Larry Crist has poems or short stories appearing or soon to appear in Hawaii Review, J. Journal, Alimentum, Rattle and Floating Bridge Press. He has been published in Pearl, Karamu, Red Rock Review, Slipstream, Nerve Cowboy, Dos Passo Review, Phantasmagoria, Permafrost, Stringtown, Rainbow Curve, Pontoon and many other publications. His poems can be regularly found in Real Change, Seattle's homeless newspaper. Larry has written and narrated a pair of short films by Salise Hughes for the Northwest Film Forum and has also worked as an actor and is a long time active member of Effective Arts.

Stacey Levine wrote a recently published fiction collection, “The Girl with Brown Fur.” She also wrote “My Horse and Other Stories” and the novels “Dra---“ and “Frances Johnson.” A Puschcart Prize nominee, Levine’s fiction has appeared in Fence, Tin House, The Fairy Tale Review, Yeti and other venues. She wrote a libretto for an opera, “The Wreck of the St.Nikolai,” based on battles between the Pacific Northwest Quilyeute tribes and Russian fur traders. She likes to stay at home.

Ilvs Strauss is a Seattle based performer/writer/musician/wizard masquerading as a technical director/lighting designer/stage hand/wizard. She has worked for Left Field Revival, LINGO dancetheater, the Pat Graney Company, Book-It Rep, Velocity, On the Boards and One Reel. She has performed/had work shown at NW Film Forum, Cairo Gallery, On the Boards and Seattle Rep's Leo K Theater (performing slideshows + bicycling + reading)- (not all at the same time)= awesome). Also, check out: hellomynameisilvs.blogspot.com

Storme Webber is a Seattle-born, internationally nurtured poet, writer and performer. She is the founder and director of Voices Rising, which produces quarterly events showcasing the arts and culture of LGBTQ people of color. Her work has been featured in the anthologies “Beyond Borders: Black Women Writing New Worlds,” “Serious Pleasure” and “Voices Rising: 20 Years of Black LGBT Writing.” She was a main protagonist in the documentary “Venus Boyz,” featured on the Sundance Channel, and has worked widely in film, theater and international spoken word scenes in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Brazil and the United States. Most recently she has been awarded a Janet Hill/Renaissance House Fellowship, and support from Poets & Writers and Seattle Mayors Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. Storme is presently completing “Wild Tales of a Renegade Halfbreed Bulldagger,” a narrative nonfiction memoir of her Aleut/African American/European family, and developing/presenting multimedia excerpts of the work in performance.

Christa Bell is an award-winning feminist folk poet, performance artist and cultural activist. She is the author of three collections of poetry, two spoken word CDs and the creatrix of the one-woman phenomenon, “CoochieMagik: A SpokenWord Musical Comedy” directed by Baraka de Soleil.

Matt Gano is a nationally known poet, writer, and performance artist residing in Seattle, Washington. He is a member of the 2008 National Poetry Slam team for Seattle and finished in top position to earn the title, “Seattle Poetry Slam Grand Slam Champion”. He was a member of the National Poetry Slam team for Seattle in 2004, and again in 2005 and remains one of the top performing artists in Seattle’s poetry circuit. His published work includes: chapbooks,"Music Maker",“Welcome Home”,“I Eight the Infinite”, and “Art Barker”, a self-titled poetry LP, and a live recording entitled “A Giant’s Pulse.” More to come soon……

Peter Pereira’s poems have appeared in Poetry, Prairie Schooner, New England Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Journal of the American Medical Association, and have been anthologized in 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Everyday, the 2007 Best American Poetry, and the recent Frye Art Museum anthology Looking Together: Writers on Art. His poems have also been featured online at Verse Daily, Poetry Daily, as well as on National Public Radio’s The Writer’s Almanac. His books include The Lost Twin (Grey Spider 2000), Saying the World (Copper Canyon, 2003) and What’s Written on the Body (Copper Canyon 2007), which was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. Peter is a family physician in Seattle, and was a founding editor of Floating Bridge Press. He plans to read tonight from new work supported by a King County 4Culture grant, a poems series entitled “The Expedition of the Vaccine” exploring world health, imperialism, children’s rights, and the fate of 22 Spanish orphan boys used as vaccine carriers in the early 1800’s.  

