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RASP, the Redmond Association of Spokenword hosts a featured reader every month. Here is information about our special guests from RASP's rich past. Over the years, RASP has presented a diverse, scintillating, and erudite program of leading writers, artists, and humanists. |
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AND — we're still going strong! We invite you to join us as the Reading Series continues to thrive … |
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At the Old Redmond Schoolhouse Community Center (ORSCC) at 16600 NE 80th Street, Redmond, WA 98052—Click for directions to ORSCC
Elizabeth Austen is the author of the poetry collectionEvery Dress a Decision(Blue Begonia Press, 2011) and two chapbooks,The Girl Who Goes Alone(Floating Bridge Press, 2010) andWhere Currents Meet (one of four winners of the 2010 Toadlily Press chapbook award and part of the quartetSightline). In 2006 she producedSkin Prayers, an audio CD of her poems. Elizabeth spent her teens and twenties working in the theatre and writing poems. A six-month solo walkabout in the Andes region of South America led her to focus exclusively on poetry. She produces poetry-related programming for KUOW 94.9 and makes her living as a communications specialist at Seattle Children's Hospital, where she also offers retreats and journaling workshops for the staff.
Vonnie Thompson is a wife, mother, poet, and actress, and a graduate of the University of Puget Sound's creative writing program. After a long hiatus hiding from her poetry, Vonnie is once again thinking, writing, and living words. She lives in the beautiful Sky Valley with her husband, two boys, and the Triangulation of Tabbies, and is also, at times, an office manager at a sales office and a regular at both Woodinville Unitarian and the Aquarian Tabernacle Church. All these threads come together in her very personal style of poetry in which she weaves her personal experience around the experiences and feelings that tie all our lives together. Vonnie is currently working on her first chapbook of poetry, which she hopes to have completed by the end of 2011.
December 2, 2011—Holiday Party, fun & food |
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November 18, 2011—Jack Straw artists Susan Rich, Annette Spaulding-Convy & Harold Taw |
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Susan Rich is the author of three collections of poetry,The Cartographer's Tongue / Poems of the World (2000), Cures Include Travel (2006), andThe Alchemist's Kitchen (2010), the latter a finalist for the ForeWord Book of the Year Prize. She has received awards from PEN USA,The Times Literary Supplement, and Peace Corps Writers. Recent poems have appeared in theHarvard Review,Poetry Ireland, and Poetry International. She lives in Seattle and teaches English at Highline Community College. Susan is one of the featured readers in this year's Seattle Arts & Lectures poetry series. |
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Annette Spaulding-Convy's full length collection,In Broken Latin, will be published by the University of Arkansas Press (Spring 2012) as a finalist for the Miller Williams Poetry Prize. Her chapbook,Inthe Convent We Become Clouds, won the 2006 Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Contest and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her poems have been published inPrairie Schooner,North American Review, Crab Orchard Review, and in theInternational Feminist Journal of Politics, among others.She is coeditor of the literary journalCrab Creek Review, and is cofounder of Two Sylvias Press, which will publish the first eBook anthology of contemporary women's poetry,Fire on Her Tongue, later in 2011. |
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Harold Taw's debut novel,Adventures of the Karaoke King(AmazonEncore 2011), is a karaoke grail quest about people who keep falling just short of their dreams. A participant in the 2009 Artist Trust EDGE Program for Writers and the 2011 Jack Straw Writers Program, Harold received an Artist Trust GAP award to research his second novelSaturday's Child, garnered accolades for his screenplayDog Park, and had his work featured on NPR and in aNew York Timesbestselling anthology. Harold graduated from Yale Law School and as a Fulbright Scholar studied prostitution and the AIDS epidemic in rural Thailand. |
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Angela Jane Fountas was a 2008-2009 writer-in-residence at Richard Hugo House and a 2006 Jack Straw Writer. Her story collection, LG + Tiny, is a finalist for the 2011 Bakeless Prize in Fiction. Her work has appeared in Fairy Tale Review, Quick Fiction, Diagram, Sentence, Redivider, Syntax, and elsewhere. Angela was awarded a 2009 Artist Trust Fellowship and her work has been supported by grants from the Seattle Mayor's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs and 4Culture. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Alabama.
Discuss and improve your poetry & prose! Bring your poem or story to our Poetry & Prose Circle. We'll gather to share our writing, then offer ideas for improvement. Take away a new perspective on your creative work.
Renda Belle Dodge grew up in the Pacific Northwest as part of a typical, fractured family, and she currently resides in Seattle, Washington. Writing has always been a part of her life, and she began telling and illustrating stories when she was a child. Renda's writing style is bold and strives to capture the ongoing struggle for identity in contemporary America. Renda is author of Inkedand The Indie Writer's Workshop (July 2011). She is the managing editor of Line Zero, a quarterly indie arts and writing journal, and Pink Fish Press. Renda regularly runs workshops on fiction plotting, drafting, and independent publishing. For the past seven years she has been involved in National Novel Writing Month, and for the past four has been a Municipal Liaison in the Seattle area, working with and encouraging writers of all ages and skill sets. Her website is http://rendadodge.com/.
