Poetic Change: Washington’s Poet Laureate

Linda Johns/ January 24, 2018/ Books, Washington authors

Tod Marshall and Claudia Castro Luna

Come help us celebrate the two-year odyssey of Washington State Poet Laureate Tod Marshall, and the appointment of new poet laureate Claudia Castro Luna.

The 2018 Passing of the Laurel, Wednesday, January 31, 2018 at 7 p.m. at Seattle Public Library’s Central Library, will feature readings by Marshall, Castro Luna, and other Pacific Northwest poets. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the program begins at 7:00 p.m.

Marshall, a poet and professor at Gonzaga University, assumed the role of poet laureate in February of 2016. He is the author most recently of Bugle (2014), which won the Washington State Book Award in 2015. He is also the author of two previous collections: Dare Say (2002) and The Tangled Line (2009), and a collection of interviews with contemporary poets, Range of the Possible (2002).

Poet Claudia Castro Luna fled war-torn El Salvador for the United States at the age of 14 with her family. She has an MFA in poetry and an MA in urban planning. After working as a K-12 teacher, she became Seattle’s first Civic Poet, a position appointed by the mayor. In that position, Castro Luna won acclaim for her
Seattle Poetic Grid, an online interactive map of showcasing poems about different locations around the city. The grid even landed her an interview on PBS NewsHour. She is also the author of the poetry chapbook This City and the collection Killing Marías. Castro Luna’s term will run from February 1, 2018 to January 31, 2020. The Poet Laureate program is sponsored by Humanities Washington and the Washington State Arts Commission/ArtsWA.

Admission is free. Event details are here. The evening will be recorded for podcast (see SPL’s podcasts here).

~ Posted by Linda Johns, Co-Coordinator, Washington Center for the Book

 

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