Judith Roche is the author of three collections of poetry, the most recent of which, Wisdom of the Body, won an American Book Award, She has edited a number of poetry anthologies and has worked in collaboration with visual artists on several public art projects which are installed in the Northwest area, including an installation about salmon at the Chittenden Locks.  She is Literary Arts Director Emeritus for One Reel, and teaches poetry workshops throughout the country. She was Distinguished Northwest Writer in Residence at Seattle University in 2007 and is a Fellow in the Black Earth Institute.  TOP

Rebecca Agiewich is the author of BreakupBabe: A Novel published by Ballantine Books in 2006 (and which was a finalist for the 2007 Lulu Blooker Prize, a literary prize devoted to "blooks."). It was inspired by her dating blog, also called "Breakup Babe," which earned her a devoted audience and scared off many potential boyfriends. She is a firm believer that the interactive nature of blogging is a boon for aspiring writers.

New York-born Roberto Ascalon is a poet, writer, arts educator and performance artist. He is an instructor at Nova High School in Seattle and teaches teenagers at Artscorp. Ascalon has participated in Bumberslam at the Bumbershoot Festival, the Seattle All City Slam Poetry Finals and two Seattle National Poetry Slams. In 2004, he self-published his book The Words Are Not Enough. His poems have appeared in the anthologies Poetry on Buses 2004: Facts and Fictions and From the Page to the Stage: National Slam Anthology

Nicole Hardy lives in Seattle where she works as a waitress and a teacher. Her chapbook, Mud Flap Girl's XX Guide to Facial Profiling, was a finalist in Main Street Rag's 2006 chapbook contest and was published as part of its Editor's Choice chapbook series. She earned her MFA at the Bennington College Writing Seminars, and was nominated for a 2007 Pushcart Prize. Her poems have appeared in many journals and have been rejected from many more. More about Nicole and her poems can be found at hardygirl.com.

Sean O'Connor has been writing mildly amusing essays for magazine and radio, and presenting his work on stage since 2004. He is an award-winning humor writer whose recorded work has been featured on NPR stations nationally. He performs locally with 60 Seconds Max, A Guide to Visitors, Unicycle Collective and others.

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Keri Healey is a playwright, director, and actor living in Seattle. Her plays include DON’T YOU DARE LOVE ME, ONE TWELVE, THE IKEA CYCLE: TINY DOMESTIC DRAMAS (co-written with Bret Fetzer), PARROT FEVER (OR, LIES I'VE TOLD IN CHAT ROOMS), CHERRY CHERRY LEMON, and PENETRALIA. Her plays have been performed in Seattle, Austin, Dallas, Vail (Colorado), Adelaide (Australia), and Singapore. Keri is also the author of a collection of short stories entitled Jealous of Boys. In 2002 and 2006 she was a writer-in-residence at the Espy Foundation in Oysterville, WA. Her next play, a musical thriller about a motel lounge cover band’s murderous spree, is being developed by Printer’s Devil Theater, where she is a company member.

Rebecca Hoogs is the author of a chapbook, Grenade (2005) and her poems have appeared in Poetry, AGNI, Crazyhorse, Zyzzyva, The Journal, Poetry Northwest, The Florida Review, and others. She is the recipient of fellowships from the MacDowell Colony (2004) and Artist Trust of Washington State (2005). She is the Director of Education Programs and the curator for the Poetry Series for Seattle Arts & Lectures.

Jeremy Richards is a writer, actor, and radio host living in Seattle. His work appears widely, including in “The Spoken Word Revolution Redux,” The Poetry Foundation, McSweeney's, The Morning News, Rattle, and on National Public Radio's “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” In tours and competitions, Richards was a two-time member of Seattle's National Poetry Slam team, a three-time winner of the Bumbershoot Poetry Slam and was invited to perform on HBO's Def Poetry. His new collection, “An Inaccurate Theory of Everything,” was recently released from Destructible Heart Press.

Ed Skoog's first book “Mister Skylight” will be published by Copper Canyon Press in the spring. His poems have appeared in Paris Review, The New Republic, American Poetry Review, and Poetry. He is currently a writer-in-residence at Richard Hugo House.

