Come bask in the glow of creativity at this dynamic, informal poetry salon. Originating in 18th century Paris, a salon is a gathering centered on discussions of literature, art, and philosophy. Over the course of the evening, each of the featured poets will read some of their own work, answer questions, talk about the writing life, and more. The salon will be moderated by Dr. Jonathan Potter, an accomplished poet and EWU associate professor.
Featured poets include:
Rick Barot was born in the Philippines and attended Wesleyan University and The Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. He has published two books of poetry with Sarabande Books:
The Darker Fall (2002), which received the Kathryn A. Morton Prize, and
Want (2008), which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and won the 2009 Grub Street Book Prize. He was a Wallace E. Stegner Fellow and a Jones Lecturer in Poetry at Stanford University, and currently serves as the poetry editor of
New England Review. His third collection of poems,
Chord, will be published by Sarabande in 2015.
Yvonne Higgins Leach is the author of
Another Autumn (WordTech Editions, 2014). Her poems have appeared in
South Dakota Review, South Carolina Review, Spoon River Poetry Review, Cimarron Review, and Wisconsin Review, among others. She earned a Master of Fine Arts from Eastern Washington University in 1986. She has spent decades balancing a career in communications and public relations, raising a family, and pursuing her love of writing poetry. She splits her time living in Snohomish and Spokane, Washington. For more information, visit
www.yvonnehigginsleach.com.Tod Marshall grew up in Kansas. His books of poetry include
Bugle (Canarium Press, 2014),
The Tangled Line (Canarium Press, 2009), and
Dare Say (University of Georgia Press, 2002). He has also published a collection of his interviews with contemporary poets,
Range of the Possible (Eastern Washington University Press, 2002) and an attendant anthology of work by the interviewed poets,
Range of Voices (EWU Press, 2005). He lives in Spokane, Washington, and teaches at Gonzaga University.
Jeremy Pataky’s debut book of poetry,
Overwinter, was published by University of Alaska Press in the Alaska Literary Series. He earned an MFA in poetry from the University of Montana. His work has appeared in
Colorado Review,
Black Warrior Review,
The Southeast Review, and in many others, includes several anthologies. He earned an MFA at the University of Montana and is a founding board member of 49 Writers, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting the artistic development of writers throughout Alaska, fostering a writing community, and building an audience for literature. He divides his time between Anchorage and his property near McCarthy, Alaska, in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
Ellen Welcker has poems collected in the chapbooks “Mouth That Tastes of Gasoline” (alice blue, 2014) and “The Urban Lightwing Professionals” (H_NGM_N, 2011), and a book called The Botanical Garden (winner of the 2009 Astrophil Press Poetry Prize, judged by Eleni Sikelianos). She lives with her family in Spokane, WA, where she works in EWU’s Writers’ Center and coordinates the Bagley Wright Lecture Series on Poetry.
Jonathan Potter, author of the poetry collection
House of Words, lives in Spokane with his wife and daughters. His poetry has recently appeared in
Dappled Things,
RiverLit, the
Imago Dei anthology, and on
The Writer’s Almanac radio show. His work has also appeared in the
Hotel Spokane,
Only Time Will Tell, and
Verbatim collaborative gallery exhibits.
Potter moderated the “Poets of the Pacific Northwest” panel at the Get Lit! 2014 Festival, and for the past three winters has hosted Naked Lunch Break, a seasonal literary open mic series at EWU’s Riverpoint Campus.
Auntie's will have books for sale by the featured poets. Beverages and food will be available for purchase. The Bartlett is an all-ages venue.
