Join Washington State Poet Laureate Kathleen Flenniken, and West Region National Student Poet Miles Hewitt, as they share their talents in an evening of conversation and poetry sponsored by the Washington State Library.

The free 90-minute gathering, sponsored by the Washington State Library, starts at 6 p.m. in the Legislative Building’s Columbia Room (located on the first floor), on the Capitol Campus. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.

Gov. Gregoire last February approved Flenniken’s appointment as State Poet Laureate.

Flenniken grew up in Richland. Later she worked at Hanford as an engineer. Her book, Plume, in which she reflects on Hanford, was recently chosen for the Pacific Northwest Poetry Series and is a featured book for the State Library’s Washington Reads program.

Hewitt recently was named West Region National Student Poet. He is one of five students across the nation to receive the honor. Hewitt is a senior at the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics. A writer since the third grade, he eventually turned to songwriting, penning over 100 songs.

Miles is among the first inaugural group of 5 student poets who are recognized as National Student Poet. He represents the West Region of the U.S. and we are very fortunate that he is from Washington State.

The National Student Poets Program, a signature initiative of the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), and the nonprofit Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, honors, promotes, and celebrates young people as makers and doers who can inspire their peers to achieve excellence in their creative endeavors.  More information on the National Student Poets Program can be found at www.artandwriting.org/NSPP.

Students interested in being selected as 2013 National Student Poets can submit their work now for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards in poetry, the exclusive pathway to receiving this honor—the nation’s highest for young poets presenting original work.

For more information about the event, you can contact the State Library’s Marilyn Lindholm at (360) 704-5249 or [email protected]. For more information about the Washington State Library, visit http://www.sos.wa.gov/library.

On May 10th, 2012 the WCCW Library hosted a poetry reading. Laura Sherbo and Doug Gelis planned the event and invited 3 poets to come and read their and other poet’s poems.

70 inmates signed up to attend and 35 showed up to listen to poetry read. This was held in the WCCW Visit Room.  

The first poet to read was Kathleen Flenniken. Kathleen is the current Poet Laureate of Washington State. The second poet to read was Merna Ann Hecht. Merna is a social justice educator, storyteller, and poet. The third poet to read was Storme Webber. Storme is a spoken word, vocal, and visual artist.

This was not only my first time to host and serve as the emcee at a poetry reading, it was also my first time attending a poetry reading.  The reaction among the inmates was interesting because every single comment was positive. When the poets, who by the way, had 3 powerful and very different voices, asked if there were any questions, the only questions were when can you 3 come back.