Stephen Roxborough (aka roxword) was born in New York to a Canadian father and American mother. He's a past board member for the Washington Poets Association, cofounder of Burning Word poetry festival, and head poet for Madrona Center on Guemes Island. An internationally acclaimed, award-winning performance poet, Rox has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize (2003, 2006), appeared at the Skagit River Poetry Festival (2004), Brave New Words (Whidbey Island, 2009), and coeditedradiant danse uv being, a poetic portrait of bill bissett (2006). He is the author of six books and one CD. His newest collection,this wonderful perpetual beautiful, was published in the spring of 2011.
Longtime Microsoft employee Stephen "Stepto" Toulouse is a geek, a gamer, a writer, and the director of policy and enforcement for Xbox LIVE. When he's not busy helping his team protect the Xbox LIVE service from miscreants, Stepto can be found exhorting players to "be excellent to each other,7quot; cohosting the weekly Xbox LIVE-oriented "Major Nelson Radio" podcast, and performing segments from his book A Microsoft Life at various events such as the Penny Arcade Expo, w00tstock, and any place discerning gamers and nerds are known to gather. Sharing wry wry-isms and specifically vague observations about gaming and geek culture are Stepto's specialty, and he often enjoys relaxing at home in the small community of Duvall with his wife Rochelle, a cat, and three Golden Retrievers. Stepto's website is located at http://www.stepto.com and he tweets at @stepto.
Discuss and improve your poetry & prose! Bring your poem or story to our Poetry & Prose Circle. We'll gather to share our writing, then offer ideas for improvement. Take away a new perspective on your creative work.
Dr. Mark Waterbury is a materials scientist and author of The Monster of Perugia: The Framing of Amanda Knox. Having worked as a scientist for the Air Force, an engineer for big corporations, and even sinking to being a businessman of sorts, Waterbury recently decided it was time to wash himself off and return to his writing roots. Using a style that draws as much on analogies from literature, history, and mythology as it does from science, Monster is a work of literary nonfiction that has been called a devastating indictment of the Perugian justice system. Other work by Waterbury includes a semiautobiographical novel, Existence Simplified and the Butterfly Effect, about his years at Wright-Patterson AFB (right up the hill from Hanger 19 of UFO fame) and an upcoming work, Of Solitons and Singing Bowls, about agents of change and icons of stability.
May 27, 2011 — featuring Dave ClapperDave Clapper is the founding editor of SmokeLong Quarterly, an online literary magazine devoted to flash fiction (stories of a thousand words or fewer). His own writing has been published in numerous literary magazines, including 3am Magazine, InkPot, NFG, FRiGG Magazine, and Hobart. Locally, Dave can often be seen doing improvisational comedy with the groups "Interrobang?! Improv" (which he cofounded) and "Being Humans," as well as occasional appearances with "Wing-It Productions." |
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April 29, 2011 — featuring David Lloyd WhitedDavid Lloyd Whited is a Northwest native, born and raised in Oregon's Umpqua Valley. He graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1976 with an MFA in poetry. His work appears in numerous poetry magazines and periodicals. His poetry books include The Elevens (Black Heron Press), Wet Way Home (26 Books), and The Shadow Dance (Nine Muses Press). Recently he has completed a new manuscript, Olde Man Coyote Goes to Towne. David has spent the bulk of his professional life as a planner for the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. He has coauthored numerous ethnohistory articles and a monograph on the subject of health and mental health among the Puyallup Tribal community. David lives on Vashon Island with his wife, four cats, eleven raccoons, and numerous other critters. |
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April 26, 2011 — Haiku: It's Bigger Than You ThinkKigo, kireji, shasei? What do these terms have to do with haiku? Come and learn the essential techniques of haiku, and discover how you can improve your longer poetry by better understanding haiku essentials. And no, 5-7-5 isn't one of them. Learns the myths and realities of haiku poetry, and see how you can make your own haiku hit the target. Join master haiku teacher Michael Dylan Welch for a lively, hands-on workshop including discussion, writing, inspiration, and more (with copious handouts).
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Discuss and improve your poetry & prose! Bring your poem or story to our Poetry & Prose Circle. We'll gather to share our writing, then offer ideas for improvement. Take away a new perspective on your creative work.
March 25, 2011 — featuring Kelli Russell AgodonKelli Russell Agodon is the author of the recently published Letters from the Emily Dickinson Room, winner of the White Pine Press Poetry Prize judged by Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Dennis. Her book is also a finalist for the Foreword Book of the Year Award in Poetry. She is also the author of Small Knots (2004) and the chapbook, Geography (2003). Kelli lives in Washington State with her family where she is an avid mountain biker, a lover of chocolate and words, as well as coeditor of Seattle's 28-year-old print literary journal, Crab Creek Review. She blogs at Book of Kells, where she writes about living and writing creatively. |
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February 25, 2011 — featuring Janée BaugherJanée Baugher has performed at Bumbershoot, Get Lit!, and Arts Edge Arts Festival, and is a former Jack Straw writer. She recently completed her second term as a Humanities Washington Inquiring Minds speaker. Since receiving an MFA degree from Eastern Washington University, Baugher has taught at Highline Community College, UW-Experimental College, Richard Hugo House, and elsewhere. A former poetry editor of Willow Springs and Switched-on Gutenberg, Baugher regularly collaborates with visual artists, composers, and choreographers. Her recent collaborations were produced at University of Cincinnati - Conservatory of Music, Interlochen Center for the Arts (Interlochen, Michigan), and Dance Now! Ensemble (Miami Beach, Florida). Her debut collection of poems is Coördinates of Yes (Ahadada Books, 2010). Her website is http://JaneeJBaugher.wordpress.com. |
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January 28, 2011 — featuring Esther Altshul Helfgott and Ann Teplick
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Discuss and improve your poetry & prose! Bring your poem or story to our Poetry & Prose Circle. We'll gather to share our writing, then offer ideas for improvement. Take away a new perspective on your creative work.
