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Two New Books from Empty Bowl Authors
September 10th, 2025
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
We are happy to announce the publication of two new books from Empty Bowl authors Michael Daley and Andrew Schelling.
Ground Work is a new book by longtime Empty Bowl publisher Michael Daley. The collection of poems spans the past five years and will be released by Ravenna Press in October. His work focuses on his own lived experiences in manual labor, working on the land and the sea, and environmentalist concerns.
Andrew Schelling, author of Forests, Temples, Glacial Rivers, has a new book of translations coming out this November from Circumference Books. Old Time Love Song Magic is a bilingual edition of poems by Vidyā, who may have been the earliest woman to write poetry in Sanskrit. Vidya’s poetry comes from around eighth century India and spans the full width of feelings within love poetry. The book will feature the original poetry, Schelling’s translations, and Schelling’s own insights and experiences in translating Vidya’s work over the years.
Please join us in celebrating the release of both of these works later this year!
News from Empty Bowl Press
July 14, 2025
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
We hope you’re enjoying long summer days wherever this finds you. We have exciting news to share about upcoming book releases, plus updates on what some of our authors are up to, so please read on:
We look forward to releasing Seattle poet Ed Harkness’s Creek Water, a collection of new and selected poems, with a launch on Saturday, September 13, at 6:30 p.m., at the Haller Lake Community Club in Shoreline (12579 Densmore Avenue N.) If you’re in the Seattle area, we hope you’ll join us to celebrate.
In his foreword to Creek Water, poet David Long writes: “Reading these poems, you’re reminded how crucial it is to be specific, to understand that, truly, something happens only once—look away and you miss it. You never find Ed hiding out in generalities. He makes us hear the names; he makes us see what he sees. What a gift.”
Together with Ann Spiers, author of Wild Cucumber, Ed will also read on Tuesday, October 14, at 6:00 p.m., at Oberto Commons in the Sinegal Center for Science and Innovation at Seattle University.
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Later this year, we’ll be launching My Heart Is Good: Treaty Rights and the Rise of a S’Klallam Fishing Community. We’re enjoying our work with Port Gamble S’Klallam elder Ron Charles and Alaska-based anthropologist Josh Wisniewski on an oral history of Ron’s life as a lens through which to view the history and effect of the landmark 1974 Boldt Decision on tribal fisheries in Washington State. Stay tuned for more about this book in the coming months.
As we mentioned in our last newsletter, we’ll be celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Empty Bowl next year with the publication of Working the Land, Working the Sea, a new edition of our now-classic collection, Working the Woods, Working the Sea. We’re thrilled to have Jessica Gigot, Skagit Valley farmer and writer, and Tele Aadsen, Alaska troller, fisherpoet, and the author of What Water Holds, as coeditors. You can read an interview with the editors in a recent issue of the Salish Currents.
Submissions are open on Submittable—see the details of the call here. And please note: we’ve extended the submission deadline to October 15 to give those working the land and sea this summer more time.
Other upcoming events for Empty Bowl authors
Jerry Martien gave a lively reading from Waveshock: Ed Ricketts, the Voyage of the Grampus & Our Biopoetic Future on June 10 in Corvallis. Jerry will be joining Holly and book designer Carolyn Servid in Sitka, Alaska, for a reading on July 26 at 7 p.m. at the Yaw Chapel at the historic Sheldon Jackson College.
Kurt Hoelting will be in conversation with Stephen Posner about Kurt’s memoir Apprentice to the Wild on the Garrison Institute’s Pathways to Planetary Health Forum on July 16. You can register for the free event here; donations are encouraged. Kurt will also be giving a talk at the Port Townsend Library at 5:00 p.m. on August 7 and a reading at Finnriver Farm & Cidery in Chimacum on September 25 at 6:30 p.m. Prior to the reading, Kurt will be offering a workshop with Holly, from 2–5 p.m. You can find more details here.
Ann Spiers will read from Wild Cucumber on August 14, at 6:00 p.m., at the Ballard Library in Seattle as part of the It’s About Time reading series. Ann has several other readings coming up later this year. For details on those readings and other Empty Bowl Press author events, check the Events page on our website.
