NEWS AND NOTES from PoetsWest

Updated April 27, 2013

UW PROFESSIONAL & CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAMS

The University of Washington Professional & Continuing Education Programs are taught by published authors, and are designed to help you gain skills and make progress on your own writing. Most fall programs begin in late September or early October; others begin in Winter. Evening writers’ programs are offered on the University of Washington main campus, in downtown Seattle and in Bellevue.

Choose Your Writing Program
Do you have a story, article or memoir waiting to be born?
The UW Professional & Continuing Education Programs have helped hundreds of writers craft popular and literary fiction, memoirs, children's literature, and nonfiction works. Many writers who participated in these programs have established themselves as professionals with published works to their credit. Each program is designed with the adult learner in mind, which allows students to collaborate with fellow writers in developing their writing abilities. Courses in all programs are taught by published authors, and most programs feature notable guest speakers.

Writers' Programs
All programs build creative and technical skills. The link http://www.pce.uw.edu/certificates/writing/
lists all of University of Washington’s Writing, Editing, and Publishing programs, with links to each specific program. Good place to start for those students interested in the literary arts, but who may not yet know which program is the “best fit” for them.

If you have questions about your eligibility for any of these programs, please give us a call at 888-469-6499. Additional information is available at http://www.pce.uw.edu

The UW Educational Outreach has a Twitter presence at http://Twitter.com. Follow “UW_ContinuingEd”.

Art Song Lab, founded by composer Michael Park and poet, Ray Hsu, is part of the Vancouver International Song Institute Composers are paired with poets to create new art songs as. Six poets/writers will have the opportunity to have their poem made into a song by two different composers. The week-long program from June 2-7, 2013 rehearses and workshops the new songs, features public performances, opportunities for poets to network with composers and other poets, and an in-depth exploration of how the poet, composer, and audience interpret the poems. They are looking to contact as many writers as possible. Email: artsonglab@gmail.com.

Playing for Change http://www.playingforchange.com/. These are live recordings by more than 100 singers and musicians from around the world in songs for peace. A small film crew traveled to Native American reservations, Africa, the Himalayas, Europe, Russia, Middle East, India, Nepal, and elsewhere to find and record the musicians. Roger Ridley, Grandpa Elliott and others in “Stand by Me” will steal your heart. More songs with Bono, Bob Marley, Clayton Gibb, and so many others. Check it out! Their CD/DVD combo is a bargain.

Dan Oestreich of Oestreich Associates Weblog devoted to leadership topics called Unfolding Leadership (http://www.unfoldingleadership.com/blog). I am soliciting original poems from people who might like to submit their material. See guidelines at http://www.unfoldingleadership.com/blog/?page_id=426. Please also see this page http://www.unfoldingleadership.com/blog/?page_id=98 where poems are displayed permanently.

Dan Oestreich of Oestreich Associates
17525 NE 40th Street, E-122 •Redmond WA
425-881-6336 • 425-922-2859 (cell)
http://unfoldingleadership.com 
http://unfoldingleadership.com/blog 

The Nature of Words (NOW), Central Oregon's premier literary organization
The mission of The Nature of Words is to foster an appreciation of the literary arts and humanities in the high desert region of the Northwest through community interaction with acclaimed authors, and through creative writing programs for students and adults.
NOW also hosts an annual literary festival usually in November in Bend, Oregon. Open to writers in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. More information about the Rising Star Creative Writing Competition and The Nature of Words at www.thenatureofwords.org, or contact Ellen Waterston, Director email info@thenatureofwords.org or call 541.330.4381. In Bend, visit NOW’s literary arts center at 224 NW Oregon Avenue.

The Nature of Words also needs your support! This annual literary festival depends on the generous sponsors and donors who value the literary arts and their contribution to the quality of life in Central Oregon. Your contribution in any amount will help to ensure The Nature of Words offers opportunities for readers, writers, young writers, and anyone who enjoys great literature. Donating is easy. You can mail a check to The Nature of Words, PO Box 56, Bend OR 97709 or donate via the PayPal link on our website.

Reed College in Portland OR
Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program at Reed (http://www.reed.edu/MALS/). The MALS program is a flexible, interdisciplinary graduate program for lifetime students of all ages. Contact Barbara Amen, MALS director, at 503.777.7259 or bamen@reed.edu.

Call for submissions to Page Boy Magazine by Thomas Walton
Poetry, prose, essays. Stylistic concerns are unimportant. Preference given to works that are strangely lovely, inexplicably beautiful, musical much more so than moral, logical or 'straight.' Confessional, Sentimental, Angry work not accepted. No deadlines, no entry fees. We pay a couple of contributor’s copies. I’ve never liked the idea of poets having to pay other people to read their work.
Send 3-5 poems, prose 10 pages or less, essays on any subject to pageboymagazine@hotmail.com.

Call for poems: protestpoems.org
http://web.mac.com/renkat/Site/Protest_Poems.html
Protestpoems.org is a twice-monthly poetry journal committed to poetry that tackles human rights issues worldwide. The website provides information about persecuted writers, with letters of protest ready for our subscribers to cut and paste. To receive emails with protest information focused on a specific writer, email us at write@protestpoems.org with SUBSCRIBE in subject line.
Submission guidelines
We’re not looking for partisan propaganda, party-political mouthings, sentimental depictions of what you see on the TV, or rhyming greetings card verses. We want you to champion human rights; the rights of those who don’t have the freedom to write and speak. Formal complaints are especially exciting. Paste your poems (a maximum of 3 one-page poems) and brief bio into the body of an email and send to mailto:write@protestpoems.org. Ok to email a single .doc or .rtf file with all the poems.

