You’ve never been to a storytelling festival as interactive as this! Join Creative Colloquy for an evening of stories, poems, experimental music and literary performances delivered on the hour, every hour from 6 – 9 p.m. at venues across Tacoma’s Stadium district. Venues include King’s Books, Doyle’s Public House, Harmon Taproom, The Mix, Sink, Anthem Coffee. Join performers and friends for an after party at Matriarch Lounge at Alma Matter immediately following the event.
About the readings:
•Blue Cactus Press brings you a handful of haunting short stories about the darker sides of humanity – where death, violence and war prevail – by local storytellers Samuel Snoek-Brown, Christina Butcher and Terrell Fox.
•Breaking Bread: Since the dawn of time, communities have connected over food and drink. The best stories are shared between sips and mouthfuls from full forks. Industry veterans and storytellers Ron Swarner, Kris Blondin and Jack Noble share libation fueled musings and funny stories about “that one time.” Festivities hosted by Jackie Fender.
•COLLATERAL. Literary journal Collateral shares work from past issues and a sneak peek at issue 3.1, due out in November. Come listen to poems and prose about the impact of war and military service beyond the combat zone, featuring local readers.
•WITNESS LOVE RESIST — UWT poets & writers will sing, howl, spit, growl their best verses in this age of uncertainty. UWT students find heart in everything; come discover theirs.
•Soundscape Open Mic with LEAH & BETH, Christina Butcher, and You!
Sonic poetry collaborations with musical duo LEAH & BETH and poet Christina Butcher. Not your typical open mic: bring a poem and jump in with the band!
•A Hip Hop Poetic Cipher: Tacoma MC & poet Grand Marquis and DJ Smokey Wonder perform and invite other poets and MCs to join them. A hip hop poetic cipher with two great local artists.
•Storytelling Through Song: Poet and singer-songwriter Mike Dumovich plays an intimate set in a bookstore.
• Landscape of Desire: A Writer’s Use of Longing. Two creative writing professors from the University of Puget Sound, Ann Putnam and Beverly Conner, read from their published collection of short stories. According to Ron Thomas, former president of the University, Nine by Three could describe the dimensions of a long narrow carpet we call a runner and place in the hallway that carries us down the corridors connecting the rooms of our experience of childhood and adulthood, mourning and recovery, winter and spring. Each story springs from a dislocating and disorienting event and then stitches together a . . . touching account of something lost and something else found, conveying us from a place we must abandon to another into which we must enter.
•Stories from the city’s collective memory: Historians Michael Sullivan, Tamiko Nimura and former Mayor Bill Baarsma will tell true stories from Tacoma history. Together they will explore the ghosts of Japantown, downtown Noir in the 1920’s and the Big Game at Stadium Bowl.
Community collaborators include Drunken Telegraph, Blue Cactus Press, UW of Tacoma, Michael Haeflinger, Kellie Richardson, Michael Sean Sullivan, Collateral Journal, Mike Dumovich and University of Puget Sound. Creative Colloquy is fiscally sponsored by Shunpike.