Red Pine reads from If a Mountain Lion Could Sing
In other author news, last month we helped celebrate Red Pine’s new book, If a Mountain Lion Could Sing: The Lyric Poems of Xin Qiji, from Copper Canyon Press with a gathering in Port Townsend. Rena Priest’s essay collection Positively Uncivilized won the Raven Chronicles’ Keepers of the Fire Prize for Nonfiction and was recently featured in a lively conversation with award-winning Seattle Times journalist Lynda Mapes. Andrew Schelling’s poetry collection Forests, Temples, Glacial Rivers was reviewed in Raven Chronicles by Richard Meadows—you can read the review here. Andrew Schelling and Anna Linzer, author of Season Unleashed, have poems in the timely Winter in America (Again: Poets Respond to the Election. Check here for upcoming readings from this anthology.
Anna Odessa Linzer reading from Winter In America (Again at Finnriver on July 10.)
As we begin to plan for Empty Bowl’s fiftieth anniversary in the fall of 2026, let us know if you’d like to be involved. We’d welcome your help, support, and good cheer.
Holly and John
Working the Land, Working the Sea and Upcoming Readings
May 1, 2025
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
As we announced in our recent newsletter, in 2026, as part of the celebration of Empty Bowl’s fiftieth year of operation, we’ll be publishing Working the Land, Working the Sea. This anthology will explore and celebrate traditional foodways and livelihoods in farming, forestry, ranching, and marine trades in the Cascadia bioregion. We’re happy to announce that the anthology’s editors will be Tele Aadsen and Jessica Gigot. We’re looking for submissions from those who tend, gather, farm, fish, ranch, research, or work in managed landscapes, restoration, or in a variety of occupations at sea. We’ll be accepting submissions through Submittable. You can also find details on our website. The deadline for submissions is September 1, 2025.
Upcoming readings
We also want to alert you of several upcoming readings featuring Empty Bowl Press authors.
We’ll be at the Raymond Carver Writing Festival in Clatskanie, Washington, on Saturday May 3, to participate in the Publishers and Writers Fair. Doors open at 10:00 a.m. Holly will be reading as part of the festival at 3:30 p.m. More details about the festival here.
Andrew Schelling will be reading from his poetry collection Forests, Temples, Glacial Rivers at the Marin County Free Library in Bolinas, California, on Tuesday evening, May 13. The reading begins at 6 p.m. You can find more details on the library’s website.
On Sunday, June 1 at 4 p.m., Ann Spiers, author Wild Cucumber, which we just released, will be joined by Lost Mountain poet Kate Reavey, author of Curve, for a reading at the Meetinghouse in Port Townsend. Curve was recently featured on Bethany Reid’s excellent blog “A Habit of Writing.” For more details, check the Empty Bowl events page, where you can keep up with other readings as they’re scheduled.
Jerry Martien, author of Waveshock and editor of A Watershed Runs Through You, will be reading in Corvallis, Oregon, on Tuesday, June 10, at 5:30 p.m. at the Toomey Lobby at PRAx at Oregon State University. Thanks to the Spring Creek Project and Grass Roots Books and Music for sponsoring this event.
With warm wishes for the start of May.
Holly and John
The Latest from Empty Bowl Press
April 18, 2025
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
We’re back from the Bookfair at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) conference in Los Angeles at the end of March, where we were happy to connect with old friends and make new friends, too, amid the crowd of writers, writing students, publishers, and booksellers. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth to browse, chat, and admire and purchase our books. Heartening to be in the midst of so many people who love to read!
In honor of National Poetry Month and Earth Day, we’re excited to celebrate the launch of our latest book, Ann Spiers’s collection of new and selected poems, Wild Cucumber. Join us on Vashon Island, Sunday, April 27 at 4 p.m. at the Land Trust Building, 10014 SW Bank Road. See the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber for a great article on Ann’s work and her book.
On Sunday, June 1 at 4 p.m., Ann will be joined by Lost Mountain poet Kate Reavey, author of Curve, for a reading at the Meetinghouse in Port Townsend. Curve was recently featured on Bethany Reid’s excellent blog “A Habit of Writing.” For more details on both readings, check the Empty Bowl events page, where you can keep up with other readings as they’re scheduled.
