Performer bios for the Fiercest Young Queer Artists of Color in the Northwest
Donte Johnson ~ "Birthed by stars they breathe elixirs. Storyteller from the moon's womb. he challenges binaries of sexuality and gender with every pen stroke. she paints images with the stories tucked behind her irises."
Henry Luke ~ "Raised by hip-hop, powerful women, and fierce organizers, henry believes speaking stories is resistance by definition in a system that works so hard to divide and silence us .they work as a spoken word artist in service for youth speaks seattle, a collective of young people dedicated to building creative community and amplifying voices."
Raven Taylor ~ "I am seventeen years old and a junior at nova highschool. I am a queer poet who has slammed in the 2011 youthspeaks seattle grandslam and has gone to bnv as a part of the youthspeaks seattle team. I use my poetry to heal and inspire myself and others"
Theo Garcia ~ "Theo breathes in debris and breathes out galaxies, he rolls planets on his palms, and sings love songs with his stardust. Theo is a twenty year old queer poet, he is a transgender warrior, and he's makin' waves. Theo has performed all over Seattle, and is in love with Youth Speaks Seattle, where he writes and grows with his family."
Selam Gebrekidan ~ "Compassion, communication, and empathy are what drive me. I am Eritrean, Female, Transgender, and Homeless, and love every part of my life. Stories are meant to be told, not silenced, and I refuse to remain silent."
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WRITING AS A SACRED PRACTICE
Workshop Series with Shae Savoy
Do you crawl into the pages of your journal to get centered? Do you love to write, but struggle to make time for it? Do you get steamrolled by your guilt around not writing, or not being good enough? Are you searching for a spiritual practice that centers around your creativity? Do you have rivers of poetry or stories that are pulling at the corners of your mind, begging to be released?
This 4-week workshop series will give you a chance to get in touch with the genius of your writerly essence, in the safe space of a loving circle of support and witnessing. We will focus on the process of writing as a healing act in itself and will explore different portals into your sacred inner landscape. We will write and we will read and we will drink delicious tea. The series will conclude with an optional intention-setting ceremony for your sacred writing practice!
You ARE a writer. Come join us and unleash your wild mind!
This 4-week workshop series will give you a chance to get in touch with the genius of your writerly essence, in the safe space of a loving circle of support and witnessing. We will focus on the process of writing as a healing act in itself and will explore different portals into your sacred inner landscape. We will write and we will read and we will drink delicious tea. The series will conclude with an optional intention-setting ceremony for your sacred writing practice!
You ARE a writer. Come join us and unleash your wild mind!
Dates: November 5th, November 12th, December 3, December 10
Location: My home in the Central District
Cost: $80 for the series or $25 per individual class
Register: Email me at shae.savoy@gmail.com. Space is limited! I can't wait to rustle pages with you!
Cost: $80 for the series or $25 per individual class
Register: Email me at shae.savoy@gmail.com. Space is limited! I can't wait to rustle pages with you!
Poet & Memoirist Tara Hardy Selected as Hugo House’s Next Writer-in-Residence
SEATTLE - Richard Hugo House is pleased to announce Tara Hardy as the new writer-in-residence of the Seattle-based nonprofit writing center.
Hardy is the working class queer femme poet who founded Bent, a writing institute for LGBTIQ people in Seattle. Her first full length book of poems, “Bring Down the Chandeliers,” was published by Write Bloody Press in the spring, 2011. She is a founding member of Salt Lines, the all woman performance poetry group that has toured the U.S. since March, 2009. By a vote of the people, the Seattle City Council named Hardy Seattle Poet Populist in 2002. She is the recipient of the 2011 Washington Poets Association Burning Word Award and has been a finalist on seven National Poetry Slam stages. Hardy’s work has been published in various journals and anthologies, including two anthologies by Seal Press, “Sex and Single Girls” and “Without a Net.” She holds a MFA in Fiction from Norwich University and a MA in Social Work from the University of Michigan.
As writer-in-residence, Hardy, a poet, memoirist and longtime teaching artist, will hold office hours (by appointment only) where she will mentor writers who seek advice on their manuscripts and other writing concerns, a service Hugo House offers for free to anyone in the community. About her role as a mentor, Hardy says, “People grow more quickly when they feel joy than when they feel shame. During the decade I spent teaching writing at Bent, I found that many people didn’t grow under the ‘care’ of harsh criticism. This is not to say that as a teacher I don’t offer criticism, more that I offer critical feedback in the form of what will strengthen what’s already working. In this way I encourage students to learn from themselves, to learn from what they’re already doing instinctively.”
In addition to mentoring writers, Hardy will work on her untitled memoir about growing up in a violent family, with the help of her editor, author Dorothy Allison, as well as collaborating with Hugo House staff on community outreach projects seeking to bring forward the stories of people that do not already have access to the arts.