December 3, 2010 —
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October 29, 2010 — featuring Matt BriggsMatt Briggs is the author five works of fiction including the novel Shoot the Buffalo, which was awarded an American Book Award in 2006. A new novel, The Strong Man, will be released this fall by The Publication Studio. Recent work has appeared in The Chicago Review, TRNSFR, The Golden Handcuffs Review, and Opium Magazine. He can be found at mattbriggs.wordpress.com. |
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Discuss and improve your poetry & prose! Bring your poem or story to our Poetry & Prose Circle. We'll gather to share our writing, then offer ideas for improvement. Take away a new perspective on your creative work.
September 24, 2010 — featuring Katherine Grace Bond, Amber Flame and Marjorie Manwaring from the Jack Straw program
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August 27, 2010 — featuring Harold GrossHarold Gross, under his own name and as Gordon Gross (with Eve Gordon), has published fiction in Fantasy and Science Fiction, Analog, Aeon Speculative Fiction, Electric Velocipede, and several anthologies — even a cookbook. Among his awards are the Phobos Short Fiction Award, and an honorable mention from the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror (16th Edition). Writing has been the one, long, umbrella career shading all of his other endeavors, including technical writing, systems analyst, and professional actor. Currently, Harold is working on several new short pieces and a novel or two that are, at present, kicking his butt. |
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July 30, 2010 — featuring Brenda CooperBrenda Cooper has published fiction in Analog, Asimov's, Nature, Daybreak, Strange Horizons, and in multiple other magazines and anthologies. She is the author of the Endeavor award winner for 2008: The Silver Ship and the Sea, and of the sequels, Reading the Wind and Wings of Creation. She coauthored Building Harlequin's Moon with Larry Niven. Her next book, Mayan December, is coming soon from Prime Books. By day, Brenda is the City of Kirkland's CIO, and at night and in early morning hours, she's a futurist and writer. Learn more about Brenda at her blog. |
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June 25, 2010 — featuring Denise Calvetti Michaels and Louise Spiegler from the Jack Straw program
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May 28, 2010 — featuring Gerri RussellGerri Russell Gerri Russell has done it all when it comes to writing; she's worked as a broadcast journalist, newspaper reporter, magazine columnist, technical writer and editor, and instructional designer, which all finally led her to follow her heart's desire of being a romance novelist. A two-time recipient of the Romance Writers of America's Golden Heart award, and winner of the American Title II competition sponsored by Dorchester Publishing and Romantic Times BOOKreviews Magazine, she resides in Bellevue, Washington with her husband and three children. |
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April 30, 2010 — featuring Martha SilanoMartha Silano is the author of two poetry collections, What the Truth Tastes Like and Blue Positive. Her poems have appeared widely in such places as Paris Review, AGNI, TriQuarterly, and American Poetry Review, and in more than a dozen anthologies, including American Poetry: The Next Generation and Starting Today: 100 Poems for Obama's First 100 Days. Martha has been a fellow at the Millay Colony for the Arts, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the University of Arizona Poetry Center, and she was the 2004 Margery Davis Boyden Writing Resident. Martha teaches at Bellevue College, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize seven times. Martha has a website, and a blog. |
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March 26, 2010 — featuring Jared LeisingJared Leising is the author of a chapbook, The Widows and Orphans of Winesburg, Ohio, and his poems have appeared in various Washington publications, such as Pontoon, Crab Creek Review, StringTown, as well as on Metro Buses and local radio. He has worked as a writer-in-residence for Ballard and Nathan Hale High Schools, been a nominee for Seattle Poet Populist, and before moving to Seattle, he received his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Houston. Currently, he teaches English at Cascadia Community College, serves on the board of directors at 826 Seattle, and is the curator for the 2010 Jack Straw Writers Program. |
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February 26, 2010 — featuring Rebecca MeredithRASP features the City of Redmond's first poet laureate, Rebecca Meredith.Rebecca Meredith is a poet, writer, and psychotherapist, as well as a RASP cofounder, who served as its coordinator and president for years. Her work has been published in numerous literary magazines and anthologies, and performed in such venues as the Burning Word Poetry Festival, the Seattle Moon Viewing Festival, Redmond's Arts in the Park, and on KUOW's The Beat. Her chapbook, Intergenerational Delta Blues, was published by Pudding House Press. She is a fellow of the Jack Straw Writers' Program, an alumna of Hedgebrook Women Writers' Colony, and was recently appointed the first Poet Laureate of the City of Redmond. Read about Rebecca's appointment in the Redmond Reporter. |
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January 30, 2010 — featuring Cat RamboCat Rambo's work has appeared in such places as Asimov's, Weird Tales, and Strange Horizons. Her collection, Eyes Like Sky and Coal and Moonlight, appeared in 2009, following her collaboration with Jeff VanderMeer, The Surgeon's Tales and Other Stories, in 2007. She is the managing editor of the online publication, Fantasy Magazine. Laird Barron said of her work: "Cat Rambo possesses a rare and enviable eye for the sweet intersection of melancholy and bliss, of darkness and light. Crisp, deft, and remarkably nuanced, these tales are exquisite in their richness and beauty. Rambo has, in one stroke, established herself as a formidable presence among contemporary fantasists." |
