A New Auntie's Bookstore Location!

Auntie's Bookstore is expanding to Riverpark Square!

Remember where Children's Corner bookstore used to be? Auntie's has signed a three-year lease for a space on the second floor, just before the skybridge to Macy's.

The new Auntie's location will feature a variety of books and they will also have small gift items like t-shirts available for sale. While still to be determined, the books will most likely include a mixture of fiction, non-fiction, children's literature, magazines and more. And the new store will of course offer the same friendly, knowledgeable staff we've become accustomed to.

Auntie's owner, Chris O'Harra, envisions this location will reach out not only to visitors to Spokane who wouldn't necessarily stumble on the Main location, but also to casual mall shoppers who might otherwise choose a national chain bookstore.

As of now, Auntie's is aiming to be in the space this summer. Wow! Keep an eye out and drop by the new location to say hello!

Library Cuts

As you may have already seen in the Spokesman-Review and other news outlets, the proposed 2011 City of Spokane budget includes large cuts for Spokane libraries, which may result in an entire branch having to close or the elimination of an outreach program to seniors and preschoolers.

The budget proposal by Mayor Mary Verner is attempting to deal with an estimated $10 million shortfall as a result of the recession. While the library staff had foreseen budget cuts and already eliminated 2.85% of their budget, approximately $220,000, these proposed cuts are twice what they'd planned for.

The budget was proposed early in order for citizens to give feedback on the proposed cuts. To express your comments & concerns about the potential cuts, go to: Ask Spokane

The city currently has six library branches: Downtown, Shadle, South Hill, Hillyard, Eastside and Indian Trail. Due to the recession, visits to the library have increased by almost 6%, with last year being the busiest year on record.

Make sure to follow the link and give your feedback!

Want an Author at Your School?

It's that time of year again: time to sign up for a Writer-in-Residence at your school!

Get Lit!'s Writers-in-Residence Program pairs authors with K-12 schools in and around Spokane. The author works with three classrooms for an hour a week each, guiding discussions in literature and generating enthusiasm for writing. Since 2004, over 1,000 young writers have worked with a writer in residence, and each year they produce a Young Writers Anthology. Here is a poem from student Jacob Olsen at Lidgerwood Elementary from the 2009-2010 school year:

I Stopped a Volcano

I lived next to a volcano
and I was cooking
a saber-toothed tiger.
Before I took the first bite
the volcano erupted. All of the dinosaurs
were killed. I tried to stop it
but I fell in the volcano.
The volcano spit me out
and I was OK.
I stopped the volcano.
Then I called Yo-Yo my pet pterodactyl
and Yo-Yo picked me up with his legs
then I climbed on his back.
We flew away and my food
was burned from the volcano.

Here's another, by student Titus May at Lidgerwood Elementary:

Shiny Trumpet

My dad played a shiny new trumpet
in a band
he was really amazing
he played rock tunes
everyone loved him
I wanted to play it
but my grandpa sold it
for money
I miss that trumpet

The program also allows classroom teachers to develop new strategies to teach writing and literature, and the writers in residence leave behind their lesson plans so that other teachers can benefit from them as well.

Students from the WiR class at Barker Alternative School

From Momo Lesky:

Going For Now

walk me to the bus stop
high beams on in the dark cloudy rainy night
four wheeled vehicles race down the black tar river
from green to red, here's our chance to scamper across the road
the back cotton balls of sky let down wet cold tears
bright beamed and moaning like a woman in labor
the bus has come to take me home


There are a number of different options available. Your school can choose to have a Writer in Residence at your school for 26 weeks, 10 weeks, or a special field trip event.

Parents, teachers, students-have your school participate! For more information, look here for Options & Fees.

Poetry Book Release Party!

Willow Springs Books, the reincarnation of the Eastern Washington University Press, has produced a chapbook of poetry by American surrealist poet Adam Hammer, entitled No Time for Dancing. To celebrate the book's release, the graduate student staff of Willow Springs Books will be hosting a party at Coffee Social (113 West Indiana Ave) on Wednesday, June 9th at 7 p.m. and you are invited!

No Time for Dancing is Adam Hammer's second book of poetry. His first book, Deja Everything, was published by Lynx House Press in 1979. Hammer died in a car accident in 1984, and his remaining manuscripts were turned over to EWU professor Christopher Howell.

The Willow Springs Books staff is comprised of EWU MFA students who will be handing out buttons and reading poems from the collection. The students culled the 15 poems from the manuscripts left after Hammer's death, and their next project in the series will be a collected works of Adam Hammer.

Here is an excerpt from a poem, "The Ocean of Wire":

The pins which flow

through you like chemicals

are warmer than science, and

the cotton boat you do not

sleep in drifts toward the forest

of electricity. You are playing

a game of darts

with gravity,

and you are losing.

The book itself is only $10, with the proceeds supporting the production of the next chapbook in the series. Food and drinks will be available for purchase from Coffee Social and if you have any questions or want further information, check out our Willow Springs Books Facebook page

If you can’t attend, you can order the book by sending a check for $10 (made out to Willow Springs Books) to Willow Springs Books, Inland Northwest Center for Writers, 501 N. Riverpoint Blvd. Suite 425, Spokane, WA 99202. Be sure to include your current mailing address in the envelope.

InRoads Release Party!

EWU's Writers in the Community program will present its annual collection of creative writing from students across the city, InRoads. The release party will be held at the Empyrean Coffeehouse on June 3rd from 6-8 p.m. This is a free event and open to the public.

The students who contributed to the collection range from age 8 to 18, and this year's collection includes poetry and stories from Crosswalk Teen Center, Airway Heights, Havermale HS, LC, Wilson Elementary, Jefferson Elementary, Mead, North Central, Central Valley, ESD's NET Program, and many others.

In addition to the InRoads release, the event will also feature student films from the subVERSive Poetry Project. The subVERSive Poetry Project is a partnership with nonprofit Tincan and made possible by an EWU Student Diversity Grant. The films---from Garry Middle School, Medicine Wheel, Crosswalk, the SAC School, and Barker High School (ONE OF OUR WRITERS-IN-RESIDENCE SCHOOLS)---combine poetry, video production and social consciousness. Students are responsible for all the writing and filming, guided along the way by poetry and film experts.

Copies of InRoads will be available for $7 each (free to teachers and published contributors). T-shirts will be available for $6 each.

Have questions? Contact: Brandon Getz, Director of WITC, witc@eagles.ewu.edu