Kurt Hoelting has been reading from his powerful essay collection, Apprentice to the Wild, to packed houses. In February, Kurt read in Port Townsend with Tele Aadsen, author of What Water Holds. (See our FB page for photos.) The Port Townsend Leader had a wonderful article on Kurt, Tele, and their books. Kurt will be reading in Port Angeles on Thursday, April 24, at 12:35 p.m. at The Little Theater at Peninsula College as part of the Studium Generale series. He’s also reading on Sunday, April 27, 2:00 p.m. at Griffin Bay Books in Friday Harbor. You can find an in-depth interview with Kurt in the Samaritan Center of Puget Sound’s Spring 2025 newsletter.
Friends and fans of Clem Starck, much-beloved author of Cathedrals and Parking Lots and Enjoying the Evening, will want to listen to a recent episode of the podcast “Walking Inside Poems” that features Joseph Bednarik—a great friend of Clem’s and Empty Bowl Press—talking about Clem and his work. We were also delighted that a recent article in the Seattle Times recommending books to read for National Poetry Month included the award-winning I Sing the Salmon Home, edited by Rena Priest. The article also mentions the work of Shin Yu Pai, author of No Neutral and Virga. Congratulations to both!
We’ll be at the Raymond Carver Writing Festival in Clatskanie, Washington, on Saturday May 3, to participate in the Publishers and Writers Fair. Doors open at 10:00 a.m. Holly will be reading as part of the festival at 3:30 p.m. More details about the festival here.
Jerry Martien, author of Waveshock and editor of A Watershed Runs Through You, will be reading in Corvallis, Oregon, on Tuesday, June 10, at 5:30 p.m. at the Toomey Lobby at PRAx at Oregon State University. Thanks to the Spring Creek Project and Grass Roots Books and Music for sponsoring this event.
There’s more to come this year, but we’re also looking ahead to next year when Empty Bowl celebrates its fiftieth year of operation. In honor of our anniversary, we’ll be publishing an anthology, Working the Land, Working the Sea, a companion to Working the Woods, Working the Sea, which Empty Bowl published in 1986, with a second edition in 2008. We’re happy to announce that the anthology’s editors will be Tele Aadsen and Jessica Gigot. We’ll post more information and the call for submissions on our website on May 1. Stay tuned for details on the other books we’ll be publishing next year.
If you’re wondering how you can support Empty Bowl, an easy way is to share your favorite Empty Bowl titles with a few friends—or post short reviews on Amazon or GoodReads. You only need to write a few sentences, but these do make a difference!
With warm wishes,
Holly and John
New Books
January 6, 2025
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
We hope this finds you well in the new year as the days begin to grow longer, the earth making her journey back toward the sun.
We’re happy to announce that we have two new books releasing this month:
Through the spring and summer of 1932, a cohort of four questing souls made its way north to Alaska aboard the thirty-three-foot cabin cruiser Grampus. Pioneering intertidal ecologist Ed Ricketts needed fifteen thousand tiny jellyfish Gonionemus for his biological supply lab; unemployed scholar Joseph Campbell sought philosophical direction and a clue to his future; early environmentalists Jack Calvin and his Russian-Tlingit partner Sasha Kashevaroff wanted to live free on a homestead in wild Alaska. From his home on the shores of Humboldt Bay, poet and writer Jerry Martien revisits this epic voyage, drawing its collaborative lessons into a field he calls biopoetics, seeing the roots of his own generation’s journey and a chart for future voyagers. $16
Jerry Martien will be celebrating with a book launch/reading at Northtown Books in Arcata, CA, on January 10 at 6 p.m. We’re lining up other readings in California and will keep you informed—we’re working on a reading in the Northwest this spring.
In Apprentice to the Wild, long-time wilderness guide and meditation teacher Kurt Hoelting charts the evolution of his path from his early encounters with wildness and risk on commercial fishing vessels in Alaska to his embrace of Zen practice as a gateway to the wild within. Inspired by the words and friendship of Gary Snyder, Hoelting founded Inside Passages, guiding mindfulness-based kayaking expeditions in Alaska focused on how the “practice of the wild” informs both our inner and outer landscapes. In the book’s later essays, he shares his path toward healing following the deaths of his two sons and explores what it means to become an elder in these uncertain times. $20
We hope you can join us at one of the upcoming readings:
Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025, 3 - 5 p.m. Book Launch/Reading/Celebration
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Whidbey Island, 20103 State Route 525, Freeland, WA.