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November 21, 2009 — featuring Jack McCarthyJack McCarthy calls himself a "standup poetry guy." Others have called him "legend." The Boston Phoenix named him "Best Standup Poet." The Boston Globe said, "In the poetry world, he's a rock star." Stephen Dobyns calls him, "one of the wonders of contemporary poetry." He's an engaging minor character in the film Slamnation, was a semifinalist for the Individual Slam Championship in 2000, and won the haiku championship at the Individual World Poetry Slam in 2007. His work has appeared in the anthologies The Spoken Word Revolution, The Spoken Word Revolution Redux, Poetry Slam, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Slam Poetry (The adjective "Complete" is thought to modify the noun "Guide," not the noun "Idiot's"). Now living in Everett, Washington, he brings books and CDs to his readings on the off chance that someone might want to take some of him home. His website is www.standupoet.net. |
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October 31, 2009 — featuring Raúl SanchezRaúl Sanchez is a working Seattle poet. He has been published in a handful of journals and online. Raúl's most recent publications include appearances in The Sylvan Echo (online, spring 2009) and in Floating Bridge Review, Volume 1, Poetry from the left corner. In November 2008, he conducted the Day of the Dead celebration at the Mighty Tieton Poets Workshop in Tieton, Washington. He has been published in Mexico City by the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México in Speaking Desde las Heridas: Cibertestimonios Transfronterizos/Transborder Testimonies, an anthology published by CISAN. Keeping ties to his native land, Raúl's poems may be splattered with words in Spanish or Nahuátl. He volunteers as a DJ on Sabor! for KBCS 91.3 FM, a community radio station. Raúl's reading is participatory and you can "help" by bringing a photo of a loved one who has passed away. It doesn't have to be recent. Bring the photo to be set on the small "Day of the Dead" altar that will be set up at the reading location that will include some of the traditional elements used in the offering. If you are willing to share a memory about your loved one with the audience, you are welcome to do so. Your memory doesn't have to be in the form of a poem, just something simple to bring the name of the person back to life. Raúl said, "There are three kinds of death. One is when the body's functions cease, two is when we are buried or incinerated, and three is when no one remembers your name. Therefore, the Day of the Dead is a day of remembrance." |
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September 26, 2009 — featuring Barbara CaroleBarbara Carole is a Fulbright scholar with an M.A. in comparative literature. She lived in Paris as a translator and assistant editor of the Paris Review before returning to the United States to teach French and French literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. She also worked as a writer and researcher for explorer Jacques Cousteau's televised undersea expeditions, and was ghostwriter on two of his books. Her other publications include a short story in The Paris Magazine, literary reviews for The French Review and FM Magazine, dance-concert reviews for the Los Angeles Times; and numerous articles for the Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. Barbara now lives with her husband and pets on a forested mountain in the Pacific Northwest where she continues writing. Barbara Carole's memoir, Twelve Stones: Notes on a Miraculous Journey, was just published by Regal Books, and her Web site is www.barbaracarole.com. |
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August 29, 2009 — Island Style Slam makes comebackAs an international art form, the Island Style Slam may rank as the world's most quickly written poetry. As entertainment, the Slam has elements of the 100-meter sprint and the tortoise's victory. As a competition … well, let's say everyone has a lot of fun. In an Island Style Slam, competitors are offered three words (or six, or nine, depending on the host). As fast as they can, they write a poem that contains all three/six/nine words and conforms to any poetic form. As described on Wikipedia, this is a "competition at which poets read or recite original work […] These performances are then judged on a numeric scale by previously selected members of the audience." Former RASP President Allan Rousselle describes a RASP Slam on his blog — House of Cards. The Slam has been a regular feature at RASP since our beginnings, and it's always a rewarding experience, in the sense of being fun, or—for winners—a few dollars more than you started with. (Since it's based on writing skill and a judged process, the Slam isn't gambling.) Rules are explained at the beginning of the session. |
July 25, 2009 — featuring William Scott GalassoWilliam Scott Galasso is the author of eleven books of poetry, including his latest, Laughing Out Clouds, published in 2007. He's won numerous awards, has published more than 1,100 poems, and his work has appeared in more than 130 journals and magazines in Japan, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, England, Croatia, Romania, and throughout the United States. In March 2006, he participated in the reading of Eliot Weinberger's "What I Saw in Iraq," as the voice of Gen. Colin Powell. In January of 2007, he collaborated with the University of Washington group Earth Now, which sponsored a reading on ecology and the environment. In March of 2008, he was a featured reader for the PoetsWest poetry series on KSER 90.7 FM in Everett, Washington. His next book, Collage (New and Selected Poems), is due out in 2009. |
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June 27, 2009 — featuring Michael ScheinMichael Schein is recognized as a 20th Avenue Northwest Treasure by a guy who hangs out in Seattle's Salmon Bay Park. He is the author of Just Deceits: A Historical Courtroom Mystery (Bennett & Hastings, 2008), described as "the perfect book for lovers of courtroom thrillers, historical fiction, mysteries, or anyone looking for an exciting page-turner that also stimulates the mind." His Web site is http://www.michaelschein.com/. Michael is director of the LitFuse Poets Workshop, and former executive director of Tieton Arts & Humanities. His poetry has been widely published, twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and stuck to refrigerators by magnets. |
