Loading…
Welcome to the 2021 Get Lit! Virtual Festival

Sign up or log in to bookmark your favorites and sync them to your phone or calendar.

Monday, April 12
 

9:00am PDT

Conversations Over Coffee
Use this link to register for one or more days of this recurring event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is required for this Unconference-style Zoom event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors.

Are you a novelist looking for a critique group? A poet looking for other poets to share prompts and inspiration? Are you a reader and want to talk about the books you can't get out of your head? Join us for Conversations Over Coffee! This session (inspired by an Unconference format) offers participant-driven conversations that cover a range of topics--essentially anything you’d like to talk with others about! Join us, bring your expertise and your hopes to connect on any question or topic, and we'll create in-the-moment Zoom breakout rooms so that people can talk about their interests with others.

This event is sponsored and presented by Must Read Fiction. Must Read Fiction began because reader and writer Erin Popelka believes that her life is better when she’s got a novel in hand. In 2017, she started Must Read Fiction, a social media community to meet other readers who feel the same way. The result: a vibrant place for readers to connect to their next great read, hear the story behind the story with author interviews, and receive free books! Join us!
Speakers
avatar for Erin Popelka

Erin Popelka

Erin Popelka is a reader, writer, and the founder of Must Read Fiction. Her short stories and essays have appeared in or are forthcoming from The Threepenny Review, Puerto del Sol, The Los Angeles Review, and Berkeley Fiction Review, among others. As founder of Must Read Fiction... Read More →


Monday April 12, 2021 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
Zoom
  Unconference

2:00pm PDT

Disrupting Stereotypes: Older Women in Contemporary Literature
Use this link to register for this event on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors. 

Older women are an important segment of the audience for contemporary literature. Just as older women are pushing back against the invisibility that often accompanies aging in society, they want to see themselves accurately represented in literature. This international panel of women who published their first book in 2020 will discuss stereotypes and tropes about older women in literature and how these authors addressed and disrupted them in their first novels. The discussion will cover presenting older women as engaging characters with agency and complexity; overcoming barriers to fiction featuring older women; and finding an audience for books featuring older women (in a pandemic).
Speakers
avatar for Lois Melina

Lois Melina

Lois Melina is the author of The Grammar of Untold Stories (Shanti Arts LLC, 2020), a collection of sixteen essays. She has been a journalist and an educator and an advocate for survivors of domestic violence. After working as a newspaper reporter, Melina founded Adopted Child, a... Read More →
avatar for Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Born into the Vietnam War in 1973, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai grew up witnessing the war’s devastation and its aftermath. She worked as a street seller and rice farmer before winning a scholarship to attend university in Australia. She is the author of eight books of poetry, fiction... Read More →
avatar for Barbara Conrey

Barbara Conrey

Nowhere Near Goodbye, published on August 4th, 2020, by Red Adept Publishing, is USA Today Bestselling author Barbara Conrey’s debut novel.Previously, Barbara worked in the health care industry before opting for an early retirement, which lasted all of three months. She then accepted... Read More →
avatar for Pamela Skjolsvik

Pamela Skjolsvik

Pamela Skjolsvik has been published in Creative Nonfiction, Witness, TenSpurs, The Moment, The Dallas Morning News' Death Penalty Blog, Writer'sDigest, CNN and in the anthology Silence Kills: Speaking Out and SavingLives. Her first novel, Forever 51, debuted in November of 2020.
avatar for Linda Rosen

Linda Rosen

Linda Rosen’s books are set in the “not-too-distant past” and examine how women reinvent themselves despite obstacles thrown their way. A central theme is that blood is not all that makes a family– and they always feature a piece of jewelry! Her debut novel, The Disharmony... Read More →

Monday April 12, 2021 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
YouTube
  Discussion

5:30pm PDT

Unmaking the Patriarchy of the Mind
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors.

During this reading and discussion, five award-winning women writers will share poetry and prose, and discuss writing against patriarchal expectations—both overtly and implicitly—within their work and in their writing lives. From persona poems in the voice of the Russian fairytale witch Baba Yaga commenting on contemporary America, to centering the Latina experience in tales of settler colonialism, to autobiographical poems that recount and confront sexism in the workplace, to personal essays about a mother fighting to wring out the “toxic” from her son’s masculinity, these writers subvert the narrative to form a more powerful female identity.
Speakers
avatar for Brooke Matson

Brooke Matson

Brooke Matson is a poet, book artist, and the 2016 recipient of the Artist Trust GAP award and Centrum residency. Her first collection of poems, The Moons, was published by Blue Begonia Press in 2012; her second, In Accelerated Silence, was selected by Mark Doty as winner of the Jake... Read More →
avatar for Sonora Jha

Sonora Jha

Sonora Jha was born in India, where she had a successful career as a journalist in Mumbai and Bangalore before moving to Singapore and then the United States to earn a Ph.D. in Political Communication. She is now a professor of journalism at Seattle University. She is the writer of... Read More →
avatar for Alexandra Teague

Alexandra Teague

Alexandra Teague, whose third book of poetry, Or What We’ll Call Desire, was published by Persea in August 2019. Alexandra is a professor at University of Idaho, and her prior books include The Wise and Foolish Builders and Mortal Geography, winner of the Lexi Rudnitsky Prize and... Read More →
avatar for Kristen Millares Young

Kristen Millares Young

Kristen Millares Young is the author of the novel Subduction, a Paris Review staff pick called “whip-smart” by the Washington Post, a “brilliant debut” by the Seattle Times and “utterly unique and important” by Ms. Magazine. Subduction is a finalist for two International... Read More →
avatar for Laura Read

Laura Read

Laura Read is a poet and educator living in Spokane. She is the author of Dresses from the Old Country (BOA Editions, 2018); Instructions for my Mother’s Funeral (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012, winner of the AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry, selected by Dorianne Laux), and... Read More →

Monday April 12, 2021 5:30pm - 6:30pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading/Discussion

7:00pm PDT

We the Indigenous
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors.