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, November 6 at Richard Hugo House

Daemond Arrindell's full-time work is managing a teen hotline, but his passion has always been poetry. He is the Seattle Slammaster, has been curating the Seattle Poetry Slam for six years, and coached the Seattle National Poetry Slam team for five years. He is a faculty member at Freehold Theatre teaching Spoken Word & Performance Poetry. Daemond has facilitated writing workshops at Harborview Medical Center, Edmonds Community College Theater Camp, the National Poetry Slam, Monroe Correctional Complex, Echo Glen Children's Center, and Nova Project Poetry Festival. Recently, Daemond was awarded 2nd place in the Washington Poets Association Bart Baxter Performance Poetry competition and was nominated by the Seattle Poetry Slam for Poet Populist.

Named an "Artist of the Year" by Seattle Magazine in 2007, awarded "Best Performing Artist" in 2006 by the readers of the Seattle Weekly, and honored twice on the Theatre Short List for The Stranger's Genius Awards, Marya Sea Kaminski is a performer, director, and writer based in Seattle. A founding member and co-artistic director of the Washington Ensemble Theatre from 2004-2008, her acting credits include WET's original adaptation entitled blahblahblahBANG!, My Name is Rachel Corrie (Seattle Times Footlight Award 2007) and Tina Landau's The Time of Your Life at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, among others. Marya Sea has also created over twenty solo shows and has performed her original work at On the Boards in Seattle, PS 122 in New York, the Myrna Loy Center in Helena, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

Cienna "Quick Draw" Madrid is a local writer and mercenary poet who ghost writes country music lyrics for ungrateful cowboys. Her hits include "He was her steak dinner, she his side of nag" and "I'm lookin' for love, or at least a gun with my name on it, and two bullets with your balls in scope." Someday she hopes to finish her novel, which has nothing to do with any of this.

Born and raised in Queens, NY, Brian McGuigan is a poet, performer, arts administrator and raconteur currently residing in Seattle. He works at Richard Hugo House and is the co-founder and curator of "Cheap Wine and Poetry," Seattle's coolest reading series. Currently, Brian is at work on a full-length manuscript of poems about poverty and gentrification entitled "Eat the Rich” and writes a regular column, "Bus Bitch," for The Rainier Valley Post. For more Brian: brianwithani.com.

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry," Thursday, September 18 at Richard Hugo House

Jennifer Borges Foster is a poet, bookmaker, and the editor of Filter, a limited edition hand bound literary journal. She is the recent recipient of Art Patch, 4Culture, and Mayor’s Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs grants, and was short listed for The Stranger’s 2007 Genius Award in Literature. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Beloit Poetry Journal, Prairie Schooner, ZYZZYVA, and other journals.

Brangien Davis is editrix-in-chief of Swivel magazine (which is currently comatose, though brainwave activity is encouraging!). Her essays have appeared a couple of times in the now defunct Lime Tea, and a couple of times in the sadly-soon-to-be-defunct Rivet Magazine. She has work existing and forthcoming in Swink magazine, which seemed defunct, but is supposed to reawaken soon. Also, in The Stranger (reportedly going strong). She used to blog at Petri Project, but now has a real job, in a cube and everything, as the Arts & Culture Editor of Seattle Magazine.

A recent alumna of Hedgebrook writers colony and Seattle Poetry Slam host emeritus, Karen Finneyfrock has achieved national acclaim for her writing and performance. Karen was honored as a 'legend' at the National Poetry Slam (Austin, 2006) and is a member of Seattle's 2008 National Poetry Slam Team. She is the author of Welcome to the Butterfly House (en theos press, 2004) and is currently working on a book of young adult fiction. A fan of haiku, Karen is also a two-time champion of the 'Haiku d'Etat' held annually by the Seattle Poetry Slam. Karen is a teaching artist for Seattle Arts & Lectures' Writers in the Schools program and for Arts Corps.

Kary Wayson's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Boston Review, Poetry Northwest, Alaska Quarterly Review, The Nation, FIELD, and The Best American Poetry 2007. Her chapbook, Dog & Me, was published in 2004 by LitRag Press. Kary was a recent visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome.

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry" May 29, 2008 at Richard Hugo House

Seattle poet John Burgess just had his second book—"A History of Guns in the Family"—published by Ravenna Press. He's a 2006 Jack Straw writer, co-founder of the Burning Word Poetry Festival, and the 2008 curator for Words' Worth, the poetry program for the Seattle City Council. He is currently working to put the lit journal Snow Monkey online. His first collection is "Punk Poems."