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May 30, 2009 — featuring Katherine Grace BondKatherine Grace Bond is the author of the bestselling Legend of the Valentine (Zonderkidz) and of three collections of poetry, The Sudden Drown of Knowing, Yielding to Calliope, and Considering Flight (Brass Weight Press). She has contributed to more than twenty additional books, including Gayle Brandeis' Fruitflesh: Seeds of Inspiration for Women Who Write (HarperSanFrancisco) and Peculiar Pilgrims: Stories from the Left Hand of God (Hourglass Books). A certified K-12 teacher, Katherine offers writing classes for youth and adults. She is the creator of Teen Write, an acting/writing camp modeled on the Hero's Journey. She is currently at work on a Young Adult novel. Find Katherine at www.KatherineGraceBond.com. |
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April 25, 2009 — featuring Kunle OguneyeKunle Oguneye was born and raised in Nigeria. He has lived in the United States for the last thirteen years, spending the last four of those years in the Puget Sound Area. He gave up a career in technology in order to pursue his love for children's storytelling. Sikulu and Harambe by the Zambezi River is his first book. More information about Kunle and his book is available at http://www.sikulu.com/. |
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March 28, 2009 — featuring Rebecca HoogsRebecca Hoogs is the author of a chapbook, Grenade (2005), and her poems have appeared Poetry, Agni, Crazyhorse, Zyzzyva, The Journal, Poetry Northwest, The Florida Review, and elsewhere. She is the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony (2004) and Artist Trust of Washington State (2005). She is the director of education programs and the curator and host for the Poetry Series for Seattle Arts & Lectures. |
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February 28, 2009 — featuring Anu GargAnu Garg is the founder of Wordsmith.org, a community of more than half a million readers in some 200 countries. He has authored three bestseller books on words: A Word A Day: A Romp Through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English (Wiley, 2002), Another Word a Day: An All-New Romp through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English (>Wiley, 2005), and The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words (Penguin, 2007). Garg grew up in rural India. He learned the English language and moved to the United States to study computer science in graduate school. He worked as a software engineer at a number of corporations including AT&T Labs. Eventually, he gave up his career in software for the love of words and founded http://wordsmith.org to spread the magic of words. He has been profiled in The Smithsonian, The New York Times, Reader's Digest, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Guardian, and on NPR and the BBC, among others. For news clippings, see http://wordsmith.org/awad/articles.html. |
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January 31, 2009 — featuring Richard GoldRichard Gold founded and runs the Pongo Teen Writing Project, a nonprofit that offers therapeutic creative writing programs to adolescents who are homeless, in jail, in psychiatric care, or in other ways leading difficult lives. Many Pongo authors have suffered early childhood trauma, such as abuse and neglect. And many Pongo authors use poetry to communicate for the first time about their feelings and experiences. To do its work, Pongo sends teams of trained volunteers inside institutions and agencies to run extended writing projects. In its 13-year history, Pongo has worked with 4,000 teens, published 12 anthologies, and given away more than 13,000 books. The Pongo Publishing web site is www.pongopublishing.org. Before founding Pongo, Richard was managing editor of Microsoft Press. A book of Richard's own poetry, The Odd Puppet Odyssey, was published by Black Heron Press in 2003. |
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November 29, 2008 — featuring Louise MarleyLouise Marley began her artistic life as a concert and opera singer. When her first novel, the fantasy Sing the Light, was published in 1995, she was in performances with Seattle Opera. Since then she has made the transition from being a fulltime singer to being a fulltime writer. Her novels The Glass Harmonica and The Child Goddess won the Endeavour Award for excellence in science fiction. Her novel The Terrorists of Irustan was shortlisted for the Nebula Award, the Tiptree Award, and the Campbell Award. Her first young adult novel, Singer in the Snow, was on the one hundred best books list for the American Library Association. Louise is also the author of a fantasy trilogy, The Horsemistress Saga, which is written under the pseudonym Toby Bishop. Louise lives in Redmond with her family and her wheaten Scottish terrier, Piper. More information, audio selections of some of her work, and a schedule of appearances is available on her website: www.louisemarley.com. |
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October 25, 2008 — featuring Martha BrockenbroughMartha Brockenbrough is the author of Things That Make Us [Sic], a hilarious guide to grammar. She's the founder of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. She writes an educational humor column for the award-winning online encyclopedia Encarta. She's also the Cinemama for MSN Entertainment, where she writes about family movies, pop culture, and various celebrity foibles. Martha is the former editor-in-chief of MSN.com, and author of It Could Happen to You: Diary of a Pregnancy and Beyond (AndrewsMcMeel Universal). Her work has also appeared in Parenting and Writer's Digest. |