Get Lit! and We the Indigenous have teamed up to bring you readings from four authors whose work ranges from poetic prose to personal essays that utilize experimental form. We the Indigenous is a virtual reading series celebrating Indigenous authors from the Pacific Northwest to the Southwest. Joining us will be Tiffany Midge, Elissa Washuta, Jake Skeets, and the founder of We the Indigenous himself, D.A. Navoti. These authors will be reading from their recent award-winning works, showcasing Indigenous literary talent and voices. Following the readings, D.A. Navoti will lead the group in a short discussion about their creative work.
Speakers
avatar for D.A. Navoti

D.A. Navoti

D.A. Navoti (he/him/his) writes creative nonfiction and poetic prose. His work has appeared in Homology Lit, Spartan, Indian Country Today, Cloudthroat, and elsewhere. He’s a CityArtist 2020 recipient from the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and a former fellow at Hugo... Read More →
avatar for Tiffany Midge

Tiffany Midge

Tiffany Midge is a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, and was raised by wolves in the Pacific Northwest. Her book “Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s” was a finalist for a 2020 Washington State Book Award. She’s the recipient of the Kenyon Review Earthworks Indigenous... Read More →
avatar for Elissa Washuta

Elissa Washuta

Elissa Washuta is a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and a nonfiction writer. Her book White Magic will be published by Tin House in April 2021. She is also the author of Starvation Mode and My Body Is a Book of Rules, named a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. With... Read More →
avatar for Jake Skeets

Jake Skeets

Jake Skeets is the author of Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers, winner of the National Poetry Series. He is the recipient of a 92Y Discovery Prize, a Mellon Projecting All Voices Fellowship, an American Book Award, and a Whiting Award. He is from the Navajo Nation and teaches... Read More →

Monday April 12, 2021 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading/Discussion
 
Tuesday, April 13
 

9:00am PDT

Conversations Over Coffee
Use this link to register for one or more days of this recurring event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is required for this Unconference-style Zoom event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors.

Are you a novelist looking for a critique group? A poet looking for other poets to share prompts and inspiration? Are you a reader and want to talk about the books you can't get out of your head? Join us for Conversations Over Coffee! This session (inspired by an Unconference format) offers participant-driven conversations that cover a range of topics--essentially anything you’d like to talk with others about! Join us, bring your expertise and your hopes to connect on any question or topic, and we'll create in-the-moment Zoom breakout rooms so that people can talk about their interests with others.
Speakers
avatar for Erin Popelka

Erin Popelka

Erin Popelka is a reader, writer, and the founder of Must Read Fiction. Her short stories and essays have appeared in or are forthcoming from The Threepenny Review, Puerto del Sol, The Los Angeles Review, and Berkeley Fiction Review, among others. As founder of Must Read Fiction... Read More →

Tuesday April 13, 2021 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
Zoom
  Unconference

2:00pm PDT

Drop in and Write: A Community Reading
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors.

Members of Spark Central's weekly creative writing workshop, Drop In and Write, read from their original fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. The readers will be John Browning, Hannah Engle, Regan Lane, Larry Plager, Ben Simons, Wren, and Xanrii. Spark Central is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that ignites the creativity, innovation, and imagination necessary for people to forge the path to their best future. We break down barriers to creativity like cost, confidence, and access by offering transformative programs, access to innovative technology, and a welcoming creative community for youth, teens, and even adults of all economic backgrounds.

This event will be hosted by Jenny Davis and Hannah Engel. Readers are

Speakers
avatar for Hannah Engel

Hannah Engel

Hannah Engel recently earned her MFA in poetry from Eastern Washington University, where she taught composition and worked as web editor for Willow Springs Magazine. Her work appears in Script, Green Mountains Review, Prairie Schooner, and received an honorable mention for the... Read More →
avatar for Jenny Davis

Jenny Davis

Jenny Davis is a Spokane-based writer and teacher. Jenny's MFA in creative nonfiction is from the University of Iowa; her publications in literary magazines include pieces in Gettysburg Review and Creative Nonfiction, among others. Her essays have twice been "notable" in the Best... Read More →

Tuesday April 13, 2021 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading

5:30pm PDT

Writing Sounds and Singing Poems
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors.

Music and poetry carry an intimate relationship that will be explored through the eyes of our guests Cameron McGill and MOsley WOtta. Cameron McGill is a poet, educator, and musician whose lyrics at times can read like travelogues of strange encounters. MOsley WOtta is a speaker, performer, poet, visual artist, and educator. His work highlights the power of voice across genres. The event will begin with poetry readings from each artist, leading into discussion about the writing process and how it differs between poetry and songwriting. The event will conclude with musical performances by the stylistically diverse Cameron McGill and MOsley WOtta.
Speakers
avatar for Cameron McGill

Cameron McGill

Cameron McGill is a poet, educator, and musician living in Moscow, ID. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, RHINO, Western Humanities Review, and elsewhere. His chapbook, Meridians, is available from Willow Springs Books... Read More →
avatar for MOsley WOtta

MOsley WOtta

Jason Graham, known professionally as MOsley WOtta, is a critically acclaimed Artist and Speaker. His work has been featured in Vortex Magazine, TED X, OPB/PBS, Street Con Dubai, Soul Pancake, SOFAR Sounds, the NBA, Sundance Film Festival, FishTrap Writes, High Desert Museum  and... Read More →

Tuesday April 13, 2021 5:30pm - 6:30pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading/Discussion

7:00pm PDT

Ecopoetry with Derek Sheffield and Ellen Bass
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors.

Derek Sheffield and Ellen Bass are poets of the fine details of place—attentive to the way both the human world and the natural world are inseparable. They will read from their latest poetry collections Not for Luck (Sheffield) and Indigo (Bass) which center on ecopoetry, including themes of environmental and social justice. Following the reading, the poets will discuss their poetic approaches to these important topics.
Speakers
avatar for Derek Sheffield

Derek Sheffield

Derek Sheffield is the author of Not for Luck, selected by Mark Doty for the Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Prize, and Through the Second Skin. He is a co-editor of Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy. His awards include a special mention in the 2016 Pushcart... Read More →
avatar for Ellen Bass

Ellen Bass

Ellen Bass’s newest collection, Indigo, was published by Copper Canyon Press in April 2020. Her other poetry books include Like a Beggar, The Human Line, and Mules of Love. Her poems appear frequently in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, and many other journals. Among her... Read More →

Tuesday April 13, 2021 7:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading/Discussion
 
Wednesday, April 14
 

9:00am PDT

Conversations Over Coffee
Use this link to register for one or more days of this recurring event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is required for this Unconference-style Zoom event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors.

