SAVE THE DATE!
National Poetry Month Celebration
Wednesday, April 29 | 6 - 8pm
FREE | All Ages
📍Postmark Center for the Arts, 20 Auburn Ave, Auburn, WA

Join us for a poetry celebration at Postmark Center for the Arts! Enjoy light refreshments and partake in this yearly celebration of literary art, featuring the book "Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington State Birds" by Raven Chronicles with readings of poems in the book.

The anthology includes original pen and ink sumi-e paintings by artist Hiroko Seki, bird fact notes, and short poems/stories/memoir. Poems/prose are bird-focused rather than human centered. The bird notes include information about song, call, mating rituals, habitat, migration, climate, dark comedy, and fun facts.

Featured Poetry Readers include:

Allen Braden
Abby E. Murray
Mulch Morwell
Mateo Quispe
And more readers to be announced soon!

Perugia Press poets Abby E. Murray, Carolina Hotchandani, Catherine Anderson, Holli Carrell & Nancy Pearson will read in collaboration with poets from SWWIM, MER, Nelle, Whale Road Review, and Cultivating Voices Live Poetry.

Poet Subhaga Crystal Bacon visits the store for their fifth collection, A Brief History of My Sex Life. They will be joined by fellow poets Kathleen Flenniken, Abby Murray, and Cindy Veach.

Registration is not required, but helps us anticipate audience size. If you'd like to RSVP, please do so here!

Poetry on the Salish Sea is a series curated by Kathryn Hunt. At this reading, selected poets will share love poems. For more information, visit Kathryn’s series website.

Birdbrains: A Lyrical Guide to Washington State Birds is a first-of-its-kind literary anthology/ bird guide collaboration with artist Hiroko Seki, bird note author, Stephanie Delaney, and editor-in-chief Susan Rich.

Part bird guide identification, part literary celebration, this illustrated book focuses on 107 Washington State birds. Contributing authors include: Kelli Russell Agodon, Elizabeth Austen, Rae Armantrout, Ellen Bass, Catherine Barnett, Linda Bierds, Elizabeth Bradfield, Claudia Castro Luna, Laura Da, Kathleen Flenniken, Stacey Flood, Carolyn Forche, Jane Hirshfield, Lyanda lyn Haupt, Greg November, Oliver de la Paz, Robert Lashley, Jennifer Markell, Didi Jackson, Major Jackson, Ted Kooser, Erin Murphy, Abby E. Murray, Rena Priest, Diane Seuss, Naomi Shihab Nye, Peggy Shumaker, Martha Silano, Renee Sims, Harold Taw, Brian Turner, Jasmine Elizabeth Smith, Cindy Veach, Jane Wong --- and many, many more.

Stay tuned for more information about this book launch at Seattle’s Elliott Bay Books.

Members of the Larksong Writers Place can attend this workshop with the intention of designing their own writing prompts for future creative sessions that need a jumpstart. Registration is required; more info soon. Note the workshop is happening 12-2PM Pacific / 2-4PM Central.

Abby will facilitate a discussion on poetry and offer writing prompts to residents of Kings Manor in south Tacoma. For questions, visit Abby’s contact page.

Hosted by Creative Colloquy:

In this workshop, writers will plan ahead for the days when we know we need to grow new work but our creative soil is bone-dry or chock full of rocks. Bring a handful of favorite poems or the titles & memories of beloved prose pieces to use as fertilizer. We’ll use the materials we always have on hand to consider what a new literary creation needs in order to break open and throw roots. Plan to leave with a small collection of your own prompts to plant during any upcoming winters of the mind.

Registration is required.

Recommended $20 donation. Donation is split between the instructor and the organization to compensate for time, space, and facilitation. This fee is optional. Pay what you can, no one will be turned away.

Light refreshments provided.

This program is supported in part by Tacoma Creates, a program of the City of Tacoma.

In this generative workshop, we’ll turn to poetry as a lifeline—reading powerful work born of upheaval, then writing our own. Come to discover how language can hold grief, spark resilience, and light the way forward. Leave with new drafts and a renewed sense of creative purpose.

To register, visit the Nebraska Poetry Society and RSVP here. Tickets are $40, or free for NPS members. Workshop is virtual; note beginning time is 8AM Pacific / 10AM Central.