A daughter of the United Auto Workers and activist in the Battered Women’s Movement, Hardy is committed to art as a tool for social change. She has been a keynote speaker and performer on hundreds of campuses for Take Back the Night, LGBT Pride, Women’s History Month, Trans Awareness Week, Kink on Campus, Women’s Studies and Lavender graduations, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, National Coming Out Day and various gender, sexuality, social class and poetry related events.
“My efforts towards community outreach will value the voices of people who haven’t yet made it to Richard Hugo House, but for which Richard Hugo House will be greatly enriched for having welcomed,” Hardy says.
Brian McGuigan, newly appointed Programs and Marketing Director, relishes the opportunity to work with Hardy whom he calls, “the poet laureate for queer writers in Seattle.” McGuigan says, “When I think about the future of Hugo House, I see a place where writers of all kinds can discover and hone their voices, take risks with their writing and share it with the community, something Tara has worked tirelessly towards in her role at Bent. She’ll play an integral role in expanding Hugo House’s reach and assisting us in connecting with communities who may not have access to the arts.”
Hardy will replace outgoing writers-in-residence Ryan Boudinot and Karen Finneyfrock, whose two-year terms ended in June, 2011. Boudinot, whose second novel, “Blueprints of the Afterlife,” mostly written at the House, will be published in 2013, continues to teach at Hugo House and facilitate the organization’s recently launched writing retreat program at Icicle Creek Music Center. Finneyfrock, whose YA novel, “Celia the Dark and Weird,” is near completion and will be published in 2012, is currently teaching in Hugo House’s summer camp for teens, Scribes, and facilitates Write Time, the weekly drop-in writing circle for teens, returning from summer hiatus in the fall.
Due to budget cuts, Hugo House was forced to reduce the residency program to one writer for 2012, but McGuigan insists it is “vital to the House’s mission and remains a program that we are committed to with the hope of returning to two writers in the future.”
Tara Hardy’s term as writer-in-residence begins September 15, and runs through June 2012 with an option to renew for an additional year. To make an appointment with Hardy, visit Hugo House’s web site in the fall.
The writer-in-residence program is one of the longest running programs at Richard Hugo House, beginning in 1999 with novelist Rebecca Brown. The writers-in-residence are selected on their strength as writers and teachers, their ability to engage in the writing community and act as ambassadors for Hugo House. Past writers-in-residence include Joan Fiset, Charles Mudede and David Wagoner.
About Richard Hugo House
Richard Hugo House is a home for writers and readers. Our mission is to provide writers of all ages and backgrounds with the resources they need, connect audiences with the world of writing, foster the creation of new work and promote the literary arts as a vital part of our culture. Richard Hugo House is located at 1634 11th Ave in Seattle.
Richard Hugo House receives funding from Amazon.com, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Washington State Arts Commission, the Hearst Foundation, ArtsFund, the Boston Foundation’s Sara Delano Redmond Fund, Wells Fargo, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, 4Culture, the Seattle Foundation, the Norman Hirschfield Foundation, City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, the Roberts Family Foundation, Suquamish Tribe, Fales Foundation Trust, US Bancorp Foundation, Maurer Family Foundation, KUOW and The Stranger.
Hardy is the working class queer femme poet who founded Bent, a writing institute for LGBTIQ people in Seattle. Her first full length book of poems, “Bring Down the Chandeliers,” was published by Write Bloody Press in the spring, 2011. She is a founding member of Salt Lines, the all woman performance poetry group that has toured the U.S. since March, 2009. By a vote of the people, the Seattle City Council named Hardy Seattle Poet Populist in 2002. She is the recipient of the 2011 Washington Poets Association Burning Word Award and has been a finalist on seven National Poetry Slam stages. Hardy’s work has been published in various journals and anthologies, including two anthologies by Seal Press, “Sex and Single Girls” and “Without a Net.” She holds a MFA in Fiction from Norwich University and a MA in Social Work from the University of Michigan.
As writer-in-residence, Hardy, a poet, memoirist and longtime teaching artist, will hold office hours (by appointment only) where she will mentor writers who seek advice on their manuscripts and other writing concerns, a service Hugo House offers for free to anyone in the community. About her role as a mentor, Hardy says, “People grow more quickly when they feel joy than when they feel shame. During the decade I spent teaching writing at Bent, I found that many people didn’t grow under the ‘care’ of harsh criticism. This is not to say that as a teacher I don’t offer criticism, more that I offer critical feedback in the form of what will strengthen what’s already working. In this way I encourage students to learn from themselves, to learn from what they’re already doing instinctively.”
In addition to mentoring writers, Hardy will work on her untitled memoir about growing up in a violent family, with the help of her editor, author Dorothy Allison, as well as collaborating with Hugo House staff on community outreach projects seeking to bring forward the stories of people that do not already have access to the arts.