Sunday, Feb. 15 4 - 5:30 p.m. Reading & Conversation with Tele Aadsen
The Friends Meeting House, 1841 Sheridan St., Port Townsend, WA
Be sure to check the EB events page for other readings being planned.
What’s ahead
We’re excited to announce forthcoming poetry collections by two poets whose work we’ve long admired:
Ann Spiers, Wild Cucumber
Ed Harkness, Creek Water: New & Selected Poems
You’ll hear more about both books in the months ahead.
At the end of March, Empty Bowl will be heading down to Los Angeles for the AWP Conference and Bookfair. If you happen to be attending, we hope you’ll look for us at booth 1039.
Best wishes,
Holly and John
The latest from Empty Bowl Press
October 31, 2024
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
Fall arrived in full color this year in the Northwest, and with the changing season, life continues to be busy here at Empty Bowl. To start, we have some exciting news to share:
I Sing the Salmon Home, edited by Rena Priest, received the Washington State Book Award in Poetry for 2024! We look forward to celebrating with Rena and several local contributors at a reading honoring salmon on November 14 at 7 p.m. on Vashon Island. Thanks to Empty Bowl author Ann Spiers and to Joseph Bogaard, executive director of Save our Wild Salmon, for putting this event together—you can find more details on the SOWS website. Please note: the event is FREE but you need to register in advance.
Readings in November
Nov. 2, 2 – 4 p.m.: Reading by contributors to the latest Madrona Project, This Machine Is Made for Earth at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner. Editor Michael Daley will MC; readers include Morgan Randall, Susan Rich, Randy Dills, Stephen Roxborough, Robert McNamara, Georgia Johnson, Steven Dolmatz, Holly Hughes, Heidi Seaborn, Janée J. Baugher, and Leslie Wharton. Event is free; you can register here.
Nov. 2, 7 – 9 p.m.: Tess Gallagher and Gary Lilley read at Pelican Bay Books & Coffeehouse in Anacortes as part of the Madrona Reading Series.
Nov. 3, 2 p.m.: Michael Daley & Holly Hughes are reading with poet Gary Thompson at Griffin Bay Bookstore in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.
Nov. 30, 7 – 9 p.m. Anna Odessa Linzer reads with Will Hornyak at Pelican Bay Books & Coffeehouse in Anacortes as part of the Madrona Reading Series.
Need some books for the holidays?
On November 10, from 12 – 5 p.m., join us for the Fall Bookfair at Finnriver Farm & Cidery in Chimacum, featuring local small presses. Empty Bowl authors will be reading and signing books, and we’ll have special holiday bundles and discount prices for the readers in your life. Check back for more details on the reading/signing schedule on our website.
Forests, Temples, Glacial Rivers
In December, we will celebrate the release of Andrew Schelling’s Forests, Temples, Glacial Rivers with two events. Andrew will be joined by other Empty Bowl poets in Seattle and Port Townsend.
Thursday December 5, 7 p.m., at Seattle University with Sibyl James, author of Plum Blossom Wine. Check our events page soon for details about the location.
Saturday December 7, 4 p.m., at The Friends Meetinghouse, 1841 Sheridan Avenue, in Port Townsend with Tim McNulty, author of Cloud Studies and other books.
In case you miss these readings . . .
Two of our recent readings are now available online:
On September 23, Anna Odessa Linzer read at the Bainbridge Museum of Art and was interviewed by Holly Hughes as part of the museum’s Curated Conversations series. Watch the reading and conversation here.
We were glad to have attended a tribute to Tom Crawford in Santa Fe at the Collected Works Bookstore on October 20. You can see photos here and watch a recording of the reading here.
We’re always grateful for the support of you, our readers, and our writers, too, for their inspiring words—like these from Tom Crawford’s poem “Last Salmon”:
Isn’t the world almost perfect
that we don’t have to choose
between the verb and its object
St. Paul or sister fish, who’s doing what
to whom, in principle, always comes back
to water and ordinary light
It’s enough to stand still
if we mean it, the way a tree says, here
then grows
If we don’t cross paths with you, we wish you quiet days with good books in the seasons of reading ahead.
