Peruse upcoming readings, workshops, and literary events Blue Cactus Press and its conspirators are involved with below.
Join us on January 30th as we welcome three local poets to share some of their latest work.
KELLIE RICHARDSON is a writer, artist and educator born and raised in Tacoma, Washington. Her work explores the intersection of race, class, and gender. Kellie has authored two books, The Art of Naming My Pain (2019), a collection of poetry, prose and collage; and her debut poetry collection, What Us Is (2017). She also served as Tacoma Poet Laureate from 2017-2019. Kellie is particularly inspired and called to explore the experiences of women of color, and the intersectionality of identities.
ROBERT LASHLEY is a writer and activist, as well as a 2016 Jack Straw Fellow, Artist Trust Fellow, and nominee for a Stranger Genius Award. Robert Lashley has had work published in The Seattle Review of Books, NAILED, Poetry Northwest, McSweeney’s, and The Cascadia Review. His poetry was also featured in such anthologies as Many Trails to The Summitt, Foot Bridge Above The Falls, Get Lit, Make It True, and It Was Written. His previous books include THE HOMEBOY SONGS (Small Doggies Press, 2014) and UP SOUTH (Small Doggies Press, 2017).
NICOLE MCCARTHY earned her MFA from the University of Washington Bothell. Her work has appeared in The Offing, Redivider, Glass: a Journal of Poetry, The Shallow Ends, Ghost Proposal, Moonchild Magazine, Memoir Mixtapes, Civil Coping Mechanism’s A Shadow Map anthology, the 2018 Best American Experimental Writing anthology and others. Her work has also been performed and encountered as projection installation pieces throughout Tacoma and Seattle and her written work can be found at nicolemccarthypoet.com. She is a 2018 Artist Trust GAP award recipient.
This Winter, Lakewold Gardens is partnering with Write 253 to host a Poetry Series featuring local poets reading their work in the Wagner House at Lakewold Gardens! Each event has two featured poets with a youth poet opening. At the end the poets will stick around for a Q&A. On February 16, publisher and poet Christina Butcher, former Tacoma Poet Laureate Kellie Richardson, and poet James Santana will all read at the gardens. This reading will also be recorded and shared on the Prickly Pear Podcast. Please see the full lineup of poets and perfomances below:
Jan 19 — Abby Murray (Tacoma Poet Laureate) and Mare Hake (Tahoma Literary Review)
Jan 26 — William Kupinse and Natalie Scenters- Zapico (Professors at Puget Sound)
Feb 16 — Christina Butcher (Blue Cactus Press) and Kellie Richardson (Former Tacoma Poet Laureate)
Feb 23 — Kristen Orlando (SAMi Humanities Teacher) and Kevin Miller (Local Published Poet)
*Books / the event poster (freshly pressed in a limited edition run by the Write253 Pop Up Print Shop at the Washington State History Museum) will be for sale.
⫸ The suggested donation is 10 dollars per event. ⫷