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September 27, 2008 — Mary K. WhittingtonWhen bookworm Mary K. Whittington was 11, her mother handed her a collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories, which she devoured, committing certain terms to memory (i.e., "ichor"). At 14, she saw her first published poem, "Dead Tree," in the Girl Scout's magazine, The American Girl (she was not a member). She figured she'd someday be a writer, but maybe an entomologist or a marine biologist. However, after attending the University of California, Santa Barbara, she had to admit that science and her right brain didn't mix. She has taught creative writing to children and adults for more than 35 years. Mary has published children's picture books (Carmina, Come Dance!; Troll Games; Winter's Child; and The Patchwork Lady) and scary stories in anthologies edited by Jane Yolen and Martin Greenberg ("Wolfskin" in Werewolves; "Leaves" in Things That Go Bump in the Night; "Ahvel," in Vampires; and "Somewhere a Puppy Cries" in The Haunted House). She lives in Kirkland with her long-time friend, Wini Jaeger, Pacho the Dog, and Maya the Cat. |
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September 6, 2008 — David HorowitzDavid Horowitz is the founder and manager of Rose Alley Press and the author of numerous poetry collections including Wildfire, Candleflame; Resin from the Rain; and Streetlamp, Treetop, Star. Those who have seen David read will recall the accessibility of his poetry, as well as his humorous and entertaining style. David earned bachelor's degrees in philosophy and English from the University of Washington and a master's degree in English from Vanderbilt University. Many of his poems are published in fine literary journals, and won the 2005 PoetsWest Achievement Award. In 2007, he edited and published, the Rose Alley Press anthology: Limbs of the Pine, Peaks of the Range. His new poetry collection, Stars Beyond the Battlesmoke, is due out this autumn. |
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April 19, 2008 — Lana AyersLana Hechtman Ayers, originally from New York, makes the Pacific Northwest her home after a dozen year sojourn in New England. She works as a manuscript consultant, workshop facilitator, poetry editor of Crab Creek Review and publisher of Concrete Wolf Poetry Chapbook Series and Late Blooms Poetry Postcard Series. Lana is a sushi enthusiast, movie addict and mom to several black & white cats. Her poems can be found in literary journals such as Rhino, Court Green and Cider Press Review, and in her published collections, Dance From Inside Her Bones (Snake Nation Press 2007) and Chicken Farmer I Still Love You (D-N Publishing 2007). Stop by Lana's website http://LanaAyers.com for more info. |
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February 16, 2008 — featuring Ron StarrRon Starr does technical writing for money and other writing for pleasure. He is an editor at Floating Bridge Press. His work has appeared most precently in Anemone Sidecar and Drunken Boat 8. His chapbook, A Map by a Dim Lamp, was published last year by Ravenna Press. |
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January 19, 2008 — featuring Monica SchleyMonica Schley's poems appear in Burnside Review, Cranky, Cream City Review, Naked Joy, Raven Chronicles, Wandering Hermit Review, and a forthcoming Seattle Review issue. Schley's work has been acknowledged by support from the Espy Foundation, and she has performed at the 2007 Seattle Poetry Festival. A classically trained harpist, Monica appeared with Puget Sound Symphony Orchestra and the Degenerate Art Orchestra. She plays in the jazz/funk ensemble Threat of Beauty, the trio Siendo with bassist Evan Florey-Barnes and percussionist Lalo Bello, teamed with entertainer Kanye West and worked with many of Seattle's well-regarded improvisers. She is president of the Seattle Harp Society |
December 15, 2007 — Holiday Carol Parody ContestIt's time to start thinking about the December get-together. On paper, it looks like this: Holiday Carol Parody Contest Jingle bells and jingle smells Are you the next Weird Al Yankovitch? Maybe, if your our age, the next Allan Sherman? If you've never heard of him, he wrote the Twelve Days of Christmas— On the Twelfth day of Christmas, I'm going to exchange ... (a whole bunch of weird stuff from relatives). We're guessing that you should write parodies of popular seasonly songs, whether traditional carols, hymns of the season, or modern songs (i.e. Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and so is Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer). And then, if you're comfortable, you can read your parody at the December Open Mic (or get one of your friends to read it for you). And if you're really brave, you can SING your parody. if you're timid, just come, listen, and enjoy. It's likely there will be seasonal (hot but non-alcoholic toddies, and apple cider, etc.), and you can bring your own cookies and such. We originally discussed pleading extreme seasonal busy-ness, since we don't have a featured reader. But on reflection, we'll still meet and have fun together. |
October 20, 2007 — featuring Kevin MooneyhamKevin Mooneyham lives in a swamp southwest of Eugene, Oregon. He was a cofounder of the Eugene Poetry Slam and a member of the Experiment,a Eugene/Portland based cooperative of artists whose aim was to create wild multimedia sensations wherever and whenever possible. This urge culminated in the Inside/Out Festivals, the second of which was held over two days at the 800 seat McDonald Theater in downtown Eugene. For the second festival, Mooneyham served as poetry director. He has performed at bookstores, coffee houses and bars in Eugene, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco. His poetry has appeared in print and online. In addition to publishing several Eugene area poets, he has published three chapbooks and one c.d. on his American Mongrel Micropress imprint. His current interest is in exploiting MS Powerpoint to create multimedia presentations of his work that can be used both in live performance and purchased and enjoyed on home computers. He hopes to have his first such project completed by early 2008. Casey Robbins, a.k.a the Kyd, is the drummer from the Ol Howl and Smash an up and coming Eugene area rock band. He is also the one man sensation behind Mr. K's Orchestra, through which he recorded over 40 albums, which are available for purchase at http://www.mrksorchestra.com His artistic association with Kevin Mooneyham began in the summer of 2005 when he recorded and collaborated with Mooneyham on the Trainyard c.d. |