Holly & John
Fall News from Empty Bowl Press
September 11, 2024
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
We hope you’re enjoying the last golden light of late summer days, wherever you are. Fall is in the wings here in the Northwest, bringing with its tumbling leaves the season of readings, as we come indoors and return to our chairs by the fire. We have a full slate of fall events to share so we’re checking in early—these readings will take place over the coming months.
We have several readings lined up for our latest release, Plum Blossom Wine, a bilingual collection of poems by Li Qingzhao, a female Chinese poet of the Song dynasty, translated by Sibyl James and Kang Xuepei.
September 14, 7 p.m. at the Friends Meetinghouse in Port Townsend.
September 22, 2-4 p.m. at the Seattle Chinese Garden in Seattle.
October 19, 2-4 p.m., reading & tea tasting at Seattle Fair Trade store in Seattle.
Sibyl James will provide background on Li Qingzhao, share her poems, and talk about the translation process. You can find more details on the Empty Bowl website.
Also in September, Anna Linzer, author of the powerful poetry collection Season Unleashed, will read and be in conversation with copublisher Holly J. Hughes as part of the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s Curated Conversations series. Join us Monday, September 23, at 6 p.m. for a reception with the author, followed by the reading and conversation at 7 p.m. NOTE: You need to purchase tickets in advance. Click here for details.
You can read a review of Season Unleashed by Nina Burokas in Raven Chronicles.
Be Broken to Be Whole, a posthumous collection of work by Oregon poet Tom Crawford, was launched in August in Portland. Readings in two other communities where Crawford lived and wrote are scheduled this fall, thanks to his partner, Mary Judge, and good friend and poet, Gary Thompson. Please help spread the word if you have friends in these communities.
September 28, 6 p.m, Sacramento Poetry Center, 1719 25th St., Sacramento, CA. Hosted by Gary Thompson with readings by Tom’s friends and local poets.
October 20, 6 p.m., Collected Works Bookstore, 202 Gallisteo St., Santa Fe, NM. Hosted by Mary Judge with readings by local Santa Fe writers and actors.
As we announced in our last newsletter, we’re looking forward to releasing Andrew Schelling’s Forests, Temples, Glacial Rivers in November and are happy to report that he’ll be joining us in the Northwest in December for readings with other Empty Bowl authors:
Thursday, December 5, 7 p.m., at Seattle University with Sibyl James
Saturday December 7, 4 p.m., at The Friends Meetinghouse in Port Townsend with Tim McNulty
Meanwhile, the seventh and final issue of The Madrona Project--This Machine Is Made for Earth, edited by Michael Daley--is now out. A reading is planned for November 2, 2-4 p.m. at the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner.
Michael & Holly are teaming up for a reading on Sunday, November 3, at 2 p.m., at Griffin Bay Bookstore in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. If you’re on the island that night, please join us!
MORE good news:
The Washington Center for the Book announced the finalists for the Washington State Book Award last week, and we’re thrilled that I Sing the Salmon Home is on the list! Congratulations to editor Rena Priest and to all the contributors. Empty Bowl author Tim McNulty’s book Salmon, Cedar, Rock, Rain, published by Braided River, was also nominated in the general nonfiction category. Winners will be announced on Sept. 24.
In other news:
The Skagit River Poetry Festival is coming up Oct. 3–5 in LaConner, and Empty Bowl will be there, as will several Empty Bowl authors: Tim McNulty, Michael Daley, and Holly J. Hughes. All will be giving readings and participating on panels. View the schedule here.
Empty Bowl will be part of the Finnriver Book Fair at Finnriver Farm & Cidery in Chimacum on Sunday, November 10, from 12-5 p.m., along with several other small local presses. We’ll be offering special discounts in anticipation of the holiday season in addition to short readings by local authors throughout the afternoon. Look for more information on our website as November draws closer.
Sending warm wishes as we turn the page on summer, settle into a comfortable chair, and return to the fire and the rich reading season ahead. May a few Empty Bowl books be in the stack that awaits you.