Are you a novelist looking for a critique group? A poet looking for other poets to share prompts and inspiration? Are you a reader and want to talk about the books you can't get out of your head? Join us for Conversations Over Coffee! This session (inspired by an Unconference format) offers participant-driven conversations that cover a range of topics--essentially anything you’d like to talk with others about! Join us, bring your expertise and your hopes to connect on any question or topic, and we'll create in-the-moment Zoom breakout rooms so that people can talk about their interests with others.
Speakers
avatar for Erin Popelka

Erin Popelka

Erin Popelka is a reader, writer, and the founder of Must Read Fiction. Her short stories and essays have appeared in or are forthcoming from The Threepenny Review, Puerto del Sol, The Los Angeles Review, and Berkeley Fiction Review, among others. As founder of Must Read Fiction... Read More →

Wednesday April 14, 2021 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
Zoom
  Unconference

2:00pm PDT

An Afternoon of Praiseworthy Prose
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

We are pleased to present a reading featuring four highly acclaimed writers from the Northwest. Each of these authors offer unique perspectives that allow for exploration into universal themes such as family, separation, and loss. These topics are approached through the lenses of their areas of expertise from journalists to bee keeper, with upbringings ranging from Mumbai to rural Indiana. These readings highlight the importance of individual perspectives and experiences that deepen our shared discussion on familiar topics such as family, grief, and loss. Our lineup includes: professor of journalism Sonora Jha, author and bee keeper Annie Lampman, educator and advocate Lois Melina, and Spokane author Erin Pringle.  
Speakers
avatar for Sonora Jha

Sonora Jha

Sonora Jha was born in India, where she had a successful career as a journalist in Mumbai and Bangalore before moving to Singapore and then the United States to earn a Ph.D. in Political Communication. She is now a professor of journalism at Seattle University. She is the writer of... Read More →
avatar for Lois Melina

Lois Melina

Lois Melina is the author of The Grammar of Untold Stories (Shanti Arts LLC, 2020), a collection of sixteen essays. She has been a journalist and an educator and an advocate for survivors of domestic violence. After working as a newspaper reporter, Melina founded Adopted Child, a... Read More →
avatar for Annie Lampman

Annie Lampman

Annie Lampman is the author of the novel SINS OF THE BEES (Pegasus/Simon & Schuster) and the limited-edition letterpress poetry chapbook BURNING TIME (Limberlost Press). As an undergrad, she studied Nez Perce oral traditions and language in addition to creative writing. She has a... Read More →
avatar for Erin Pringle

Erin Pringle

Erin Pringle is the author of a novel, Hezada! I Miss You and two short story collections, The Whole World at Once and The Floating Order. She has written three chapbooks: How The Sun Burns Among Hills of Rock and Pebble, The Lightning Tree, and The Wandering House.  She was a recipient... Read More →

Wednesday April 14, 2021 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading

5:30pm PDT

Pie School
Use this link to register for this event on Eventbrite. Use this link to purchase a book. Purchase of a book* and registration is required for this event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Everyone’s favorite festival event Pie & Whiskey is coming to us virtually this year, but Kate Lebo is stepping in to make sure that you can still enjoy a slice of homemade pie during the festival week. At this virtual Pie School, Kate will teach you how to make flaky pie crusts and delicious fruit fillings; then she’ll show you how to roll dough, put your pie together, and bake it to perfection. Come with questions and leave knowing how to bake your own Pie & Whiskey pie.

*Use this link to purchase a copy of Kate’s new book, The Book of Difficult Fruit, from Auntie’s Bookstore. If you have any questions about ordering the book/registering for the class, please contact events@auntiesbooks.com. *Note that if you purchased Kate's book for her official launch event with Auntie's, you are eligible for this class! Just contact Auntie's for the link.

Speakers
avatar for Kate Lebo

Kate Lebo

Kate Lebo’s first collection of nonfiction, The Book of Difficult Fruit, will be published by FSG in April of 2021. Her previous books include the cookbook Pie School, the poetry chapbook Seven Prayers to Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and the anthology Pie & Whiskey: Writers Under... Read More →

Wednesday April 14, 2021 5:30pm - 7:00pm PDT
Zoom
  Demonstration

7:30pm PDT

KINK
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

KINK is an anthology of literary fiction that opens the door to topics of love, desire, and BDSM. The book includes works by well known fiction writers such as Roxane Gay, Carmen Maria Machado, Zeyn Joukhadar, with R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell as editors. While the works within the anthology reveal topics that are so often kept private such as stories of bondage, power-play, and submissive-dominant relationships; the true power of these stories lies within what is revealed through the examination of these stories.

This reading and conversation features R.O. Kwon, Callum Angus, Vanessa Clark, and Larissa Pham. More information on these writers coming soon!
Speakers
avatar for R.O. Kwon

R.O. Kwon

R.O. Kwon’s nationally bestselling first novel, The Incendiaries, is published by Riverhead (US) and Virago/Little Brown (UK), and it is being translated into seven languages. Named a best book of the year by over forty publications, The Incendiaries received the Housatonic Book Award and was a finalist or nominated for seven other prizes, including... Read More →
avatar for Vanessa Clark

Vanessa Clark

Vanessa Clark is an intersex trans fem author that has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar, POPSUGAR, Vice, and Them, and has written articles for Vox. Pronouns: she/they. Even though she lives in New Jersey, she is more likely spending her free time at some of the best indie bookstores... Read More →
avatar for Larissa Pham

Larissa Pham

Larissa Pham is an artist and writer in Brooklyn. Her essays and criticism have appeared in the Paris Review Daily, Bookforum, Guernica, The Nation, and elsewhere. She is the author of Fantasian (2016), a New Lovers novella from Badlands Unlimited, and Pop Song, forthcoming from Catapult... Read More →
avatar for Callum Angus

Callum Angus

Callum Angus is a trans writer and editor currently based in Portland, Oregon. His first book, A Natural History of Transition, is out in April 2021 from Metonymy Press. His work has appeared in Nat. Brut, West Branch, LA Review of Books, Catapult, The Common, Seventh Wave Magazine... Read More →

Wednesday April 14, 2021 7:30pm - 8:30pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading
 
Thursday, April 15
 

9:00am PDT

Conversations Over Coffee
Use this link to register for one or more days of this recurring event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is required for this Unconference-style Zoom event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors.

