplishments and the Artsmith award here.

Writer Island SOLD OUT!

Writer Island writing retreat with Martha Silano and Jill McCabe Johnson the weekend of April 5-7, 2013 on Orcas Island has sold out. A second retreat is in the works for 2014, though. Check the Artsmith website, or follow this blog to get the latest updates. Or plan your own writing retreat. The world is waiting. All you have to do is make the time.

Writer Island -- Pinch me, I must be dreaming

I'm sooooo excited! For several years I've wanted to host a writing retreat on Orcas Island, but not just any writing retreat -- one that's all about immersion in nature. My best writing and best ideas come from contemplative time observing nature. I had something in mind like how artists do plaine-aire painting in the great outdoors. The island is perfect for it because we have mountain and shoreline, lakes and trails. It's an escape from freeways, chain stores, fast food -- heck, we don't even have traffic lights. Plus, there's this cool old stone shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s with a fireplace, and it's right next to my favorite hike that circles Mountain Lake. I mean, who wouldn't be inspired to write.

I don't know why I'd never done it. I guess I needed to meet the amazing poet and teacher Martha Silano first. We were talking a few weeks ago, and it turns out we both had a similar vision. Picture sparks flying as we realized we both had the same idea, and more sparks when we decided to pair up to make it happen.

So, I'm very happy to tell you that on the weekend of April 5-7, we'll be hosting Writer Island! A writing retreat immersed in and inspired by nature. It's going to be grand.

The latest research on creativity shows that the most innovative ideas and artwork happen away from the barrage of daily stresses and stimuli, and in settings where there is a good balance of contemplative time, the beauty of nature, and interaction with like-minded people. So we've designed the workshop to be just that. Plus some mighty tasty food.

I hope you can join us. If not, I hope you'll tell your friends about it. It's going to be an amazing weekend to let the wonder of spring infuse our creative work.