Holly & John
Summer News from Empty Bowl
July 31, 2024
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
Since we last wrote, we’ve been busy with new titles that we’re eager to share, plus we have exciting news about several of our authors. We invite you to read on…
Be Broken to Be Whole, a posthumous collection of work by Oregon poet Tom Crawford, is launching this Saturday, August 3, with a reading in Portland at Passages Bookshop—see the Empty Bowl website for details. Our thanks to Tom’s partner Mary A. Judge and fellow poet and friend Gary Thompson for bringing this book to us—and to writer David James Duncan for his moving foreword. We’re grateful to play a role in keeping Tom’s wry, wise words in the world.
Next up: Plum Blossom Wine . . . this noteworthy collection of poems by Li Qingzhao, a female poet of the Song dynasty, is translated by two women: Seattle writer Sibyl James and Kang Xuepei, a Chinese writer. We’ll be launching the book the evening of September 14 at the Friends Meeting House in Port Townsend—see our website for details. Gratitude to Sibyl, who contributed to an edition of one of the first Empty Bowl publications, Dalmo’ma, in the late 1970s, for bringing this book to us.
Also slated for release in August/September is the seventh (and likely last) issue of The Madrona Project. This Machine Is Made for Earth presents Diego Rivera’s mural “Detroit Industry” on the cover, and the thought-provoking art, poems, and essays inside focus on the ubiquitous, complex, and often controversial role of machines and other technology in our lives. Stay tuned for news on readings this fall.
September reading on Bainbridge Island
Here's an event to put on your September calendar: Anna Linzer, author of the poetry collection Season Unleashed, will give a reading, followed by a conversation with copublisher Holly J. Hughes, on Monday, September 23, at 7 p.m. at the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, as part of their Curated Conversation series.
Forthcoming this fall
We’re honored to announce that forthcoming this fall is a collection of poetry by acclaimed poet, translator, essay writer, and anthology editor Andrew Schelling, author of more than twenty collections of poetry and translations, among them Old Tale Road, published by Empty Bowl in 2008. We’ll be releasing Forests, Temples, Glacial Rivers in November and hope to arrange a visit by the author to the Northwest for the book launch!
Author news
Tele Aadsen’s moving essay collection about her decades trolling for salmon in Southeast Alaska, What Water Holds, recently received a Nautilus Silver award for essays. Not only does this collection offer a vivid depiction of life on a salmon troller, it includes reflections on gender, community, social justice, and deeper philosophical questions.
In July, poet, essayist, and artist John Brandi was honored with a Lifetime Poetry Award from the New Mexico Literary Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the state where he’s made his home for many decades. His most recent collection of haiku from Empty Bowl is The Rain Sweeps Through, which came out last fall.
More recently, we received the thrilling news that Shin Yu Pai, author of No Neutral and Virga from Empty Bowl, as well as other titles, was awarded the prestigious 2024 Shelley Award from the Poetry Society of America. Shin Yu is just finishing her tenure as Seattle’s Civic Poet and is also the producer of the award-winning podcast Ten Thousand Things.
Last weekend, Red Pine traveled to Olympia for the dedication of the new, traditionally built Japanese teahouse at Open Gate Zendo, named in his honor: Red Pine Hut. You can see more photos here.
Big congratulations to all! We’re proud to be publishing the good work of all our authors—and you can help by telling your friends, posting a short review on Amazon or Goodreads, or gifting copies to friends or family.
Thanks, as always, for being part of the Empty Bowl community—we couldn’t do this without you.
Holly & John
June Events and Book News from Empty Bowl
May 28, 2024
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
We’d like to let you know about some upcoming events in Port Townsend and also share some book news.
Saturday, June 15, you have a chance to see the movie Dancing with the Dead: Red Pine and the Art of Translation. Filmmaker Ward Serrill and producer Rocky Friedman tell the entertaining adventures of Bill Porter (Red Pine), the world-renowned translator of ancient Chinese poetry, who ignited a movement in China to seek inner peace through poetry and mountain solitude. Bill is a living bridge between two cultures, a bridge that is supported by ancient poetry and understanding. Empty Bowl is proud to be the publisher of several of Red Pine’s translations, including Zen Roots: The First Thousand Years. The screenings will be followed by a conversation with Red Pine, moderated by former Washington State poet laureate Claudia Castro Luna. Showings are at the Wheeler Theater at Fort Worden State Park, at 2:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.