Are you a novelist looking for a critique group? A poet looking for other poets to share prompts and inspiration? Are you a reader and want to talk about the books you can't get out of your head? Join us for Conversations Over Coffee! This session (inspired by an Unconference format) offers participant-driven conversations that cover a range of topics--essentially anything you’d like to talk with others about! Join us, bring your expertise and your hopes to connect on any question or topic, and we'll create in-the-moment Zoom breakout rooms so that people can talk about their interests with others.
Speakers
avatar for Erin Popelka

Erin Popelka

Erin Popelka is a reader, writer, and the founder of Must Read Fiction. Her short stories and essays have appeared in or are forthcoming from The Threepenny Review, Puerto del Sol, The Los Angeles Review, and Berkeley Fiction Review, among others. As founder of Must Read Fiction... Read More →

Thursday April 15, 2021 9:00am - 10:00am PDT
Zoom
  Unconference

2:00pm PDT

Poetry and Prose
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

Join Pacific Northwest authors Bill Carty and Eileen Garvin for an afternoon of poetry and prose. Bill Carty will read selections from his latest poetry collection Huge Cloudy followed by Eileen Garvin reading from her novel The Music of Bees. Both authors draw inspiration from their careful observance of the earth, sky, and the beings that surround them. Carty has an MFA from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and has received fellowships and awards in poetry.  Garvin is currently enrolled in the Master Bee Keeper Apprentice Program with the Oregon State University Extension Service.
Speakers
avatar for Bill Carty

Bill Carty

Bill Carty is the author of Huge Cloudy (Octopus Books, 2019) and the chapbook Refugium. His poems have appeared in the jubilat, Denver Quarterly, Boston Review, Ploughshares, Oversound, Iowa Review, Conduit, Warscapes, Sixth Finch, and other journals. Originally from coastal Maine... Read More →
avatar for Eileen Garvin

Eileen Garvin

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Eileen Garvin lives in Hood River, Oregon, which is located on the south bank of the Columbia River near Mount Hood.  She’s been a freelance writer for more than fifteen years, writing about travel, outdoor recreation and small business... Read More →

Thursday April 15, 2021 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading

5:30pm PDT

Graphic Novels: Life Illustrated
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

Join us for a reading and discussion from five graphic novelists who have combined their talents of writing and visual art to create powerful narratives covering a wide range of topics including friendship, LGBTQ+ coming of age stories, race, gentrification, the prison system, World War II-era Japanese internment camps, and navigating life through fairytales. This reading and discussion on what it takes to write and illustrate graphic novels is sure to be as vibrant and engaging as each artist’s work.
Speakers
avatar for Trung Le Nguyen

Trung Le Nguyen

Trung Le Nguyen, also known as Trungles, is a Vietnamese-American comic book artist and storyteller from Minnesota. He was born in a refugee camp somewhere in the Philippine province of Palawan. Trung has contributed work for Oni Press, Boom! Studios, and Image Comics, largely in... Read More →
avatar for Sloane Leong

Sloane Leong

Sloane Leong is a self-taught cartoonist, artist and writer of Hawaiian, Chinese, Mexican, Native American and European ancestries. She explores themes of survival, displacement, relationships, spirituality, identity and mental illness through genres like science fiction, horror... Read More →
avatar for Kiku Hughes

Kiku Hughes

Kiku Hughes is a cartoonist and illustrator based in the Seattle area. Her work has been featured in Beyond Anthology volumes 1 and 2, Short Box #6 and Team Avatar Tales. Her first graphic novel, Displacement, was published by First Second in 2020.
avatar for Mike Curato

Mike Curato

Mike Curato loves drawing and writing almost as much as he loves cupcakes and ice cream (and that's a LOT!). He is the author and illustrator of everyone's favorite polka-dotted elephant, Little Elliot. His debut title, Little Eliot, Big City, released in 2014 to critical acclaim... Read More →
avatar for Ben Passmore

Ben Passmore

Ben Passmore lives on the island of New Orleans. His comics are about crime, monsters, anarchism, sexual dysfunction, police brutality, art theory, and his feels. Author of DAYGLOAYHOLE, Goodbye, and Your Black Friend.

Thursday April 15, 2021 5:30pm - 6:30pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading/Discussion

8:00pm PDT

Pie, Pandemic, Whiskey & Tears
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

More information about this exciting live event and the readers coming soon, but our lineup will be:

Steve Almond
CMarie Fuhrman
Melissa Huggins
Kate Lebo
Sam Ligon
Gary Copeland Lilley
Tiffany Midge
Phong Nguyen
Jess Walter

Thank you to DOMA Coffee Roasting Company for sponsoring this event!
Speakers
avatar for Tiffany Midge

Tiffany Midge

Tiffany Midge is a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, and was raised by wolves in the Pacific Northwest. Her book “Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s” was a finalist for a 2020 Washington State Book Award. She’s the recipient of the Kenyon Review Earthworks Indigenous... Read More →
avatar for Jess Walter

Jess Walter

A former National Book Award finalist and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Jess Walter is the author of seven novels, one book of short stories and one nonfiction book. His work has been translated into 32 languages, and his fiction has been selected three times for Best American... Read More →
avatar for CMarie Fuhrman

CMarie Fuhrman

CMarie Fuhrman is the author of Camped Beneath the Dam: Poems (Floodgate 2020) and co-editor of Native Voices (Tupelo 2019). She has published poetry and nonfiction in multiple journals including Emergence Magazine, Yellow Medicine Review, Cutthroat a Journal of the Arts... Read More →
avatar for Steve Almond

Steve Almond

Steve Almond is the author of eleven books of fiction and non-fiction, including the NYT bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football. He lives outside Boston with his family.
avatar for Gary Copeland Lilley

Gary Copeland Lilley

Gary Copeland Lilley is the author of eight books of poetry, the most recent being The Bushman's Medicine Show, from Lost Horse Press (2017), and a chapbook, The Hog Killing, from Blue Horse Press (2018). He is originally from North Carolina and now lives in the Pacific Northwest... Read More →
avatar for Kate Lebo

Kate Lebo

Kate Lebo’s first collection of nonfiction, The Book of Difficult Fruit, will be published by FSG in April of 2021. Her previous books include the cookbook Pie School, the poetry chapbook Seven Prayers to Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and the anthology Pie & Whiskey: Writers Under... Read More →
avatar for Sam Ligon

Sam Ligon

Samuel Ligon’s serial novel—Miller Cane: A True & Exact History—appeared for a year in Spokane’s weekly newspaper, The Inlander, as well as on Spokane Public Radio. The author of four previous books of fiction, including Wonderland and Safe in Heaven Dead, Ligon is also co-editor... Read More →
avatar for Phong Nguyen
avatar for Melissa Huggins

Melissa Huggins

Melissa Huggins is a prose writer whose stories, essays, interviews, and other work have appeared in The Oyez Review, Willow Springs, Lilac City Fairy Tales, The Inlander, Spokane Coeur D'Alene Living, and other publications. She holds an MFA from Eastern Washington University.

