posts about books, literature, storytelling, stories, story slams, poetry slams, word performances, readings, etc.
by Molly Gilmore for OLY ARTS Lacey Loves to Read aims to get kids fired up about literature. This Thursday, the program will introduce them to theater, too, with a free performance by Seattle’s Book-It Repertory Theatre. The acclaimed theater will bring its adaptation of Seattle author Matt de la Peña’s Newbery-winning Last Stop on …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS In mid-January 2017, Olympia Little Theatre will produce a staged reading of A Lollard in the Wind: Chaucer’s Dilemma by local actor-turned-playwright John Pratt. Pratt was most recently seen in the leading role, Arthur Putnam, in OLT’s An Act of the Imagination. Based in part on Chaucer’s stories from …
by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS What would the holiday season be if it didn’t include a bit of winter poetry, read under the warm glow of a lamp in a cozy room? The Olympia Poetry Network (OPN), a nonprofit organization with 25 years of history in the South Sound, invites community members to join …
by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS Local letterpress artists and authors Chandler O’Leary and Jessica Spring have taken an active role in keeping feminism strong in their new book, Dead Feminists: Historic Heroines in Living Color. O’Leary and Spring will be celebrating their book at “Pressing Matters: Lacey,” an upcoming artist talk, pop-up show and …
by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS Pacific-Northwest author Josh Kilen will be reading from his newest book, Around the Sound: Amusing Thoughts and Tales from Washington’s Puget Sound at Browsers Bookshop. Published in April, the book includes humorous short stories and essays about the Puget Sound and its rich history. “The book was born out …
by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Olympia’s ever-surprising art gallery Salon Refu is instituting story time for the holiday season. Local poets, writers, storytellers and, as gallery owner Susan Christian puts it, “people of good will and excellent language skills” will read their work every Thursday through Sunday in December. During the month of December …
Writing in the Rain With Olympia’s Poet Laureate UPDATED Nov. 23, 2016: City Arts Program manager Stephanie Johnson announced that the Olympia City Council approved Amy Solomon-Minarchi as Olympia’s first poet laureate. Solomon-Minarchi is in her fourth year of teaching at North Thurston High School. She grew up on the Jersey Shore and moved to …
by Christina Butcher for OLY ARTS Political activist and author Iyad Burnat is touring the Pacific Northwest this week to speak about his new book, Bil’in and the Nonviolent Resistance, which addresses peaceful protests in the West Bank and the author’s lifelong struggle for justice and freedom in Palestine. Burnat’s reading at Traditions Fair Trade …
UPDATED JAN. 17, 2017: One correction and one addition were suggested by Ms. Lohmann’s daughter, Karen Lohmann. We apologize for any misinformation or confusion in our original article. In the aftermath of poet Lucia Perillo’s death, OLY ARTS was saddened to learn of the passing on September 26 of renowned Olympia poet Jeanne Lohmann. Lohmann, …
Renowned author and poet Lucia Perillo died in her Olympia home October 16 of unknown causes. Her passing was reported by her publisher, Port Townsend’s Copper Canyon Press. She was 58. Perillo’s 2009 poetry collection, Inseminating the Elephant, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and won the Library of Congress’s Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National …