On Sunday June 30, join us when Anna Odessa Linzer reads from her recently published collection Season Unleashed. Together with Tanya Holtland and Cedar Sigo, Anna will be reading as part of the Poetry on the Salish Sea series at Wilderbee Farm from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30. The farm is a wonderful place to enjoy poetry on a summer afternoon.
On Saturday, June 29 from 3-5 pm, Empty Bowl is hosting a memorial gathering for Clem Starck at The Friends Meetinghouse, 1841 Sheridan St., in Port Townsend. We’ll share stories and read our favorite poems by Clem. If you can’t attend, feel free to send a written tribute by email to editor@emptybowl.org that we’ll share at the gathering and give to Clem’s family. All are welcome for this tribute to a great Northwest poet.
Coming in June: Be Broken to Be Whole
In late June, we’ll be releasing Be Broken to Be Whole: New and Selected Poems by Tom Crawford. Tom was the author of nine books of award-winning poetry, including Lauds, The Temple on Monday, and The Names of Birds. He was also a birder, a contemplative, an activist, and an enthusiast whose writing, infused with Eastern thought and a sense of mysticism, explores the natural world and our complex connection to it. Tess Gallagher has written: “Tom Crawford is a poet who has labored long in the vineyard, yet remained somehow a well-kept secret within American poetry. Thankfully, his gifts of audacity, of acute detail, natural astonishment and of enacted wonder save his place for a ‘now’ in our current attentions.” Available for preorder in June, this collection includes a foreword by novelist David James Duncan.
Memory’s Vault: The Poetic Heart of Port Townsend Launch Events
We’re happy that Memory’s Vault: The Poetic Heart of Fort Worden is successfully launched and grateful to artist Richard Turner (sitting, facing away from the camera in the picture to the right) for traveling from his home in California to join us for two events: an artist talk and contributors’ reading on May 18 and a walk up to Memory’s Vault and a reading of Sam Hamill’s poems on May 19. Even the weather complied with our plans! Our gratitude to editor Bob Francis (pictured at left above) for his persistence in realizing his vision and to Centrum and the Friends of Fort Worden for their support.
As always, we love to hear from you and appreciate the support and good wishes expressed for the work we do at Empty Bowl. And remember, you can also find news on the Empty Bowl Facebook page, where we try to keep up with our authors and their events.
Holly and John
Upcoming Events and Other News
April 10, 2024
Dear Empty Bowl friends,
We’ll be celebrating the release of Anna Odessa Linzer’s collection of poems Season Unleashed with a launch party and reading April 19 at 7 p.m. at the Pope Marine Building on the waterfront in Port Townsend. Delicious refreshments will be served and books will be available for signing. Join us if you can! Anna will also be reading on June 30 at Wilderbee Farm with Poetry on the Salish Sea— keep checking the Empty Bowl website for other readings as they’re scheduled.
In May, we’ll be releasing Memory’s Vault: The Poetic Heart of Port Townsend, with a presentation by artist Richard Turner and readings by local writers on Saturday May 18 at 7 p.m. at the Friends Meeting House in Port Townsend. On Sunday, May 19, join us for a walk to Memory’s Vault with the artist, where the editor and local poets will read from Sam Hamill’s poems. We’ll gather at Fort Worden State Park at 2:30 p.m. at the South Gallery of the Centrum Building (#305), with the walk beginning at 3 p.m., followed by a reception and book signing with the artist and contributors.
Last month, we had a lively night at Town Hall in Seattle with the Bushwick Book Club performing music inspired by I Sing the Salmon Home, edited by Rena Priest. We’re grateful that several contributors were able to join us that night, some driving down from Bellingham, and that the evening was recorded. You can listen to it here.
Finally, a reminder that you just have a few more weeks to submit a poem to the next issue of The Madrona Project being edited by Michael Daley, with a theme of “machines.” Check the Empty Bowl website for more details; deadline is April 30.
Thanks again for supporting Empty Bowl Press—and remember, you can also find news on the Empty Bowl Facebook page, where we try to keep up with our authors and their events.
We hope to see you soon.
Warm wishes,
Holly and John