We accept poems previously published on paper, if you hold the copyright. We don’t accept poems currently or previously published online (including blogs). We publish a poet only once a year. If your poem deals with a specific call for action or specific person, let us know.

The Northwest Author Series, is sponsored by the Wilsonville Public Library, Wilsonville Arts & Culture Council & Friends of the Wilsonville Library. See blog for more information about NAS authors at http://northwestauthorseries.wordpress.com/. Hosted by Christina Katz christinakatz@earthlink.net. If you'd like to apply as a presenter for 08/09, please e-mail Christina Katz. Mailing address: Northwest Author Series / PO Box 1354 / Wilsonville OR 97070.

News from the Mukilteo Arts Guild:
Open Mic Night on Wednesdays from 6-8 pm
Whidbey Coffee and Café, 619-4th St., Mukilteo WA
Venue for musicians, bands and performers. Open mike. Free and open to all ages. Contact Steve or Christine Schmalz 425.423.0450 or theartworkshop7@aol.com. Open Mic Night is presented by the Mukilteo Arts Guild and co-sponsored by the City of Mukilteo.

Mukilteo Arts Guild and city of Mukilteo sponsor a number of activities.
Writers Group: A literary salon for writers and open to writers from all genres. Meets on Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Mukilteo YMCA, 10601-47th Pl W, Mukilteo WA. Free and open to the public. For more information, contact 425.423.0450.

Nye Beach Writers' Series
The Nye Beach Writers' Series showcases authors of diverse types of writing including fiction, nonfiction, plays, songs, Oregon history, memoir, poetry, essays, and investigative journalism. Readings and performances are appropriate for writers and readers who appreciate good writing and diversity of thought.
More information is available at www.writersontheedge.org. To receive email notification of upcoming events contact Carla Perry at 541-574-7708, or send an email to info@writersontheedge.org. All donations to Writers On The Edge are fully tax-deductible. Contact: Carla Perry info@writersontheedge.org or 541-574-7708. Mailing address: PO Box 85 / Newport OR 97365.

Willamette Writers monthly meetings are held each First Tuesday in the McEntee Room at the Newport Public Library in Newport, Oregon from 7-8:30 p.m. Admission is free. The Writers-on-Writing series is also sponsored by the Newport Public Library and the Sylvia Beach Hotel. Contacts: Sue Lick, 541.867.4692, suelick@casco.net; Dorothy Blackcrow Mack, 541.765.2383, dmack@netportnet.com; www.willamettewriters.com.

The Pongo Teen Writing Project is a therapeutic poetry project that sends teams of trained volunteers into sites such as the state psychiatric hospital and juvenile detention. We particularly seek out teens who have difficulty expressing themselves. Sadly, a consistent theme in the teens' poetry is early childhood trauma, such as abandonment, abuse, and neglect. But, even though the teens often express profound emotional struggles, their writing is also a joyful and healing process. See their web site www.pongoteenwriting.org.

The International Poetry Museum in San Francisco wants to create a facility that will illuminate the universality and diversity of world poetry, with equal emphasis being given to the ancient heritage of folk poetry as well as contemporary international work. Its Poetry Library accepts donations of poems, books and subscriptions to The National Poetry Assoc. 934 Brannan St., San Francisco CA 94911. Check out its web site http://www.internationalpoetrymuseum.org.

Field’s End Winter Writing Classes
Field’s End Winter Writing Classes, are held February through April. Registration forms and details are online at http://www.fieldsend.org/ and at the Bainbridge Public Library. Contact Cindy Vandersluis 206.780.2575 or cindyvandersluis@yahoo.com.

Spalding University of Louisville, KY, offers a two-year brief-residency Master of Fine Arts in Writing Program with concentrations in poetry and five other areas of writing. Each semester begins with a 10-day residency of workshops, lectures, classes, and readings, followed by an at-home semester of individualized study with a faculty mentor by correspondence. Poetry faculty include Molly Peacock, Greg Pape, Rane Arroyo, Barbara Hamby, Debra Kang Dean, Richard Cecil, Maureen Morehaed, and Kathleen Driskell. For more information email mfa@spalding.edu or call 800-896-8941x2423.

THE WARS GO ON (and so does poetsagainstthewar.org).
PAW made a powerful statement for peace, joining with thousands of other poets around the world. The more than 30,000 poems from 26,000 poets are now archived at Ohio State University along with the papers of Sam Hamill. See library.osu.edu.

Mountain Writers Series Upcoming Readings & Events

For details or other information, contact:
Mountain Writers Center
3624 SE Milwaukie Avenue
Portland OR 97202
503.236.4854
pdxmws@mountainwriters.org
www.mountainwriters.org.

SEATTLE FREE LANCES, a social and professional networking group, is one of the oldest associations in Seattle for published writers of the Northwest. They meet the first Tuesday of each month (September-June) at 5:30 p.m. at the Lake City Elks Club, 14540 Lake City Way NE, Seattle WA. For membership information and application form, call 206.363.3832 or email m-gutteridge@msn.com.