Get Lit! Festival Poetry Slams

A poetry slam is an outlet for poets to express their voices—literally and literarily—by performing their work in theform of a competition, scored by an audience of judges. It’s a dynamic event where creative thinkers explore their words on the page and out loud, not to mention have a blast with the audience and with each other!

Youth Poetry Slam (ages 5-12)

Wednesday, April 11 – 5:30 p.m.

Registration begins at 5 p.m.

Kress Gallery, 3rd floor, River Park Square Mall

Middle School Slam (ages 13-15)

Wednesday, April 11 – 6:30 p.m.

Registration begins at 6 p.m.

Kress Gallery, 3rd floor, River Park Square Mall

Teen Poetry Slam (ages 16-18)

Thursday, April 12 – 5 p.m.

Registration begins at 4:30 p.m.

Kress Gallery, 3rd floor, River Park Square Mall

College Poetry Slam (college students of any age)

Thursday, April 12 – 8:30 p.m.

Registration begins at 8 p.m.

Kress Gallery, 3rd floor, River Park Square Mall

Here’s the cherry on top: The first-place winners of the slams will have the chance to perform at headliner events laterin the week. The Youth Poetry Slam’s winning act will perform before Sarah Conover's reading and the Middle School Slam's winner will open for Maureen McQuerry, both of which will take place on Saturday, April 14 at Auntie’s Bookstore. The winners of the Teen Poetry Slam and College Poetry Slam will open for the Ted Kooser event on Sunday, April 15.

The poetry slams are hosted by EWU's Writers in the Community, a program which allows graduate students to volunteer at area schools, correctional facilities, shelters, and other community organizations as creative writing teachers.

Visit our website for more information on the slams.

Get Lit! Festival presents Pie & Whiskey

George W. Bush once famously said, “We ought to make the pie higher.” In honor of that sentiment, Sam Ligon, associate professor of creative writing at Eastern Washington University, and Kate Lebo, Seattle-based poet and renowned pie baker, will host the first ever Get Lit! Pie & Whiskey Reading. Authors will read poetry, short fiction and flash nonfiction inspired by the two greatest after-dinner delicacies: pie and whiskey, which will be served at this event. You must be 21 to attend. 

Readers include: Steve Almond, Elizabeth Austen, Caitlin Horrocks, Chris Howell, Laurie Lamon, Kate Lebo, Sam Ligon, Tod Marshall, Shann Ray, Molly Tenenbaum, Nance Van Winckel, and Jess Walter.

Date: Thursday, April 12

Time: 9:30 p.m.
Venue: Woman's Club, 1428 W 9th. (This venue is not easily ADA-accessible. Please contact us ahead of time if you'd like to attend so we can make the proper arrangements. 509.359.6977 or getlit@ewu.edu)
 Cost: Free admission will include complimentary pie and one beverage. Additional beverages will be for sale. 

Special thanks to Dry Fly Distillery and Woodinville Whiskey Company for supporting this event.

Shann Ray Reading at Gonzaga University

Local author Shann Ray will be reading at Gonzaga tonight at 7:30 p.m. Ray will also be reading during this year's Get Lit! Festival at the Pie & Whiskey event on April 12, and he'll be participating in HooPalousa on April 9.

Ray's collection American Masculine was named by Esquire as one of Three Books Every Man Should Read. It has won the Best Book of 2011, Best Short Story Collection of 2011, Editor's Choice from Kirkus Reviews, along with the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Bakeless Prize. American Masculine has been called a book of "grace" and "astonishing power," "prophetic," "lyrical," and "fiercely written," forming a "true and pure depiction of sorrow and primer for forgiveness."

What: Shann Ray Reading
Where: Cataldo Hall Globe Room @ Gonzaga University (502 E. Boone Ave., Spokane)
When: Wednesday, April 4 2012 7:30 PM
Cost: FREE!

Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church's First Annual HPPC Reads! Event

Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church is hosting their first annual HPPC Reads! event.

The event will include the discussion of Sara Miles' memoir Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion, facilitated by Dr. Pamela Corpron Parker, a Professor of English at Whitworth University.

Sara Miles is the founder and director of The Food Pantry, and serves as Director of Ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Her books include Jesus Freak: Feeding Healing Raising the Dead and Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion. She speaks, preaches and leads workshops around the country, and her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, and on National Public Radio.