Grit City Books is excited to welcome Abby Murray for a Fireside Chat about their newest book of poetry, Recovery Commands. Abby will be in conversation with Tacoma local Chris Vega. For more information, visit Grit City books at https://gritcitybooks.com/events.

Ex Ophidia Press presents a workshop with Richard-Gabriel Rummonds Poetry Prize winner Abby E. Murray, author of Recovery Commands.

In this workshop, participants will (re)consider what it means to be resilient in the face of military-connected hardship by exploring the power of authenticity. To this end, participants will read and discuss poetry that reframes strength not as constant acceptance and immunity to pain but as presence within our authentic selves. We will practice writing from our own military and military-connected experiences, with an opportunity to discuss our new work.'

Book signing to follow.

Reading and book signing with Abby E. Murray, featuring Recovery Commands from Ex Ophidia Press.

Ex Ophidia Press presents the launch of Recovery Commands, Abby E. Murray’s second poetry collection and winner of the Richard-Gabriel Rummonds Poetry Prize.

Reading and book signing with poets Abby E. Murray and Julie Paschold.

Abby will facilitate a discussion on poetry and offer writing prompts to residents of Kings Manor in south Tacoma. For questions, visit Abby’s contact page.

Abby E. Murray will join Courtney LeBlanc on her PNW tour, and both poets will read from their new releases. For more information about Courtney and her poetry, click here.

Join ONE ART’s EIC Mark Danowsky and poet Alison Lubar as they host queer poets from ONE ART’s archives and the Philly poetry scene for an end-of-pride-month, but not end of Pride celebration! Poets will begin their set with a poem by a LGBTQIA+ predecessor of their choosing, then read their own work. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Trans Lifeline.

Abby E. Murray returns to Gemini Ink to once again offer their workshop on “The Art of Bad Poetry”. Participants will spend time reflecting on their perceptions of good & bad art, then channel their thoughts into new work. For more information, and to register, visit https://geminiink.org/events/the-art-of-bad-poetry-2/. Note: workshop begins at 8AM Pacific / 10AM Central and is hosted virtually. Seats are limited.

Facilitated by Community Building Art Works and hosted by the Strathmore, this workshop will guide participants impacted by war through the processes of creating poetry influenced by current events. To register, visit this link at CBAW.

Abby will facilitate a discussion on poetry and offer writing prompts to residents of Kings Manor in south Tacoma. For questions, visit Abby’s contact page.

Highline College students will enjoy a poetry workshop and reading from Abby E. Murray in celebration of National Poetry Month.

UW Medical students will benefit from a flash writing workshop that includes a brief talk on employing poetry in the exploration and processing of trauma, as well as prompts and an opportunity to share work. Open to UW Medical only.

In this workshop, participants will consider, discuss, and generate poetry informed and influenced by current events. Workshop is 3-4:30 at the Olympia Community Center. Reading to follow (6pm) at Traditions Cafe.

Collateral editors Abby E. Murray and Chris Vega will lead a post-film discussion of My Dead Friend Zoe after the 4:30pm showing on Tuesday, March 11.

Abby will read with featured artists from Seedfall at their launch, hosted in collaboration with the fabulous Blue Cactus Press out of Tacoma. To order copies of Seedfall visit https://www.tulipwood.org/shop/p/seedfall-2024.

Abby will facilitate a discussion on poetry and offer writing prompts to residents of Kings Manor in south Tacoma. For questions, visit Abby’s contact page.

1-4pm, Cloud Croft Studios, Owego NY. Sponsored by the Tioga Arts Council.

Participants in this workshop will be treated to poems born in times of struggle and carry clarity, light, and the doggedness of hope. We’ll explore the poetry of political upheaval and war, as well as familial and personal grief; in doing so, we’ll rediscover the techniques good listeners and writers have used for centuries in order to create poems that help us persevere. Prompts generated by the work at hand will get us writing, and poets will leave with drafts to carry onward through the dark.

To register: https://www.tiogaartscouncil.org/how-to-sing-in-the-dark

Hosted by Abby E. Murray, the city of Auburn WA will celebrate National Poetry Month by releasing a chapbook of poems from its current and former poets laureate, including Dick Brugger, Marjorie Rommel, Susan Landgraf, James Rogers, and Mateo Acuña. The evening includes a reading and panel discussion. For more information, click here.