Jennifer Jasper has been performing and directing in Seattle for almost 20 years.  She was a co-founder of Kings' Elephant Theatre (10 years) and co-founder of Pulp Vixens (10 years).  She has been performing her own work in various forms including stand up comedy, monologues and is now developing a one-woman show for 2009/2010.  Most recently she can be seen hosting for the Von Foxies Burlesque as the scotch-swilling "Maggie."  

Jourdan Keith, Seattle's 2007 Poet Populist and storyteller, is a Jack Straw writer and Hedgebrook alum. A 2004 grant recipient from the Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs for the choreopoem, "The Uterine Files: Episode I, Voices Spitting Out Rainbows," her publication credits include ColorsNW, Seattle Woman, KUOW, the video "Silence...Broken" and the anthology, "Ma-Ka, Diasporic Juks." She is the founder of Urban Wilderness Project, which provides storytelling, restoration and adventure programs.

David Schmader is a writer and performer who's been living and working in Seattle since 1991. His solo plays include Letter to Axl and Straight, which he's performed to great acclaim in Seattle and across the U.S. In his spare time, Schmader is also the world's foremost authority on the brilliant horribleness of Paul Verhoven's Showgirls, hosting annotated screenings of the notorious stripper drama at film festivals across the country and supplying the commentary track for MGM's special-edition Showgirls DVD in 2002. Since 1999, Schmader's been an editor and staff writer for the Seattle newsweekly The Stranger, for which he writes the weekly pop culture-and-politics column "Last Days." He's currently completing the new live cinema essay Nomi's Inferno: An Abridged and Annotated Tour of American Cinematic Failure, and a new solo play, Litter.

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry" April 24, 2008 at Richard Hugo House

New York-born Roberto Ascalon is a poet, writer, arts educator and performance artist. He is an instructor at Nova High School in Seattle and teaches teenagers at Artscorp. Ascalon has participated in Bumberslam at the Bumbershoot Festival, the Seattle All City Slam Poetry Finals and two Seattle National Poetry Slams. In 2004, he self-published his book The Words Are Not Enough. His poems have appeared in the anthologies Poetry on Buses 2004: Facts and Fictions and From the Page to the Stage: National Slam Anthology. Ascalon graduated from Evergreen College in Olympia, Wash., with a degree in Advanced Intercultural Communication. He makes his home in Seattle.

Elizabeth Austen spent her teens and twenties working as an actor and director in cities as diverse as London, England and Holland, Michigan. After six months of solo rambling in the Andes region of South America she recognized her true nature as an introvert, left the theatre and began writing poetry. For the past 10+ years, she’s been writing meditations – sometimes lyrical, sometimes humorous – on the nature and inter-relatedness of power, sexuality and mortality. Elizabeth served as the Washington “roadshow” poet for 2007, giving readings and workshops in rural areas around the state. She provides weekly commentary on Pacific Northwest poetry readings on KUOW, 94.9, public radio. She is the recipient of a grant from 4Culture, and is an alumna of Hedgebrook, the Jack Straw Writers Program, and Antioch University-Los Angeles. Her audio CD, skin prayers, is available at www.elizabethausten.org.

Rebecca Loudon lives and writes in Seattle. She is the author of Tarantella and Radish King from Ravenna Press, and Navigate, Amelia Earhart's Letters Home from No Tell Books. Her third collection of poetry, Cadaver Dogs, is forthcoming from No Tell Books this summer. She teaches violin to children.

Cody Walker teaches English at the University of Washington and poetry through Seattle Arts and Lectures' Writers in the Schools program. He also serves as a writer-in-residence at Richard Hugo House. His work appears in Best American Poetry, Parnassus, Slate, Shenandoah, and Subtropics. In 2007 he was elected Seattle Poet Populist. His first book, Shuffle and Breakdown, will be published by Waywiser Press in the fall of 2008.

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry" March 13, 2008 at Richard Hugo House

Katinka Kraft is a German-American spoken word poet and multi-media performance artist. She has performed in national tours at theaters, festivals, and universities, including Western Washington University, University of Washington, Portland State University, University of California, Davis, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She has been an arts educator in private secondary institutions for the last 3 years and is currently employed at Richard Hugo House. Her most current artistic endeavor took her to Poland and Germany, where she directed and filmed a documentary short with the Descendants Project (www.descendantsproject.com).

