Submitted by SHARK REEF Literary Magazine
Local Writers Read, which resumed in early October, continues bringing prime entertainment to Lopez during the cold and dark of winter. The Jan. 6 event features Lopezian Gretchen Wing and SHARK REEF’s two poetry editors coming to the “stage” at Lopez Bookshop. The bookshop and SHARK REEF Literary Magazine are co-sponsors of these evenings, scheduled on the first Friday of every month from October through June 2017.
“Every program is unique,” said Lorna Reese, SHARK REEF editor, “shaped by the character of the language of each writer. We don’t know if we’re going to laugh or cry or both, and that’s exciting.”
Gayle Kaune from Port Townsend and Richard Widerkehr from Bellingham have co-edited SHARK REEF for several years. Kaune has won several Washington Poets Awards, a Ben Hur Lampmann award, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She’s also been published widely in literary magazines. Kaune has two poetry collections, Still Life in the Physical World and All the Birds Awake, as well as two chapbooks, N’Sid-Sen-Star and Concentric Circles, which won the Flume Press Award. Her recent manuscript, Noise From Stars, is looking for a home.
Richard Widerkehr has two book-length collections of poems: “The Way Home (Plain View Press),” and “Her Story of Fire (Egress Studio Press),” along with two chapbooks. Tarragon Books published his novel, “Sedimental Journey,” about a geologist in love with a fictional character. Widerkehr’s recent work has appeared in Rattle, Floating Bridge Review, Cirque, Crack The Spine, Jewish Literary Journal and Penumbra, among others. Poems also are forthcoming in several more literary magazines. His new book of poems, In The Presence Of Absence, is forthcoming from MoonPath Press.
Gretchen Wing grew up in North Carolina, lived and taught high school history in Tacoma for 17 years and moved full-time to Lopez in 2011. Wing’s writing became her half-time job – the other half is baking at Holly B’s – and in 2014, she published her first Young Adult novel, The Flying Burgowski, followed by its sequel, Headwinds. The third book in the trilogy, Altitude, is due out in 2017.
Her short stories have been published in SHARK REEF, and she writes the Spotlight on Lopezians column for Islands’ Weekly, as well as numerous other articles for non-profit causes.
“I’m excited to share my writing with the community I love,” said Wing. “And I’m thrilled by the way Lopez supports writers. I can’t wait to share more of my writing with them.”
“When we started this series last spring,” said Karen Barringer, bookshop co-owner, “we hoped it would catch on the way it has. We’re so gratified by the response and support from our community.”
Local Writers Read is free and open to the public; donations to SHARK REEF are welcome. For more information visit lopezbookshop.com.