Thursday April 15, 2021 8:00pm - 10:00pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading
 
Friday, April 16
 

9:00am PDT

The Edge of the Sea is a Strange and Beautiful Place: Hybrid Poetry & Prose Experiments
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. This class will be ticketed ($35) and will be limited to 25 attendees. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors. 

Building upon Rachel Carson’s famous maritime observation, we will investigate and interrogate the “strange and beautiful place” of genre-blurring work—work that melds elements of creative non-fiction and poetry. The primary focus of this hybrid class will be generative. We’ll have plenty of time for in-class craft analysis, discussion, and writing prompts galore that will send you home with several solid drafts of new work. Ideal for writers at any level of experience looking for a vibrant shake-up to their writing practices long after the class is over.
Speakers
avatar for Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Aimee Nezhukumatathil (neh-ZOO / koo-mah / tah-TILL) is the author of a book of nature essays, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, & Astonishments, which was named a finalist for the Kirkus Prize in non-fiction, and award-winning poetry collections, most recently... Read More →

Friday April 16, 2021 9:00am - 11:00am PDT
Zoom
  Craft Class

11:30am PDT

The Performance of Poetry
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. This Zoom class will be ticketed ($35) and will be limited to 25 attendees. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors. 

At its inception, poetry was an aural art form. With the advent of the printing press around 1440, possibilities for literature expanded to include the page. What role does the performance of poetry have for modern poets? How can page poets succeed on the stage as well? This workshop will explore the importance of poetry as performance, how the effective performance of poetry can lead to opportunities for poets, performance of poetry as a useful tool in the editing process, and successful techniques for the performance of poetry.
Speakers
avatar for Michael Kleber-Diggs

Michael Kleber-Diggs

Michael Kleber-Diggs is a poet, essayist, and literary critic. His debut poetry collection, Worldly Things, won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and will be published by Milkweed Editions in June, 2021. Michael’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Poem-a-Day, Poetry Northwest... Read More →

Friday April 16, 2021 11:30am - 1:30pm PDT
Zoom
  Craft Class

2:00pm PDT

Transformative Justice: Uncaging Creativity
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

We hope that audience members will consider using this link to rent or purchase the film 16 Bars prior to this conversation. Of course you will still be able to enjoy the conversation and reading from author Marlon Peterson without having screened the film ahead of time.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors. 

This reading and conversation will focus on using creativity to begin shifting our current justice system's approach from punishment to healing. The event celebrates the film 16 Bars, an intimate look at the lives of four inmates who are a part of a unique rehabilitation effort that involves writing and recording original music. The film follows their personal and artistic development as they produce and record with Grammy-winning recording artist, Todd “Speech” Thomas, from the hip-hop group Arrested Development. For this event, Speech will be joined by national social and criminal justice advocate, writer, and educator Marlon Peterson. Peterson is the author of Bird Uncaged, a powerful 21st century abolitionist memoir that demands a shift from punishment to healing, an end to mass incarceration, and a new vision of justice. Following a reading from Bird Uncaged, Eastern Washington University Chicana/o/x Studies professor Dr. Martín Meráz García will lead a conversation about transformative justice and how creativity and vulnerability, especially through the written word, can offer a path to true healing. 
Speakers
avatar for Speech

Speech

Speech is an award winning artist, consistently pushing the artistic and social envelope. On the home page, click on any number of projects to learn what Speech is currently working on. A little more about Speech… He, is the leader of the 2x Grammy Award winning hip-hop  collective, Arrested Development. He and the group have been a ground-breaking force in Hip-hop culture sinc... Read More →
avatar for Marlon Peterson

Marlon Peterson

Marlon Peterson is an inspiration whisperer, author, criminal legal system expert, and public speaker. He is the founder and CEO of The Precedential Group Social Enterprises, a social justice-human good warehouse of consultancy, programming, and content co-creation. Marlon is also... Read More →
avatar for Martín Meráz García, Ph.D.

Martín Meráz García, Ph.D.

Martín Meráz García, Ph.D., is a Professor in Chicana/o/x Studies at Eastern Washington University (EWU); his areas of specialization include International Relations, Political Psychology and Criminal Justice. Dr. Meráz García has over 10 years of experiences teaching in the... Read More →

Friday April 16, 2021 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
YouTube
  Discussion

2:00pm PDT

Minimal & Lyrical Writing: Less is __________
This event is sponsored by and presented by North Idaho College. Sign-up for the workshop is available via this link. When the workshop seats fill, there will be opportunities to observe via the same link. Please contact Jonathan Frey via jafrey@nic.edu if you need more information.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors. 

Cindy Baldwin describes poetic writing like “sipping something delightful as you read.” But is sipping too much dangerous? Virginia Woolf and Annie Dillard are poetic heroes known for their rich yet prose-heavy storytelling; their sentences unravel like balls of yarn. But can lyrical writing extend like a tiny thread? Of course. This class will challenge students to maneuver between excess and scarcity by dissecting passages written by Ocean Vuong, Saeed Jones, Kazuo Ishiguro, and others, as well as practice severing sentences not serving a passage.

North Idaho College encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the access provided, please email Jonathan Frey at jafrey@nic.edu in advance of your participation.


Speakers
avatar for D.A. Navoti

D.A. Navoti

D.A. Navoti (he/him/his) writes creative nonfiction and poetic prose. His work has appeared in Homology Lit, Spartan, Indian Country Today, Cloudthroat, and elsewhere. He’s a CityArtist 2020 recipient from the City of Seattle Office of Arts & Culture and a former fellow at Hugo... Read More →

Friday April 16, 2021 2:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Zoom
  Craft Class, Private

5:30pm PDT

Disability Visibility
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

This reading and discussion will celebrate the diverse experiences and talents of writers with disabilities. The event features Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing, and amplifying disability media and culture. Wong is also the editor of the anthology Disability Visibility, which features work from Elsa Sjunneson, author of Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism and Jamison Hill, whose book Force Meets Fate is a memoir of chronic illness, vulnerability, and perseverance. Joining these authors are Spokane writers Emalee Gillis, author of The Other Side of Madness: Adventures on the Path to Living Well with a Mental Illness and Travis Naught, author of the poetry collection The Virgin Journals and the novel, Joyride. Travis will lead the authors in a discussion following their readings. This event will include live captioning and an ASL interpreter.

