INLAND POETRY
presents
FEATURED READERS
ROBERT LASHLEY
A 2016 Jack Straw Fellow, Artist Trust Fellow, and nominee for a Stranger Genius Award, Robert Lashley has poems published in Feminete, Seattle Review of Books, NAILED, GRAMMA, and The Cascadia Review. His first full-length book, The Homeboy Songs, was published by Small Doggies Press in April 2014. His new book, Up South, was published in March of 2017. He lives in Bellingham, WA.
LUTHER ALLEN
Luther Allen facilitates SpeakEasy, a community reading series where you can find his collection of poems, The View from Lummi Island. He is co-editor of Noisy Water and lives in Bellingham, WA. His work is included in the recent anthologies WA 129: Poets of Washington; Refugium: Poems for the Pacific; Poets Unite! LitFUSE@10; and Weaving the Terrain.
GABRIELle BATES
Gabrielle Bates works at Open Books: A Poem Emporium and serves on the editorial board of several literary journals. Her poems and poetry comics appear in Poetry, New England Review, Washington Square, and the Missouri Review. She is the recipient of support from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, Hugo House, Artist Trust, and the UW, where she completed her MFA. Originally from Birmingham, AL, she currently lives in Seattle, WA. Twitter: @GabrielleBates.
ALEXANdER DANG
Alex Dang is a poet from Portland, OR. His work has been seen over two million times on YouTube and has been featured in Upworthy, HuffPost, and NBC Asian America. Dang has performed in over 30 states, 45 cities, and is a world renowned burger expert.
Susan j. erickson
Susan J. Erickson admits to “multiple personality syndrome” having assumed the persona of a host of women in her poems in Lauren Bacall Shares a Limousine. She lives in Bellingham, WA, and helped establish the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Walk and Contest. Her poems appear in Crab Creek Review, Verse Daily and The Fourth River.
Darryl foto
Darryl Foto is a rookie spoken word poet currently residing in Ellensburg, WA. Two-time champion of the Central Washington University Poetry Slam, winner of Rain City's 2017 Individual World Poetry Slam Championship, and Rain City rep for the 2017 Individual World Poetry Slam, Darryl is on track to being a poet with a degree in biology.
EMIly gwinn
Emily Gwinn lives in Spokane, WA, where she teaches, writes, mothers, and attempts gardening. She's the director for the LiTFUSE Poets' Workshop in Tieton, WA and received her MFA in Creative Writing from EWU. Her poems are published, or forthcoming, in Hubbub, Rock and Sling, Pontoon, The Furnace Review, and Sage Hill Press’s Railtown Almanac. Emily’s chapbook Transpiration was published by Finishing Line Press in 2009.
Mark halperin
Mark Halperin has published five volumes of poetry, the latest, Falling Through the Music (University of Notre Dame Press, 2007); co-authored Accent on Meter (NCTE); and co-translated from the Russian A Million Premonitions: Poems by Victor Sosnora (Zephyr Press, 2004). He lives near Ellensburg, WA, nearer to Washington’s Yakima River, which he fishes avidly.
Laura lehew
Former girl scout Laura LeHew loves baseball and zombies and is well versed in the cultivation of cats. She has poems in Eleven Eleven, Ghost Town, PANK, Slice, Tribe, and The Vassar Review. Laura co-hosts a reading series and owns and edits Uttered Chaos (Press). She’s currently from Eugene, OR.
Terry martin
Terry Martin used to teach, but now she doesn’t. She has published hundreds of poems, articles, and essays, and has edited journals, books, and anthologies. Her most recent book of poems, The Light You Find, was published by Blue Begonia Press. She lives with her family in Yakima, WA—The Fruit Bowl of the Nation.
Jeff miller
Jeff Miller split his formative years between the Midwest and the Great Plains; he currently lives in Spokane, WA, where he teaches literature at Gonzaga and avoids social media. Like Mark Twain, he believes the ideal life consists of good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience.
daniel edward moore
Daniel Edward Moore’s poems have been published in journals such as Spoon River Poetry Review, Rattle, Columbia Journal, and others. He has poems forthcoming in Tule Review, The Chaffin Journal, Sweet Tree Review and Hot Metal Bridge. He lives in Oak Harbor, WA, on Whidbey Island.
cynthia neely
Cynthia Neely is the author of three prize-winning chapbooks, and a full-length book, Flight Path, a finalist in the Aldrich Press book contest. She is co-winner of the 2017 Paula Jones Gardiner Memorial Award from Floating Bridge Press. Her essay work appears in The Writers’ Chronicle and Cutthroat Journal (runner up for the Barry Lopez prize in Creative Non-fiction.) She lives in Leavenworth, WA, sometimes on a mountain and sometimes by a lake.