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September 22, 2007 — featuring Cora Goss-GrubbsCora Goss-Grubbs is cofounder and advisory council member of the Redmond Association of Spokenword. She is a Hedgebrook alumna and 2003 Jack Straw artist-in-residence. Her essay "Becoming Mother" was published in the Winter '05 issue of Calyx. Other publication credits include String Town, hipMama, Synapse, Silver Quill, and a monthly column in Victory Review. Awards include first place in the Eastside Writers Association short fiction contest and a work-in-progress grant from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She is seeking a publisher for her two young adult novels. Cora lives in Woodinville, with her spouse David her sons Henry and Simon. Life and Work. |
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August 18, 2007 — featuring Dobbie NorrisDobbie Norris Dobbie Norris is a Former Seattle Poet Laureate. He has read his work in a variety of venues, including Poets West and the Seattle City Council's Words' Worth Poetry program, where he has also served as guest poetry curator. His work has appeared in numerous journals. Mr Norris coordinates and hosts the poetry readings at Barnes and Noble, University Village, providing opportunities for aspiring and established poets, and promoting Art as an essential element of Life. |
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July 16, 2007 — featuring Rebecca LoudonRebecca Loudon lives and writes in Seattle. She is the author of two collections of poetry, Tarantella and Radish King, both from Ravenna Press, and a chapbook, Navigate, Amelia Earhart's Letters Home from No Tell Books. She teaches violin lessons to children. |
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June 16, 2007 — featuring Clarice KeeganClarice Keegan has faith in poetry as a magical interaction between the poet and audience. She is the winner of the first annual Bart Baxter Award for Performance Poetry from the Washington Poets Association and was a board member of Red Sky Poetry Theatre. Clarice was born in Saratoga Springs, NY, but has spent most of her life in Seattle, where she attended the U of W. She has a masters degree in Philosophy, but earns her living as a freelance writer. Although she has written most of her life — everything from novels to environmental impact statements — Clarice only began to write poetry in 1994. Her first chap book, Seat of Desire, presents her vivid images of love, desire, and freedom. Her second book, Why I Was Adopted, explores the tensions of family. Keegan sits on the WPA board. |
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May 19, 2007 — featuring Jennifer MunroJennifer D. Munro grew up in Hawai'i as a fourth generation islander and now makes her home in Ballard. Her credits include Zyzzyva, Massachusetts Review, and inclusion in Seal Press anthologies on body image, women's friendships and motherhood. As Dawn O'Hara, her erotica has appeared in "Best American Erotica," "Best Women's Erotica," "Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica," "Shameless: Women's Intimate Erotica," "Ripe Fruit: Erotica for Well-Seasoned Lovers" and many others. She was a Hedgebrook resident and an Artist Trust GAP grant recipient. |
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April 21, 2007 — featuring Corrina WycoffCorrina Wycoff's fiction and essays have appeared in Other Voices, New Letters, Coal City Review, The Oregon Quarterly, Brainchild, Out of Line, Golden Handcuffs, and the anthologies: Best Essays Northwest and The Clear Cut Future. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon, and an MA in English from the University of Illinois, Chicago. She lives with her son in Seattle, Washington, and teaches English and writing at Pierce College. |
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March 17, 2007 — RASP RETURNS TO REDMONDThe "RASP RETURNS" Celebration
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February 17, 2007 — featuring Carolyne Wright/Eulene and James Parrott/Al Q KaedahMOI (aka "Eulene") |
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JAMES PARROTT (aka "Al Q. Kaedeh") |
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January 20, 2007 — featuring Jason Zions |
December 2, 2006 — featuring Vicky EdmondsA poet and teacher, Vicky Edmonds uses written and spoken word in an ongoing therapeutic and spiritual practice. Host of a series of radio shows on Straight Talk/Recovery Radio, she has presented at the National Association for Poetry Therapy and the International Expressive Arts Therapy Annual Conferences. Ms. Edmonds has worked nationwide as an educator, developing CD-ROM magazines written and produced by youth. Her published books include the poetry collections, Inside Voices, used to the dark, once drunk / opening, unpredictable as breathing, and two volumes of the ongoing writing curriculum series, Writes of Passage. Vicky has compiled over 100 collections of writings from her workshops taught in schools, treatment centers, youth-at-risk programs and a children's prison near Seattle. Vicky's website, http://www.ealloftheabove.com/index.html, is a repository of her poetry, as well as details about her classes, her books, and … her. |
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November 4, 2006 — featuring Priscilla LongPriscilla Long writes and publishes poetry, essays, fiction, and history. She is author of Where the Sun Never Shines: a History of America's Bloody Coal Industry. Her work appears in The Southern Review, Raven Chronicles, North Dakota Quarterly, The American Scholar, Ontario Review, Seattle Review, Chattahoochee Review, Passages North, Painted Bride Quarterly, Under The Sun, Michigan Quarterly Review, and other journals and periodicals. In 2006 The American Scholar, was honored for her piece "Genome Tome" with a National Magazine Award for Best Feature Writing. Her awards include the Richard Hugo House Founders' Award, and honors from the Seattle Arts Commission and the Los Angeles Arts Commission. Ms. Long serves as Senior Editor of www.HistoryLink.org, an evolving, online encyclopedia of Washington state history. |