Speakers
avatar for Elsa Sjunneson

Elsa Sjunneson

Hugo, Aurora and BFA award winning editor and author Elsa Sjunneson is a Deafblind hurricane in a vintage dress. Her work has appeared on metro.co.uk, CNN Opinion, The Boston Globe and many other venues, as well as being part of the writing team behind Serial Box Presents Marvel's Jessica Jones: Playing with Fire. Her memoir, Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism releases in October of 2021. Elsa has an MA in W... Read More →
avatar for Emalee Gillis

Emalee Gillis

Emalee’a journey with bipolar disorder began when she woke up in a cage-like enclosure in a primitive insane asylum in Africa, shortly after she completed her Peace Corps service. At one point, bipolar disorder dominated her life. Over the next 35 years, she learned to manage her... Read More →
avatar for Alice Wong

Alice Wong

Alice Wong (she/her) is a disabled activist, media maker, and consultant. She is the Founder and Director of the Disability Visibility Project, an online community dedicated to creating, sharing and amplifying disability media and culture created in 2014. Currently, Alice is the... Read More →
avatar for Jamison Hill

Jamison Hill

Jamison Hill has written for The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. He has been featured on Netflix, as well as WBUR's Modern Love podcast and Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert podcast.
avatar for Travis Laurence Naught

Travis Laurence Naught

Travis Laurence Naught is an author who happens to be a quadriplegic wheelchair user with a tracheostomy. He was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at age 16 months. Doctors performed a life extending spinal fusion surgery on Travis at age 7 and a lifesaving tracheostomy surgery... Read More →

Friday April 16, 2021 5:30pm - 6:30pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading/Discussion

7:00pm PDT

Creativity in the Climate Crisis
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. When the direct link to this event on our YouTube channel becomes available, we will add it here. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

Join three critically acclaimed authors whose creative work brings awareness to the increasingly pressing issue of climate change. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer approaches the topic as both a Native American and scientist, and shows us how humanity and the natural world can co-exist through reciprocity. Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s debut nonfiction collection World of Wonders is a collection of essays about the natural world, and the way its inhabitants can teach, support, and inspire us. Johanna Stoberock's novel Pigs is a modern day allegory for our world of excess that explores questions about community, environmental responsibility, and the possibility of innocence. All three writers show us how creative prose is a powerful tool to raise our collective consciousness to care more about our natural world and our place in it. Maya Jewell Zeller will lead a conversation with the authors following their readings.
Speakers
avatar for Robin Wall Kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants, which has earned Kimmerer wide acclaim. Her first book... Read More →
avatar for Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Aimee Nezhukumatathil (neh-ZOO / koo-mah / tah-TILL) is the author of a book of nature essays, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, & Astonishments, which was named a finalist for the Kirkus Prize in non-fiction, and award-winning poetry collections, most recently... Read More →
avatar for Johanna Stoberock

Johanna Stoberock

Johanna Stoberock is the author of the novels Pigs (Red Hen Press) and City of Ghosts (W.W. Norton). Her work has appeared in the Chicago Review of Books, Lit Hub, the Best of the Net Anthology, and elsewhere. The 2019 recipient of the Artist Trust/Gar LaSalle Storyteller Award, 2016... Read More →

Friday April 16, 2021 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading/Discussion
 
Saturday, April 17
 

9:00am PDT

The Practice of Worldbuilding
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. This Zoom class will be ticketed ($35) and will be limited to 25 attendees. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors. 

Whether you’re writing an intergalactic space opera or a realist novel set in your home state, worldbuilding is essential to your project. Often thought of as the realm of speculative fiction writers, worldbuilding enables fiction writers of all genres to better define and explore the physical, emotional, and sociocultural layers of their world. In this class, we’ll read fiction that demonstrates mastery of worldbuilding to understand how to develop our own unique worlds on the page. In-class exercises will help students bring their worlds to life.

Ticket link coming soon. This class will be ticketed ($35) and will be limited to 25 attendees.
Speakers
avatar for Ruth Joffre

Ruth Joffre

Ruth Joffre was born and raised in Northern Virginia. Her mother was born in Cochabamba, Bolivia, in 1950, and Ruth has taken her mother's maiden name to honor her. After leaving Virginia, Ruth earned her BA from Cornell University and her MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She... Read More →

Saturday April 17, 2021 9:00am - 11:00am PDT
Zoom
  Craft Class

11:30am PDT

Writing Poetry That Packs a Punch(line)
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. This class will be ticketed ($35) and will be limited to 25 attendees. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors. 

The writing of humor trains one to communicate very specific ideas in very particular ways. In order for a premise, concept or joke to land, your audience has to be in on it. So, the writing must be concise. A poetry practitioner innately understands this because both humor writing and poems use many similar techniques to reach the payoff. Both are required to use as few of words as possible to reach the intended result. Both crafts rely on tension and tension-building and the release of tension. Both rely on a rhythmic structure, element of surprise, and feature impactful imagery that leaves an impression. In this workshop we will study various (humorous) poems that feature these elements and more. We will use prompts to jettison our own humorous writing and poems. We will gain clearer understanding of how word choice and word play, rhythm, tension, element of surprise, tone, voice, persona, premise and punchline/closing image can enliven our poems and deliver unforgettable wit and humor to our writing.
Speakers
avatar for Tiffany Midge

Tiffany Midge

Tiffany Midge is a citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, and was raised by wolves in the Pacific Northwest. Her book “Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese’s” was a finalist for a 2020 Washington State Book Award. She’s the recipient of the Kenyon Review Earthworks Indigenous... Read More →

Saturday April 17, 2021 11:30am - 1:30pm PDT
Zoom
  Craft Class

2:00pm PDT

Milkweed Poets
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

This event features four unique and award-winning voices in contemporary poetry, all of whom have been published by Milkweed Editions, a small publishing press located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Aimee Nezhukumatathil, whose essay collection World of Wonders was published by Milkweed in 2020, has also written award-winning poetry that has appeared in New York Times Magazine and Best American Poetry. Michael Kleber-Diggs’s debut poetry collection, Worldly Things, won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and will be published in June 2021. Brooke Matson and Kathryn Smith’s collections both won The Jake Adam York Prize, in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Speakers
avatar for Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Aimee Nezhukumatathil (neh-ZOO / koo-mah / tah-TILL) is the author of a book of nature essays, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, & Astonishments, which was named a finalist for the Kirkus Prize in non-fiction, and award-winning poetry collections, most recently... Read More →
avatar for Kathryn Smith