Paul nelson
Paul Nelson is the founder of SPLAB (Seattle Poetics LAB) and the Cascadia Poetry Festival. He is co-editor of the anthology Make It True: Poetry from Cascadia as well as the poetry postcard anthology 56 Days of August. He is the author of American Sentences (2015) and A Time Before Slaughter (2010). He lives in Seattle, WA, and writes an American Sentence daily.
rod nelson
Rod Nelson is the winner of the 2017 Black Box Poetry Slam, and finished second in the 2017 LiTFUSE Poetry Slam. His poem “A Note from Mallory’s Progeny” was recognized in the 2016 Yakima Coffee House Poetry Contest. Rod spends his spare time climbing, Nordic skiing, and cycling. He lives in Yakima, WA.
jeremy pataky
Jeremy Pataky grew up in Wilbur, WA, and Northern Idaho. He’s the author of Overwinter, and his poetry and prose have also appeared in Colorado Review, Black Warrior Review, The Southeast Review, Camas, and others, plus anthologies like Refugium: Poems for the Pacific and Make It True: Poems from Cascadia. He earned degrees at WWU and the University of Montana and migrates between McCarthy and Anchorage, AK.
c.j. prince
C.J. Prince of Bellingham, WA, picks her own pockets for words, wears a shawl of metaphors, and a wide brimmed hat of grammar. Prince writes about sex and death, is author of the poetry book Mother, May I? Chapbooks include, Twenty Four Houses and Fox. Prince received the Distinguished Poet Award from Writers International Network, Canada.
connor simons
Connor Simons is a poet and translator who currently attends Central Washington University. He lives in Ellensburg, WA, with his wonderful fiancé and slightly less wonderful cat. His work has appeared in the Santa Clara Review, Manastash Literary Magazine, Adelaide Literary Review, Indianapolis Review, and will soon appear in the Apricity Press.
kathryn smith
Kathryn Smith is the author of Book of Exodus (Scablands Books, 2017) and the recipient of a grant from the Spokane Arts Fund. She lives in Spokane, WA where she writes poems, dabbles in collage and mixed media art, and communes with the insects in her garden. Instagram: @paperhermitage.
carolyne wright
Carolyne Wright’s new book is This Dream the World: New & Selected Poems (Lost Horse Press, 2017). Her ground-breaking anthology, Raising Lilly Ledbetter: Women Poets Occupy the Workspace (Lost Horse Press, 2015), received ten Pushcart Prize nominations and was a finalist in the Foreword Review’s Book of the Year Awards. She lives in Seattle, WA.
PANELISTS
CHRISTINE HOLBERT
Christine Holbert is founder and publisher of Lost Horse Press, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year! From the Press's home in Sandpoint, ID, Christine reviews and edits manuscripts, designs covers and text, typesets books, designs catalogs, manages marketing, oversees interns and volunteers, and promotes Lost Horse books with distributors, bookstores, printers, authors, and other publishers.
J.I. Kleinberg
J.I. Kleinberg wields scissors, x-acto knife and glue in the unrelenting battle against doggerel and sloth. Her series (1500+) of found poems, which populate a small landscape between Dada and Twitter, between ransom note and haiku, explore the accidental syntax of unintentional phrases. She lives in Bellingham, WA, doesn’t own a television, and blogs most days at chocolateisaverb and thepoetrydepartment
Melinda mueller
Melinda Mueller grew up in Montana and Eastern Washington, and has lived in Seattle for 45 years, where she teaches high school biology, biotechnology and evolution studies at Seattle Academy. Her most recent two books have included commissioned music:; Melinda is currently working on a collaborative project with visual artist Suze Woolf.
eugenia hepworth petty
Eugenia Hepworth Petty began collecting postcards in the 1980s, and creating her own two decades later. After moving to the Pacific Northwest five years ago, and discovering August Poetry Postcard Fest, she has begun making postcards again, and is thrilled to be able to share her passion for this accessible art form with others.
elizabeth vignali
Elizabeth Vignali is an optician, writer, and co-producer of the Bellingham Kitchen Sessions reading series. She is the author of Object Permanence (Finishing Line Press, 2014). Her poems have appeared in various publications, including Willow Springs, Cincinnati Review, The American Journal of Poetry, Tinderbox, The Literary Review, and Natural Bridge.
kami westhoff
Kami Westhoff is the author of Sleepwalker, winner of Minerva Rising's 2016 Chapbook Prize. With Elizabeth Vignali, Kami has collaborated on a chapbook of poems that explore parasitic relationships in the animal world. Kami lives in Bellinhgham, WA, and teaches writing at WWU.
Katharine whitcomb
Katharine Whitcomb is the author of four collections of poems, and co-author, with Brian Goeltzenleuchter, of The Art Courage Program, a faux self-help art book (Jaded Ibis Press, 2014). She is a Distinguished Professor of English at Central Washington University and lives in Ellensburg, WA.
Maya jewell zeller
Maya Jewell Zeller is the author of the interdisciplinary collaboration (with visual artist Carrie DeBacker) Alchemy for Cells & Other Beasts (Entre Rios, 2017), as well as two former poetry collections, Rust Fish and Yesterday, the Bees. She lives and writes in Spokane and Ellensburg, WA.