Jennifer D. Munro's stories and essays have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Best American Erotica; Best Women's Erotica; Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica; Zyzzyva; North American Review; Boulevard; Massachusetts Review; The Bigger the Better the Tighter the Sweater: 21 Funny Women on Beauty and Body Image; and Literary Mama. Her new short-story collection, The Erotica Writer's Husband, is available on lulu.com, or visit the author's website at www.munrojd.com.

Seth Rosenbloom is a writer and solo performer. Recently he has performed in Seattle at On The Boards 12 Minutes Max, the Seattle Solo Performance Festival and at Theatre Off Jackson. Seth is the co-founder of Unicyle Collective, the only company devoted to producing original solo theatre in the Northwest.

Maged Zaher was born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. His poems appear in magazines such as Columbia Poetry Review, Exquisite Corpse, Jacket, Tinfish and many others. His second chapbook "the wholesale approach" was on the Seattle Times local bestseller's list in 2004.

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry" November 08, 2007 at Richard Hugo House

Ryan Boudinot’s work has appeared in McSweeney’s, BlackBook, and The Best American Non-Required Reading 2003 and 2005. His collection of short stories, "The Littlest Hitler,” was named one of the best 100 books of 2006 by Publisher’s Weekly.

Rajnii Eddins is a poet, singer/songwriter, performance artist and teacher. He is the co-founder of an organization called the Poetry Experience, which he initiated with his mother, Randee Eddins, in August of 1998. Rajnii has performed at more than 300 venues including: festivals, theatres, poetry slams, colleges and universities, cafes, bookstores, and a wide variety of schools. Rajnii, as a teacher, works with many at-risk youth from primary grades through high school creating and implementing curriculums that teach non-violence through poetry and spoken word that serve to deconstruct media stereotypes reaffirm self-identity and improve self-esteem.

Chris Leasure publishes fiction under her porn star name, Leslie Anne Leasure, in such fabulous publications as Blood Sisters: Lesbian Vampire Tales, Blithe House Quarterly, and Best Lesbian Love Stories. She has an MFA from some university in the midwest and an excerpt of her experimental novel-in-progress, Solanaceae Gardens, can be found in the current issue of Del Sol Review. Chris works at Hugo House and mocks Brian's cubicle daily.

Brian McGuigan, curator of "Cheap Wine and Poetry," works at Richard Hugo House and was selected as curator of the Seattle City Council’s Words’ Worth Poetry Series in 2007. Spankstra Press published his chapbook, "More Than I Left Behind" in 2006. Currently, McGuigan is working on a follow-up to his chapbook, a few short stories, and has hopes for developing a one-man show. You can read more about Brian and his work at www.brianwithani.com.

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry” August 02, 2007 at Luxcollective Gallery

John Burgess grew up in upstate New York, worked on a survey crew in Montana, taught English in Japan and now lives and works in Seattle. He's a 2006 Jack Straw writer and co-founder of Washington Poets Association's Burning Word festival. His first book is Punk Poems from Ravenna Press (2005).

Mary Purdy is a transplant from NYC where she was a regular on the comedy scene. Her solo show "PURDY WOMAN" was produced at several Off-Broadway venues in NYC as well as featured in the Piccolo Spoleto Fest in Charleston, SC, and Bumbershoot Festival 2005. Her 2nd solo piece "Judy Blume Owes Me" was produced in both LA, NYC and Seattle as well as featured in a variety of comedy festivals. Mary was a regular comedy contributor to NPR's "The Next Big Thing" for 3 years. Her work has been seen here in Seattle at On the Boards Live Girls! Theatre, Spin the Bottle, The Stay Up Late Show, Macha Monkey Cabaret and Hugo House among other places. She is also co-artistic director and founder of UnicycleCollective.org dedicated to producing new & original solo theatrical works.

Trisha Ready is pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and beginning an internship at a local mental hospital. Prior careers have included working as Managing Director of Richard Hugo House, driving a truck, and running a bouquet manufacturing plant. Her essays and stories have appeared in various publications including Swivel, The Rendezvous Reader, The Stranger, Mother Jones and Exquisite Corpse.