Kathryn Smith

Kathryn Smith is a poet and mixed media artist based in Spokane, WA. She is the author of Self-Portrait with Cephalopod, winner of the 2019 Jake Adam York Prize, as well as the collection Book of Exodus and the chapbook Chosen Companions of the Goblin, winner of the 2018 Open... Read More →
avatar for Brooke Matson

Brooke Matson

Brooke Matson is a poet, book artist, and the 2016 recipient of the Artist Trust GAP award and Centrum residency. Her first collection of poems, The Moons, was published by Blue Begonia Press in 2012; her second, In Accelerated Silence, was selected by Mark Doty as winner of the Jake... Read More →
avatar for Michael Kleber-Diggs

Michael Kleber-Diggs

Michael Kleber-Diggs is a poet, essayist, and literary critic. His debut poetry collection, Worldly Things, won the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and will be published by Milkweed Editions in June, 2021. Michael’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Poem-a-Day, Poetry Northwest... Read More →

Saturday April 17, 2021 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading

5:30pm PDT

Difficult Fruits
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

This reading is in celebration of new books and works by Kate Lebo, CMarie Fuhrman, and Kathryn Nuernberger.  
Moderators
avatar for Maya Jewell Zeller

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 Books, 2017), the chapbook Yesterday, the Bees (Floating Bridge Press, 2015), and the poetry collection Rust Fish (Lost Horse Press... Read More →

Speakers
avatar for Kate Lebo

Kate Lebo

Kate Lebo’s first collection of nonfiction, The Book of Difficult Fruit, will be published by FSG in April of 2021. Her previous books include the cookbook Pie School, the poetry chapbook Seven Prayers to Cathy McMorris Rodgers, and the anthology Pie & Whiskey: Writers Under... Read More →
avatar for CMarie Fuhrman

CMarie Fuhrman

CMarie Fuhrman is the author of Camped Beneath the Dam: Poems (Floodgate 2020) and co-editor of Native Voices (Tupelo 2019). She has published poetry and nonfiction in multiple journals including Emergence Magazine, Yellow Medicine Review, Cutthroat a Journal of the Arts... Read More →
avatar for Kathryn Nuernberger

Kathryn Nuernberger

Kathryn Nuernberger writes about the history of science and ideas, renegade women, plant medicines, and witches. Her latest book is The Witch of Eye, about witches and witch trials. She is also the author of RUE, poems about plants historically used for birth control. She teaches... Read More →

Saturday April 17, 2021 5:30pm - 6:30pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading

7:00pm PDT

Timely Historical Fiction
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

This year’s headlining event celebrates one of Spokane’s most beloved writers, Jess Walter, along with best-selling author Esi Edugyan. Both writers have penned, in elegant prose, historical novels with themes of class, race, friendship, and betrayal. The Cold Millions and Washington Black are sweeping adventures that follow the lives of compelling characters through hardships across many years and landscapes, from the Spokane Falls in 1909 to the sugar cane fields of Barbados in 1830. Both writers will read from their work, and Walter will lead a discussion that delves into their novels and the writing process, and the importance of shining a light on these timely histories.
Speakers
avatar for Jess Walter

Jess Walter

A former National Book Award finalist and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Jess Walter is the author of seven novels, one book of short stories and one nonfiction book. His work has been translated into 32 languages, and his fiction has been selected three times for Best American... Read More →
avatar for Esi Edugyan

Esi Edugyan

Bestselling Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan writes richly imagined and impeccably researched stories that illuminate complicated truths about race and belonging. The first Black woman to win the Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada’s most prestigious literary award, and only the third... Read More →

Saturday April 17, 2021 7:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading/Discussion
 
Sunday, April 18
 

11:30am PDT

Displacement and the Japanese American Experience
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

This event, generously sponsored by the Spokane Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, will explore Japanese American experiences, focusing on World War II internment camps and the damaging racial politics that allowed them to become a forgotten landmark of American history. Writer and professor John Streamas will open the event by sharing some of his poetry, and Kiku Hughes will read from her historical graphic novel Displacement, a riveting and bittersweet story of a teenager pulled back in time to witness her grandmother’s experience in internment camps during World War II. Following the readings, Streamas will lead Hughes in a discussion about her work and the importance of sharing historical narratives that still carry a timely weight.
Speakers
avatar for Kiku Hughes

Kiku Hughes

Kiku Hughes is a cartoonist and illustrator based in the Seattle area. Her work has been featured in Beyond Anthology volumes 1 and 2, Short Box #6 and Team Avatar Tales. Her first graphic novel, Displacement, was published by First Second in 2020.
avatar for John Streamas

John Streamas

John Streamas is an Associate Professor of Comparative Ethnic Studies and American Studies at Washington State University who specializes in the narrative and racial politics of time and space, and the Japanese American experience during World War II. He has been published in Time’s... Read More →

Sunday April 18, 2021 11:30am - 12:30pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading/Discussion

2:00pm PDT

Ekphrasis: Art in Conversation
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors.

The impulse to make art in conversation with other art is profoundly human. Consider a composer inspired by a portrait, or a painter trying to capture the essence of a poem: ekphrasis uses one kind of art as a springboard for another, extending an artist's ability to think both creatively and analytically. This session on ekphrastic prose will explore the evolving tradition of writing inspired by visual art. In collaboration with Spokane's Museum of Arts and Culture, we will use a how-to, hands-on, live-laboratory approach to model ekphrasis in real time, equipping audience members with the tools necessary to investigate the practice in their own work.  
Speakers
avatar for Courtney Harler

Courtney Harler

Courtney Harler is a freelance writer, editor, and educator based in Las Vegas, Nevada. She holds an MFA from Sierra Nevada University (2017) and an MA from Eastern Washington University (2013). Courtney has been honored by fellowships from Writing By Writers, Squaw Valley Community... Read More →
avatar for Corinna Cook