A daughter of the United Auto Workers and activist in the Battered Women’s Movement, Hardy is committed to art as a tool for social change. She has been a keynote speaker and performer on hundreds of campuses for Take Back the Night, LGBT Pride, Women’s History Month, Trans Awareness Week, Kink on Campus, Women’s Studies and Lavender graduations, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, National Coming Out Day and various gender, sexuality, social class and poetry related events.
“My efforts towards community outreach will value the voices of people who haven’t yet made it to Richard Hugo House, but for which Richard Hugo House will be greatly enriched for having welcomed,” Hardy says.
Brian McGuigan, newly appointed Programs and Marketing Director, relishes the opportunity to work with Hardy whom he calls, “the poet laureate for queer writers in Seattle.” McGuigan says, “When I think about the future of Hugo House, I see a place where writers of all kinds can discover and hone their voices, take risks with their writing and share it with the community, something Tara has worked tirelessly towards in her role at Bent. She’ll play an integral role in expanding Hugo House’s reach and assisting us in connecting with communities who may not have access to the arts.”
Hardy will replace outgoing writers-in-residence Ryan Boudinot and Karen Finneyfrock, whose two-year terms ended in June, 2011. Boudinot, whose second novel, “Blueprints of the Afterlife,” mostly written at the House, will be published in 2013, continues to teach at Hugo House and facilitate the organization’s recently launched writing retreat program at Icicle Creek Music Center. Finneyfrock, whose YA novel, “Celia the Dark and Weird,” is near completion and will be published in 2012, is currently teaching in Hugo House’s summer camp for teens, Scribes, and facilitates Write Time, the weekly drop-in writing circle for teens, returning from summer hiatus in the fall.
Due to budget cuts, Hugo House was forced to reduce the residency program to one writer for 2012, but McGuigan insists it is “vital to the House’s mission and remains a program that we are committed to with the hope of returning to two writers in the future.”
Tara Hardy’s term as writer-in-residence begins September 15, and runs through June 2012 with an option to renew for an additional year. To make an appointment with Hardy, visit Hugo House’s web site in the fall.
The writer-in-residence program is one of the longest running programs at Richard Hugo House, beginning in 1999 with novelist Rebecca Brown. The writers-in-residence are selected on their strength as writers and teachers, their ability to engage in the writing community and act as ambassadors for Hugo House. Past writers-in-residence include Joan Fiset, Charles Mudede and David Wagoner.
About Richard Hugo House
Richard Hugo House is a home for writers and readers. Our mission is to provide writers of all ages and backgrounds with the resources they need, connect audiences with the world of writing, foster the creation of new work and promote the literary arts as a vital part of our culture. Richard Hugo House is located at 1634 11th Ave in Seattle.
Richard Hugo House receives funding from Amazon.com, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Washington State Arts Commission, the Hearst Foundation, ArtsFund, the Boston Foundation’s Sara Delano Redmond Fund, Wells Fargo, The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, 4Culture, the Seattle Foundation, the Norman Hirschfield Foundation, City of Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, the Roberts Family Foundation, Suquamish Tribe, Fales Foundation Trust, US Bancorp Foundation, Maurer Family Foundation, KUOW and The Stranger.
Current Bent Classes
PERFORMANCE POETRY (On-going)
Monday Night 7-9 PM Tuition: $75/month
Instructors: Imani Sims
Whether you are working up the confidence to try your first open mic or have been competing in poetry slams for years, this class will help you grow as a poet and a performer. Curriculum includes in-class analysis of performance poetry, as it appears on video and on the page. You will write and revise poems for the stage, receiving frequent, supportive coaching from teachers who are experienced performers themselves. Discussions will explore the elements of compelling spoken word poems, with topics ranging from group poems to stage etiquette. Sign up & step into the spotlight!
POETRY OF THE PAGE (On-going)
Tuesday Night 6:30-8:30 PM Tuition: $75/month
Instructors: Patch Avery & Elaina M. Ellis
Arguably the nerdiest course on our roster, on Tuesday night you are invited to discover the subtle and mysterious elements of a successful page poem. Can a poem be loud, even if it never meets a microphone? Can a poem whisper and still make an impact? What is a line-break? Can a sonnet be sexy? This class features a weekly opportunity for “MFA-style” in-depth feedback on the work of one student, as well as in-class and homework exercises including experiments in form and revision. Would you like to produce publishable poetry, ready for submission? Sign up & write it down!
QUEERING MEMOIR (runs from September-December)
Wednesday Night 6-8 PM Tuition: $75/month
Instructors: Shae Savoy & Cedar Adison
This four-month course will delve into the juicy world of memoir-writing. As LGBTQQI people, we are not encouraged by society to tell our own true stories. In this class, reading will provide models for what a memoir might look like, and curriculum will guide you along the major craft elements of successful memoir-writing. Whether you’re already working on a project, or you’re looking for a place to begin, this is your opportunity to delve into auto-biographical writing in a supportive, productive space with instructors who care about the content, not just the craft, of your work! Sign up & tell your story!
