Props To:

Dear Writers,

What are you and your characters doing today? I’m continually dazzled by the wonderful work people are doing in our region. Here are some that recently caught my attention!

Props To:

• The multitalented Andrea Hurst for the release of her latest book, The Guestbook, available in paperback and e-book. Both a literary agent and published writer, Andrea lives and works in the Pacific Northwest, on an island much like the fictional Madrona of The Guestbook. How she carves out time to write amidst managing her many literary and business endeavors beats me, but way to go, Andrea!

• Poet and Community of Writers at Squaw Valley alum Scot Siegel on the release of his latest book of poetry, Thousands Flee California Wildflowers (Salmon Poetry, 2012). Scott lives in Oregon where he works as a town-planning consultant, serves on the board of the Friends of William Stafford, and edits Untitled Country Review. Hopefully, one day we’ll see him back in Bellingham, where he’s read before at Village Books. Find him at Red Room: www.redroom.com/author/scot-siegel/.

• Triple threat writer, teacher, thespian Cate Perry for her recent roles in The Skagit River Shakespeare Festival’s 2012 season. Cate played Trebonius in Julius Caesar and Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This Shakespeare troupe is highly entertaining and plays Shakespeare under the stars. What more could we want? Read Cate’s musings about her summer acting experiences at her blogspot Not Looking.

• Little Bird Theater for its recent production of the original, thought-provoking play February September. Little Bird Theater is poet/playwright/director/actor/mom Carolyn McCarthy and whoever she rounds up to work with her—this group literally goes out and finds random spaces in which to launch terrific plays. Little Bird Theater’s next show, The Raft, opens October 12 at 1309 Cornwall in Bellingham. Hope to see you there.

• Bellingham poet Matthew Brouwer for launching a highly successful Kickstarter campaign to fund his summer poetry tour through the Pacific Northwest, Utah, and Colorado as well as the release of his latest collection of poems: The Gospel According to Matthew. Matthew is an extremely hard-working poet as well as a musician. You can find him at more than one Bellingham open mic or playing his saxophone around town. Sometimes he mixes music and poetry, which I find very cool.

• The amazing team behind the 2012 Chuckanut Writers Conference, where I was honored to be invited back as a faculty member in June. Featuring Sherman Alexie, Erica Bauermeister, Sheila Bendar, Oliver de la Paz, Samuel Green, Priscilla Long, Naseem Rakha, Nancy Rawles, Betty Scott, Oona Sherman, Kathryn Trueblood and more, this year’s conference was excellent. Check out photo highlights on YouTube!

• And, if you’re a parent, dreaming about being a parent, or having nightmares about being a parent, you can always check out what the fictional blogger Urban Mommy has to say!

News flash for area writers courtesy of Jennifer Bullis: Whatcom Poetry Series presents The Poet As Art with Marvin Bell and Anita Endrezze on Friday, September 7^th from 7:00 to 8:30 PM @ Whatcom Museum in the Rotunda Room of the Old City Hall building in Bellingham WA. On Saturday, September 8^th Marvin Bell will teach a poetry writing workshop at Egress Studio from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Call (360) 398-7870 or e-mail jim@jamesbertolino.com for details and to register.

As always, send me your writing-related event notices so I can help spread the word! I hope you will tell a couple people about this blog. For more details about upcoming events, visit the About Town page at LaurelLeighWriter.com. From local events to workshops in France, there is a lot of cool stuff coming up for writers. Read more from me, including my recent post “Beauty and the Brain” at Dogpatch Writers Collective.

xo Laurel Leigh