Corinna Cook

Corinna Cook is the author of Leavetakings, an essay collection (University of Alaska Press, 2020). Supported by a 2018-19 Fulbright Fellowship, a 2018 Alaska Literary Award, and a 2020 Project Award from the Rasmuson Foundation, she is currently writing an ekphrastic essay collection... Read More →
avatar for Jenny Davis

Jenny Davis

Jenny Davis is a Spokane-based writer and teacher. Jenny's MFA in creative nonfiction is from the University of Iowa; her publications in literary magazines include pieces in Gettysburg Review and Creative Nonfiction, among others. Her essays have twice been "notable" in the Best... Read More →

Sunday April 18, 2021 2:00pm - 3:30pm PDT
YouTube
  Discussion

3:30pm PDT

Must Read Fiction Presents: Conversations with Festival Authors
Please use this link to register via Eventbrite. This will then direct you to register via Zoom, which is required. A donation of any amount is suggested in order to attend this event, which will help us fund next year’s in-person festival in Spokane, Washington. You can also find this event on Facebook. This event is presented in collaboration with our festival sponsor, Must Read Fiction.

This event will offer attendees a chance to interact with and ask questions of our festival authors! Must Read Fiction will help facilitate breakout sessions by genre (we will have Poetry, Nonfiction, and two Fiction rooms) and attendees will be encouraged to hop from room to room to meet with various authors.

Authors who will be attending: John Streamas, Tiffany Midge, Cameron McGill, Derek Sheffield, Greg Spatz, Annie Lampman, Johanna Stoberock, Erin Pringle, Eileen Garvin, Linda Rosen, Barbara Conrey, Lois Ruskai Melina, Elsa Sjunneson, Kathryn Nuernberger, Jenny Davis, and Corinna Cook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to find books by festival authors.

Speakers
avatar for Erin Popelka

Erin Popelka

Erin Popelka is a reader, writer, and the founder of Must Read Fiction. Her short stories and essays have appeared in or are forthcoming from The Threepenny Review, Puerto del Sol, The Los Angeles Review, and Berkeley Fiction Review, among others. As founder of Must Read Fiction... Read More →

Sunday April 18, 2021 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Zoom
  Unconference

5:00pm PDT

Socially-distanced book signing with Jess Walter
Join us at From Here for a socially-distanced book signing with festival headliner Jess Walter! Attendees will need to adhere to all store guidelines for COVID safety included masks and social distancing. Thanks to Auntie's Bookstore for facilitating this signing. This is our ONLY in-person experience this year, so please join us!

Located inside River Park Square (808 W. Main Ste. 251), From Here features one-of-a-kind items and thoughtful gifts made by Spokane artists and makers. Our festival merchandise, which includes t-shirts; masks; DOMA Coffee; the first publication in our new Tiny Book Series; and more, is on sale at From Here! Please plan to peruse and purchase while you're there for the signing, or check out From Here throughout the month of April to support both our festival and Terrain. You can also purchase our merchandise on our web store! *Note that orders placed on our web store cannot be filled at From Here. We will ship those items to you, or you can arrange to pick them up from the festival office.
Speakers
avatar for Jess Walter

Jess Walter

A former National Book Award finalist and winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Jess Walter is the author of seven novels, one book of short stories and one nonfiction book. His work has been translated into 32 languages, and his fiction has been selected three times for Best American... Read More →

Sunday April 18, 2021 5:00pm - 6:00pm PDT
From Here 808 W Main Ave #251, Spokane, WA 99201
  Book signing

7:00pm PDT

EWU MFA Showcase: The Thesis
Use this link to register for this event and others on Eventbrite. Registration is not required, but it helps us gather information that could be useful for us when applying for grants, and you will get reminders about the event. You can also find this event on Facebook.

Please support Auntie's Bookstore by using this link to purchase books by festival authors.

Join us as we celebrate Eastern Washington University's Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing (MFA) program and the talents of both current professors and program alums. The event will center on the thesis process—the making of a manuscript in both fiction and poetry. All four writers will present short readings of their work, and will engage in a conversation about the mentor/mentee relationship that develops as students complete their final year in the MFA program. Ashley Wurzbacher (fiction) and Sunni Wilkinson (poetry) will discuss how they, with the help of their cohorts and advisors Gregory Spatz and Christopher Howell, turned their thesis manuscripts into published collections. Casey Guerin (also an alum of the MFA program) will moderate the conversation. If you’re curious about writing programs and want to learn more about Eastern’s highly sought after MFA, this is the event for you!  
Moderators
avatar for Casey Guerin

Casey Guerin

Casey Guerin earned her MFA from Eastern Washington University and her BA from Boston College. Originally from Cape Cod, she currently lives in Connecticut with her husband and daughter.  

Speakers
avatar for Gregory Spatz

Gregory Spatz

GREGORY SPATZ is the author of the collection of linked stories and novellas, WHAT COULD BE SAVED, and of the novels INUKSHUK, FIDDLER'S DREAM and NO ONE BUT US, and the short story collections HALF AS HAPPY and WONDERFUL TRICKS. His stories have appeared in many publications, including... Read More →
avatar for Christopher Howell

Christopher Howell

Born in Portland, Oregon, Christopher Howell is author of a dozen poetry collections, including Love’s Last Number, Gaze, and Dreamless and Possible: Poems New and Selected. He has received numerous honors, including the Washington State Book Award, fellowships from the National... Read More →
avatar for Ashley Wurzbacher

Ashley Wurzbacher

Ashley Wurzbacher’s writing has appeared in The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, The Cincinnati Review, Colorado Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Gettysburg Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. She earned her MFA from Eastern Washington University and... Read More →
avatar for Sunni Wilkinson

Sunni Wilkinson

Sunni Brown Wilkinson’s poetry can be found in Western Humanities Review, Sugar House Review, Hayden’s Ferry Review, SWWIM, Ruminate, BODY and other journals and anthologies. She is the author of The Marriage of the Moon and the Field (Black Lawrence Press 2019) and The Ache... Read More →

Sunday April 18, 2021 7:00pm - 8:30pm PDT
YouTube
  Reading/Discussion
 
Filter sessions
Apply filters to sessions.
Monday, April 12
Tuesday, April 13
Wednesday, April 14
Thursday, April 15
Friday, April 16
Saturday, April 17
Sunday, April 18
  • Book signing
  • Craft Class
  • Demonstration
  • Discussion
  • Reading
  • Reading/Discussion
  • Unconference
    • From Here
    YouTube
    Zoom