GENERAL WRITING (On-going)
Thursday 7-9 PM Tuition: $75/month
Instructors: Cole Arden Peake & Cecily Schuler
Many students begin their Bent careers by taking one of our General Writing courses. Ideal for writers and aspiring writers interested in different genres, our General Writing class explores the craft of writing from a broad perspective. In this class, you will read weekly assignments that will introduce you to new styles. In-class writing prompts, free-writes, and exercises will help you generate new material. Your classmates may be working on novels, writing screenplays, or experimenting with poetry for the first time. There is plenty of opportunity (but absolutely no pressure) to share your work and get affirming feedback. Sign up & join us!
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HOT DEAL! TWO-MONTH UNLIMITED PASS FOR NEW STUDENTS. When you sign up as a first-time Bent student, you can choose to register for one month of a single class ($75 for approx. 4 classes), or two months of unlimited classes ($100 for all-you-can-learn buffet of classes from the list above). The unlimited pass allows you to visit various Bent classes before you decide which night(s) of the week you’d like to register for in the longer term.
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Reading List
Some books we read from in January and February for General Writing and Fiction/Memoir.
Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley
When students read the opening chapter of this novel they appreciated the tension held as Nathan moves into a farmhouse across from Roy, the tall, older student who drives the school bus in a tiny, rural town. While Nathan and Roy watch each other from across the yard and the length of the school bus, Nathan moves in and out of the watery silence of his parents’ secret. Almost everyone wanted to read more.
The Dogs by Rebecca Brown
“Dog . . . in which is illustrated immanence.” This opening chapter is quintessential Rebecca Brown—strikingly sparse in word choice and sentence structure, while simultaneously rich in imagery. Find out why, “And so the dog moved in with me. She lived inside my life. And every day she woke with me and every night she filled by bed,” are such terrifying words.
Exile and Pride by Eli Clare
This compilation of essays is about disability, queerness, and liberation. The essay “Freaks and Queers,” explored the history and politics of names for people with disabilities landing in the history of the freak show. I encourage anyone who wants to educate themselves and explore the intersections of multiple oppressions as well as how to write essays with story, politics, reflection, and metaphor.
Thinking Class by Joanna Kadi
This text addresses multiple issues of class, race, and queerness through personal story and reflection. We read a piece that addressed cultural appropriation, the way in which people from a dominant culture participate in cultural traditions from marginalized groups without consent and/or consideration for their privilege, through the authors experience relearning traditional drumming on the Deberke.
Sprout by Dale Peck
This outstanding young-adult novel excels in authorial insertion (where an author interrupts to talk to the reader directly through parenthesis or otherwise). It’s usually something to avoid, but read Sprout to find out how it can be done in a hilarious and amazing way. Plus, what’s not to love about a teenage kid with green hair living in a small town with secrets upon secrets!
Dream Boy by Jim Grimsley
When students read the opening chapter of this novel they appreciated the tension held as Nathan moves into a farmhouse across from Roy, the tall, older student who drives the school bus in a tiny, rural town. While Nathan and Roy watch each other from across the yard and the length of the school bus, Nathan moves in and out of the watery silence of his parents’ secret. Almost everyone wanted to read more.
The Dogs by Rebecca Brown
“Dog . . . in which is illustrated immanence.” This opening chapter is quintessential Rebecca Brown—strikingly sparse in word choice and sentence structure, while simultaneously rich in imagery. Find out why, “And so the dog moved in with me. She lived inside my life. And every day she woke with me and every night she filled by bed,” are such terrifying words.
Exile and Pride by Eli Clare
This compilation of essays is about disability, queerness, and liberation. The essay “Freaks and Queers,” explored the history and politics of names for people with disabilities landing in the history of the freak show. I encourage anyone who wants to educate themselves and explore the intersections of multiple oppressions as well as how to write essays with story, politics, reflection, and metaphor.
Thinking Class by Joanna Kadi
This text addresses multiple issues of class, race, and queerness through personal story and reflection. We read a piece that addressed cultural appropriation, the way in which people from a dominant culture participate in cultural traditions from marginalized groups without consent and/or consideration for their privilege, through the authors experience relearning traditional drumming on the Deberke.
Sprout by Dale Peck
This outstanding young-adult novel excels in authorial insertion (where an author interrupts to talk to the reader directly through parenthesis or otherwise). It’s usually something to avoid, but read Sprout to find out how it can be done in a hilarious and amazing way. Plus, what’s not to love about a teenage kid with green hair living in a small town with secrets upon secrets!
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