A review from O Magazine stated, "Miracles happen, or so it seems to Sara Miles, a 'blue-state, secular intellectural; a lesbian; a left-wing journalist with a habit of skepticism' who, upon tasting a Communion wafer, suddenly got religion (to the horror of her atheist parents and friends)— or rather, discovered her own consuming need for it. Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion (Ballantine) is Miles' energized account of how her longtime fondness for food became a sacred mission, as she began establishing food pantries and devoting her life to giving the hungry sustenance. 'That impossible word, Jesus, lodged in me like a crumb,' she writes, one of many tasty morsels in this surprising book."

What: Dr. Pamela Corpron Parker discusses Sara Miles' memoir Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion

Where: Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church (4102 S. Crestline St., Spokane)

When: Tuesday, April 3 2012 7:00 PM

Cost: FREE!

More Information:

Call (509) 448-2909

Visit Hamblen Park Presbyterian Church

Aaron Bobrow-Strain and Wendy Call

The Get Lit! Festival presents a reading by nonfiction writers Aaron Bobrow-Strain and Wendy Call.
Aaron Bobrow-Strain is an associate professor of politics at Whitman University, where he specializes in political economy of food, development, race, and agriculture in Latin America, among other topics. His first book Intimate Enemies: Landowners, Power, and and Violence in Chiapas, was called one of the most important books about rural Latin America from the past twenty years. He'll be reading from his newest book, White Bread: Dreamworlds of the Store-Bought Loaf, which focuses on the history of white bread and how it has become so popular.

Wendy Call first visited the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the lush sliver of land connecting the Yucatan Peninsula to the rest of Mexico, in 1997. She was struck by how the people who lived there were affected by globalization and how they might have the keys to help the rest of the world survive it. Her book No Words for Welcome details the trips she made to this isolated part of the world and the research on how they have lived for hundreds of years. Over the ten years she wrote this book she saw farmland being paved for highways, oil spilled into rivers, and forests burned downed. Through it all however she saw the strength of a people.

Who: Aaron Bobrow-Strain and Wendy Call
When: Saturday, April 14 at 4:30 p.m.
Where: Riverpoint Campus, Phase I Building, Room 122
Cost: Free!
More Information: Get Lit!        

Sarah Conover and Billy Edge Youth Reading at Auntie's

Billy Edge will be illustrating while Sarah Conover reads at Auntie's Bookstore as part of the Get Lit! Festival.

Sarah Conover began her career as a producer for public television and subsequently spend many years teaching both English and radio production at the secondary level. She is the founder and editor of the This Little Light of Mine series, which seeks to introduce children and their parents to the world's various traditions of wisdom and spirituality. Her books often target both young adults and their parents.

Billy Edge is an English cartoonist, illustrator, and writer who moved to Spokane from the UK five years ago. Edge is also the CEO of Spokane Face Painting and renowned as one of the best face painters and caricaturists in the country.

Children are sure to have a great time!

What: Youth Reading with Sarah Conover and Billy Edge
Where: Auntie's Bookstore (402 W. Main Ave., Spokane)
When: Saturday, April 14 2012 10:00 AM
Cost: FREE!
More Information:
Visit Get Lit!

Julian Smith and David Wolman

Nonfiction writers Julian Smith and David Wolman will be reading from their books during the Get Lit! Festival on Saturday, April 14. 

In 2007 Julian Smith set out to follow the same path that Ewart Grogan started in 1898. His book Crossing the Heart of Africa details his own journey, Grogan's memorable expedition that marked the first time anybody walked across Africa, and the two men's love stories that brought them to Africa. Throughout the book Smith compares his travels to Grogan's while he reflects on his relationship with his girlfriend and why he is so afraid to marry her after seven years of dating. The Boston Globe calls it, "An insightful and often uproarious romp."

During David Wolman's research for his book The End of Money, among the many interesting tidbits he discovered was why Americans still mint pennies in this almost cashless world. His book has been praised by Lawrence H. Summers, former Secretary of the United States Treasury, who said, "this book should be read by everyone who cares and that should be almost everyone." Throughout Wolman's research he rubs elbows with counterfeiters, coin collectors, and people who are convinced that the end of cash means the end of the world. Wolman's website promises "once you finish this book you will never look at a dollar bill the same way."

Who: Julian Smith and David Wolman
When: Saturday, April 14 at 2:30 p.m.
Where: Riverpoint Campus, Phase I Building, Room 122
Cost: Free 
More Information: Get Lit!