Katherine Grace-Bond
We’ve got a sizzling hot bevy of readers line up for what I am inspired to name as our first ever Summer Soirée Series. Now a soirée generally refers to an evening party or gathering, typically in a private house, for conversation or music.
I admit I am probably playing fast and loose with the term, but we are meeting in a former home to someone, and it is in the evening, and poetry and storytelling are forms of music to my ears, so soirée it is!
Lew Jones
I am grateful to Koon Woon, whose contributions to PoetryBridge this last years have been invaluable. Almost all our featured readers this summer, and even into September and October, are poets he has known in this region and recommended to me as possible featured readers.
Although our primary focus is on developing the poetry community in West Seattle, we seek to build bridges, as our name implies, and this next round of featured readers certainly is in keeping with that goal.
James Bertolino
Our summer readers come from ‘far away’ places like Bellingham, Eugene and Portland Oregon, Vashon Island, Auburn and Mill Creek. I think they will provide additional ‘distinctive voices’ , to quote Koon, to our diverse community of readers and poetry fans.
I enthusiastically invite all our local readers to help us fill the community mic space with your diverse voices and help make the summer readings so compelling we will have to do it again next summer!
Our Summer Readings starts in June with Katherine Grace Bond and Lew Jones. Katherine who hails from Mill Creek is a well published poet and author of numerous publications. Lew is a poet, musician and songwriter who combines lyrical verse with modern day word play. More information in Upcoming Events.
The July reading will feature Dorothy Lemoult and James Bertolino. Dorothy lives in West Seattle but identifies as a French American multi-disciplinary artist who came to poetry through theater. James, who lives in Bellingham, has received numerous awards, prizes and recognition for his work and been published extensively. More information later this week.
Dorothy Lemoult
Our August reading will feature Marjorie Rommel who has founded an active poetry community in Auburn and hosts regular reading at the Rainbow Café there. She will be joined by a fellow poet, Cindy Hutchings. More information on both Marjorie and Cindy in later editions of PoetryBridge Times.
I hope to see you at our first ever Summer Soirée Series. I hope it will not be our last.