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry” June 07, 2007 at Richard Hugo House

Lyall Bush, Executive Director of Richard Hugo House, has written personal essays and reviews for over a decade in daily and weekly newspapers and monthly magazines, including The Iowa Review, Film Comment, MovieMaker, The Seattle Times, and Books in Canada. He has published on photography, style in American writing, Marlon Brando, documentary films, and he is currently at work on a novel and a screenplay.

Jennifer Jasper has been producing, directing and performing in original works for over 20 years. She was a co-founder of Kings' Elephant Theatre, which produced and performed original improvised plays for 10 years. She and Mia Levine began Vixen Productions in 1995 and have produced locally and nationally with the Pulp Vixen troupe through 2006. Her directorial credits in Seattle include "Anges De Castro" at the Annex, "On The Verge" at AHA! Theater, "The Holiday Survival Game Show" in 2000 and "Pirates Of Lesbos" a Vixen production at The Re-bar. She keeps busy performing as "Maggie" the scotch swilling emcee of the VonFoxies Burlesque Troupe and others as well as performing improvised stand up comedy around town. She is currently developing a full length one-woman show.

Jourdan Keith, Seattle's 2007 poet populist and storyteller, is a Jack Straw writer and Hedgebrook alum. A 2004 grant recipient from the Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs for the choreopoem, "The Uterine Files: Episode I, Voices Spitting Out Rainbows," her publication credits include ColorsNW, Seattle Woman, when it rains from the ground up, KUOW, the video "Silence...Broken" and the anthology, "Ma-Ka, Diasporic Juks." She is the founder of Urban Wilderness Project, which provides storytelling, restoration and adventure programs.

Resident of Slaughter Paul Nelson's a poet, father, teacher, and founder of the non-profit Global Voices Radio and co-founder of the Northwest SPokenword LAB (SPLAB!) Active in the Auburn community since moving there from Seattle in 1992, he's interviewed hundreds of authors and poets, such as Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, Michael McClure, Jean Houston, Rupert Sheldrake, Wanda Coleman, Matthew Fox, Jerome Rothenberg and others for a syndicated public affairs radio program. Having worked in radio for 26 years, Paul recently completed his graduate work through Lesley University on Organic Poetry, teaches at the Muckleshoot Tribal College and writes at least one American Sentence every day.

JT Stewart— Curator of the 2006 Jack Straw Writers in Residence— uses her creative time as writer, poet, editor, playwright, educator, urban storyteller and vociferous foe of mean spirited evil doers. As a recipient of two invitational residencies to Hedgebrook - the private retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island - she has also had an award established there in her name. You can find a representative sample of JT's work as a collaborative public artist in the permanent installation - Raven Brings Light to This House of Stories - in the Allen Library at the University of Washington. And, if you listen to her carefully, you'll hear a faint Bronx accent.

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry” March 05, 2007 at Richard Hugo House

Elizabeth Austen's commentaries on Pacific Northwest poetry readings can be heard every Monday at 2 p.m. on "The Beat" on KUOW, 94.9, public radio. She is the 2006 Poetry Roadshow poet and teaches regularly at Richard Hugo House. Her poems have appeared in journals including the Bellingham Review, Swivel, the Seattle Review and Switched-on Gutenberg. Her audio CD, skin prayers, is available at elizabethausten.org.

Brian Cordell writes and lives in Irving, TX. In addition to writing, he is the editor of the online journal, iddie.net. Brian also teaches at North Lake Community College and writes a student advice column in the Beijing newspaper, English Weekly. His poems have most recently appeared in "when it rains from the ground up." Brian can be reached at becordell@hotmail.com.

Keri Healey is a playwright, director, and actor living in Seattle. Her most recent work includes several plays. She is also the author of a collection of short stories entitled Jealous of Boys. In 2002 and 2006 she was a writer-in-residence at the Espy Foundation. In 2004, she was chosen by Seattle Dramatists as one of its five inaugural Principal Playwrights. In 2005, she was selected by The Stranger as "One to Watch" in their annual Genius Awards issue.

