Friday, May 2, 7 p.m. at the Library
Elizabeth Austen, photo by Susan Slapin
Elizabeth Austen is the Washington State Poet Laureate for 2014-16. Her debut collection, Every Dress a Decision (Blue Begonia Press, 2011) was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. She’s also the author of two chapbooks, The Girl Who Goes Alone (Floating Bridge Press, 2010) and Where Currents Meet (Toadlily Press, 2010).
Her poems have been featured on “The Writer’s Almanac” and “Verse Daily,” in the Los Angeles Review, Bellingham Review and Willow Springs. She is noted for her engaging public performances of poetry, and has been featured at Poets House in New York City, Minneapolis’s The Loft, the Skagit River Poetry Festival, Spokane’s Get Lit!, Seattle’s Cheap Wine and Poetry and Bumbershoot, among others.
Elizabeth produces poetry programming for NPR-affiliate KUOW 94.9, earned an MFA at Antioch University LA, and teaches at Richard Hugo House. She makes her living at Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she also offers poetry and journaling workshops for the staff.
Shannon Borg
Shannon Borg is a writer, wine educator and poet. She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Washington, and a PhD in poetry and literature from the University of Houston. She writes about wine and travel for Seattle magazine and other publications, and holds a certificate from the International Sommelier Guild. Her poems have been published in The Paris Review, London Review of Books, Poetry Northwest and other journals. She has published a book of poems, Corset, (Cherry Grove, 2006), and a cookbook, Chefs on the Farm: Lessons and Recipes from the Quillisascut Farm School of the Domestic Arts (Mountaineers, 2008). Green Wine: A Guide to West Coast Sustainable, Organic and Biodynamic Wine, is forthcoming from Mountaineers Books in 2013. She lives in Friday Harbor, Washington.