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October 7, 2006 — featuring Rebecca MeredithRebecca Meredith is a psychoanalytic psychotherapist and writer, with a private practice in Seattle. As an analyst she helps people explore how they are shaped by earliest relationships and events, and understand how these early experiences affect them now. As a writer and poet, she writes about her own love/hate relationship with her Southern heritage, and her own questions about childhood, mortality and what it means to be human. A long time RASP reader and tireless supporter, Rebecca is a past president of RASP board of directors, and member of the scrappy RASP Super Bowl of Poetry team. |
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September 2, 2006 — featuring Penny Orloff |
August 5, 2006 — featuring Fred Jesset
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June 3, 2006 — featuring Carol MorrisonCarol J. Morrison—an instant favorite reader last summer—again favors RASP with her winsome brand of prose. Author of Catching On: Love with an Avid Fly Fisher, Morrison is a Mississippi native transplanted to the Northwest. She lives in North Bend, and shares a therapy practice with her husband Ed—the avid fellow referred to above. As a fly-fisher's wife, she knows fishermen. As a therapist, she knows relationships. "People want to be loved. They want to believe they're lovable.. They want to believe they're important to others. Readers have seen themselves in my journey and have been inspired by my coming to believe all these things." |
May 6, 2006 — featuring Steve PotterSteve Potter lives in Seattle where he spends more time than he ought wandering the streets, mumbling under his breath. His short fiction and poetry are unleashed in the journals Arson, Drunken Boat, Knock, Midnight Mind, 3rd Bed, California Quarterly, Freefall and on-line at Pindeldyboz. He is the publisher & editor of a new magazine, The Wandering Hermit Review. Mr. Potter has an MFA from City University of New York . Major press: Steve also contributed several poems to the RASP website |
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April 1, 2006 — featuring John and Roberta OlsonJohn Olson is the author of four collections of prose poetry. His essays, poetry, short stories and literary criticism are published in many respected journals. In 2004, he received The Stranger's Genius Award. Open Books called Roberta Olson's collection, All These Fair and Flagrant Things," a delightful collection of distinctive and whimsical poems." Her poetry appears in distinguished periodicals, and she is a frequent featured reader at local and regional arts venues. In her other life, Ms. Olson is a cake designer. No one knows what Mr. Olson does. John and Roberta live in their cat Toby Olson's house, in Seattle. More about John Olson. |
March 4, 2006 — Island Style Slam—Twenty-five minutes of inspired panicTwice a year, RASP features a competitive event we call an "Island Style Slam." Writers compose poems on the spot and perform them for an audience and panel of judges. Winners are judged on performance, adherence to criteria, and originality. First, second and third place winners divide a cash prize pot. Sounds scary, but it is great fun. |
January 7, 2006 — featuring Stacey LevineStacey Levine is a Seattle-based author. Her books include *My Horse and Other Stories* (winner of 1994 PEN/West Fiction Award) and *Dra--,* a novel, both published by Sun & Moon Press. Her novel *Frances Johnson* was recently published by Clear Cut Press. She has written for the *American Book Review,* Fodor's travel guides, *Nest* magazine, the *Seattle Times,* the Seattle Weekly,* *The Stranger,* and even scarier venues. Formerly a creative writing instructor, Stacey is now working on a second collection of short fiction. |
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December 3, 2005 — featuring The Three Graces: Wini, Beth, & MaryElizabeth Atwood discovered words as an infant when her mother read the Oxford Book of Poetry aloud. That love affair has continued ever since, which is a VERY long time, O Best Beloved! Her literary inspirations include Dylan Thomas, Homer, Tolkien, Connie Willis, and the Brontes. Her poetry has appeared singly and in chapbook form. Among Elizabeth's other written works are newsletters, essays, articles, song lyrics, and a Mount Everest of unpublished novel manuscripts, not to mention the ever-popular aircraft maintenance manuals. For now, she thinks that is quite enough. Winifred Jaeger came to her interest in poetry in her mature years, most of her creative outlet having been in music. She attended a number of Centrum writers' conferences and learned poetry from William Stafford, Stephen Dunn, Marvin Bell, and Jane Hirschfield, a.o. At the Victoria (B.C.) School of Writing, she was influenced by Susan Musgrave. More recently, Wini has become involved in writing haiku and senryu (which now tend to have fewer than 17 syllables), and she is a member of the Haiku Society of America. At 14, Mary K. Whittington saw her first published poem, "Dead Tree," in the Girl Scouts magazine, American Girl. At Hollywood High School, she discovered marine biology, working weekends and summers in a USC lab, recording data and washing mud. Unfortunately, her right brain and science did not mix. Writing did. But it wasn't until 1985, when she attended Jane Yolen's children's book workshop at the Centrum writers' conference, that Mary found she was on the right track. Today she is an author of children's picture books and scary stories. She also teaches writing and music to children and adults. Basic information regarding "the three graces."What we call "collaborative poetry" started unintentionally with Mary writing a line on a melamine board and Wini adding another line. We wrote three poems in this way. One afternoon, when Beth was at the house, she joined in the fun. Wini was working in the garden, and when it was her turn, the melamine board appeared in front of her. We write without discussing what we are trying to do or where we are "going." As a result, some of the pieces we have written "arrive" better than others. Some are created by the process of occasional e-mail mutterings; other times we may be taking turns scribbling on a napkin in a restaurant with a slow kitchen. A sample of the Three Graces poetic style: |
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November 5, 2005 — featuring Kevin Mooneyham
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