David Schmader is the author of the solo plays Straight and Letter to Axl, which he's performed in Seattle and across the U.S. He's also an associate editor of The Stranger, the Seattle newsweekly for which he's written the pop culture-and-politics column "Last Days" since 1998. In his spare time, he's the world's foremost authority on the brilliant horribleness of the 1995 film "Showgirls,” touring his live, annotated screening "Showgirls with David Schmader" to film fests across the country and providing the commentary track to MGM's special editon "Showgirls” DVD in 2003.

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry” January 11, 2007 at Richard Hugo House

Eben Eldridge is a poet, musician, and painter, who has lived in Seattle for ten odd, disturbing years. He’s been a singer and songwriter for the bands Hungarian Music Lesson, Tractor Sex Fatality, and Pluto Boy, and his solo CDs include "You Thought You Knew Me” and "Now You Know.” For more Eben Eldridge: www.allthingseben.com.

Stacey Levine is a Seattle-based author whose novel Frances Johnson, a finalist for the Washington State Book Award, was published last year by Clear Cut Press. Her books My Horse and Other Stories and Dra—, a novel, were published by Sun & Moon Press. She has written for Fence, Bookforum, The Stranger, and far more frightening venues. She also wrote a libretto for a puppet opera about the Quileute tribes of Washington State. Formerly a creative writing instructor, Stacey is now at work on other books.

Shira Richman is delighted to have poems published in Crab Creek Review, Promethean, Snow Monkey, and Real Change. She is the 2006 winner of the Richard Hugo House New Works Competition. These days she finds herself in Spokane, where she is working on her MFA in Creative Writing at Eastern Washington University, and trying to locate her inner prairie.

Mary Purdy

John Burgess

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry" November 09, 2006 at Richard Hugo House

Harvey Goldner lives in Seattle. His poems have appeared in The Adirondack Review, Amarillo Bay, Chelsea, Curious Rooms, Exhibition, Exquisite Corpse, 4th Street, Iota, Pinstripe Fedora, Poetry Midwest, Puerto del Sol, Pulsar, Rattle, Shampoo Poetry, The Sun, Wicked Alice, Willard & Maple, and elsewhere. His chapbook, Her Bright Bottom, was recently released by Spankstra Press (Seattle).

Brendan Regan was born in Iowa and grew up in Northwest Ohio and Denver. His work has appeared in Chronogram (Philip Levine, Editor), Syntax, and Thunder Sandwich, and is forthcoming in Letter X.He has self-published three chapbooks, and recently received Honorable Mention in the New Millennium Writings Poetry Contest.You can sometimes find him at www.myspace.com/poetryiscoolagain.

Willie Smith is deeply ashamed of being human. His work celebrates this horror. The Seattle tabloid THE STRANGER once branded him a "Giant Asshole" and threatened to "cut off his oxygen supply." His work is unintentionally disturbing and deliberately honest. At his public readings fistfights and shouting matches are not uncommon. On a good day his work just might provoke a few calories of warmth in that cold slimy bundle of fear and grasping known as the human soul.

Deborah Woodard’s poetry and translations have appeared in Artful Dodge, the Bellingham Review, Chelsea, Harness, Monkey Puzzle, and the Threepenny Review. She has published two chapbooks of poetry: The Orphan Conducts the Dovehouse Orchestra (Bear Star Press, 1999) and The Book of Riddles (Boxcar Press, 1998). A full-length collection, Plato’s Bad Horse, is forthcoming from Bear Star Press.

Jourdan Keith

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry” August 24, 2006 at Richard Hugo House

Larry Crist leads a quiet life of desperation in Seattle. He has also lived in Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, London, and numerous locals in California, where life was just as desperate but not all that quiet. His fiction and poetry have most recently appeared in Rainbow Curve, Metal Scratches, Alimentum, Red Rock Review, Karamu, & Rogue.

Dana Elkun's poems have appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, Bellingham Review, Puerto del Sol and Pontoon 8. She's been facilitating writing workshops for adults since 2001. She also teaches poetry to high school students and to homeless youth. Dana was recently nominated for Best New American Poets for 2006. For inspiration in her work, she draws from dictionaries, glossaries, and the entire alphabet.

