Poetry Month Begins with Premiere Reading Honoring Lilly Ledbetter

Wednesday, April 1, 6 pm at Darvill’s Bookstore

— from Jill McCabe Johnson for Artsmith —

Carolyne Wright will celebrate the beginning of April as Poetry Month at Darvill’s Bookstore

The highly acclaimed poet Carolyne Wright will kickoff April Poetry month with the premiere reading from her anthology Raising Lilly Ledbetter: Women Poets Occupy the Workspace (Lost Horse Press, 2015) on Wednesday, April 1, at Darvill’s Bookstore. As this April’s featured writer in the Artsmith Salon Series, Wright will share her poems, as well as works from the new anthology, which is in response to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

Ledbetter had sued Goodyear for paying her 13-29% less than her male colleagues despite nearly 20 years with the company. The lawsuit went to the Supreme Court of the United States. However, Ledbetter lost due to a technicality of not filing the suit within 180 days of her last paycheck. Although she lost, her suit inspired legislation to ensure greater pay equity.

The 2013 report from the National Pay Equity Task Force indicates that “increases in U.S. economic inequality have fallen disproportionately on women and minorities,” with “a significant negative effect on women, who head one quarter of households with children.” According to U.S. Census data, in the years since the Fair Pay Act was signed into law, women’s pay still averages 23 cents less per dollar earned by men. The National Pay Equity Task Force suggests that raising women’s wages only 10%—less than half of the average difference in men’s and women’s pay—“would lift nearly 1.3 million individuals out of poverty, including more than half a million children.” They also note that “differences in pay between men and women compound over the years.” According to the Department of Labor, when the pay gap is not corrected, the average woman loses hundreds of thousands of dollars over her working lifetime.

“Raising Lilly Ledbetter” response to gender pay inequality

In response, poets Carolyne Wright, Eugenia Toledo, and M. L. Lyons, have edited the inspiring anthology Raising Lilly Ledbetter: Women Poets Occupy the Workspace from Lost Horse Press. The anthology showcases women poets in their workspaces, and across nearly every industry, from agriculture to aerospace, from farm to factory, from cubicle to corner office. The poems highlight a wide range of experiences of women in the workplace, including injustices but also overcoming great challenges and celebrating great triumphs.

Join Carolyne Wright for the premiere reading of Raising Lilly Ledbetter at Artsmith’s Salon Series on Wednesday, April 1, 6 p.m. at Darvill’s Bookstore. The reading will be followed by a question and answer with the poet, a reception with hors d’oeuvres, and book-signing.

Wright is the author of nine books of poetry, four volumes of poetry in translation from Spanish and Bengali; and a collection of essays. She lived in Chile on a Fulbright Grant during the presidency of Salvador Allende; and spent four years on fellowship in India and Bangladesh, translating Bengali women poets. After visiting positions at universities around the country, Wright returned to her native Seattle in 2005, and teaches for the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts’ MFA Program and for Seattle’s Richard Hugo House.

For more information on the reading and reception, go to orcasartsmith.org/salon-series or email Jill McCabe Johnson at info@orcasartsmith.org.

Suggested reading:
Raising Lilly Ledbetter: Women Poets Occupy the Workspace edited by Carolyne Wright, M.L. Lyons, and Eugenia Toledo (Lost Horse Press, 2015)
Grace and Grit: My Fight for Equal Pay and Fairness at Goodyear and Beyond by Lilly Ledbetter and Lanier Scott Isom (Crown Archetype, 2012)
Fifty Years After the Equal Pay Act: Assessing the past, Taking Stock of the Future by the National Equal Pay Task Force (2013) whitehouse.gov/image/image_file/equal_pay-task_force_progress_report_june_10_2013.pdf