Paul Hunter has been poet, teacher, performer, playwright, musician, instrument-maker, artist, editor, publisher, grassroots arts activist, shade-tree mechanic, and worker on the land. Recipient of the 1998 Pym Cup and the 1999 Nelson Bentley Award, he lives and works in Seattle. His full-length collection of farming poems, Breaking Ground, from Silverfish Review Press, is a recipient of the 2004 Washington State Book Award.

Leanne Laux-Bachand can be found transforming magnetic doors into magnetic poetry doors, with the help of children..."Will you eat upchuck worms?" the children want to know. LeAnne wants to know how you are and what your writing doors open onto.

Brian McGuigan works at Richard Hugo House, is co-editor of when it rains from the ground up, and producer of "A Night of Cheap Wine and Poetry" series. His poems have appeared in Letter X, The Wandering Hermit, Slipstream, and others. Spankstra Press recently published his first collection of poetry, More Than I Left Behind. www.write2die.com

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry” June 08, 2006 at Richard Hugo House

Toni Bajado is the daughter of Filipino immigrants, a self-proclaimed "Navy brat," originally from Bremerton, WA. She graduated from Seattle University with a degree in English, works for North Seattle Community College, and studies acting as a Diversity Scholar at Freehold Studio on Capitol Hill.

Bret Fetzer writes plays and short stories. His fairy tale "The Devil Factory" will appear in an upcoming issue of Cabinet des Fees. A play for young audiences, "Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like" (adapted from the picture book by Jay Williams), will be produced by Seattle Children's Theater in February of 2007. Bret's books of fairy tales, "Petals & Thorns" and "Tooth & Tongue," are available from www.pistilbooks.com.

Richard Loranger is a writer of poetry and prose, as well as a spoken word, performance and visual artist for over two decades. In addition to "Poems for Teeth," Richard has authored "The Orange Book" (International Review Press, 1990) and eight chapbooks, including "Hello Poems" and "The Day Was Warm and Blue," and has had work included in over sixty magazines and journals and thirteen anthologies. Richard teaches English and Creative Writing and is the director of Writing Across the Curriculum at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Rebecca Loudon lives and writes in Seattle. She is the author of two collections of poetry, "Tarantella," and "Radish King" (both from Ravenna Press). She teaches violin to children and is the founder of The Wallingford Irregulars workshop, which is in its eighth year. She is the librettist for composer Roupen Shakarian and is currently writing the libretto to "Red Queen," an opera based on the relationship between Alice Liddell and Charles Dodgson.

Steve Potter has had work appear in recent issues of Arson, Blue Collar Review, Dirt, Freefall, Knock, Pontoon and other magazines. After two decades of job hopping as custodian, handy man, trade show carpenter, office temp, etc., he's recently gone into business for himself designing and silk screening T-shirts for sale. He is the publisher and editor of The Wandering Hermit Review.

Mary Purdy

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"Cheap Wine and Poetry” March 08, 2006 at Richard Hugo House

Steve Barker lives and writes in Seattle. He's a member of the write2die poets (write2die.com), an editor of when it rains from the ground up and Letter X (LetterXmag.com), and a regular contributor to Zygote in My Coffee.

Jaime Curl teaches writing for Western Washington University and the Seattle Community College District. He is a 2005 Jack Straw Writing Fellow and has recent publications in Midwest Quarterly, Sycamore Review, and Redivider.

Chris Dusterhoff is the founder and editor of Spankstra Press. He has published books by Todd Moore, Harvey Goldner, Maged Zaher, David LaTerre, Ira Parnes and Eli Richardson. He is rumored to be living in the last roach-infested roominghouse in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle.

Poet, musician, and bon vivant, David Fewster was the recipient of a 2003-2004 AIP Grant from the Tacoma Arts Commission for his book Diary of a Homeless Alcoholic Suicidal Maniac & Other Picture Postcards. His work has also appeared in the anthologies Revival: Spoken Word from Lollapalooza 94 and Thus Spake the Corpse: An Exquisite Corpse Reader Vol. 2.

Amanda Laughtland lives in the suburbs of Seattle, works part-time in a public library, and teaches part-time at a community college. Her poems have appeared recently in Letter X, Knock, and Shampoo.

Brian McGuigan

Arne Pihl has officially spent most of his life in the trades. Time does funny things to us. He tries to work words with the same ease he works a hammer. It's an ever on-going process with no retirement plan. Everything--lumber, lines--everything has knots.

Harvey Goldner