If you thought last night's slate of AWP after parties was packed, I'd like to introduce you to tonight's slate of AWP parties. As always, there's too much going on tonight for me to highlight every single event here; you can find everything in our readings calendar. I'll go in chronological order, so you can plan your whole night:
5 PM:
6 PM:
Bloof Books and Saturnalia Books brings a huge slate of poets to the Jewelbox Theater at the Rendezvous. The most impressive name on the list is Dorothea Lasky, who is an incredible poet and thinker.
Pioneer Square's Caffe Umbria hosts a "literary carnival" including Mad Libs, radio plays, and carnival-themed games, with Kevin Sampsell as a featured reader.
6:30 PM:
Three small publishers set up shop at Black Coffee Co-op, featuring readings from Alexis Pope, who runs a great poetry blog at alexispopeisagirl.tumblr.com, and other writers like Thomas Patrick Levy (author of Please Don't Leave Me Scarlett Johansson) and Jessica Baran, whose newest poetry collection is titled Equivalents.
7 PM:
Great half-local poetry publisher Wave Books is hosting a series of short readings at Sole Repair, interspersed with a dance party. This program will continue all night long.
7:30 PM is where things start going crazy:
There's a Bruce Lee-themed reading at Nagomi Tea House.
A bunch of nifty local authors read at Blindfold Gallery to celebrate the animal in us.
And Starcherone Books, which is a great publisher, hosts a reading at LUCID featuring Stacey Levine and Alissa Nutting, who wrote Tampa, the novel about a female teacher having sex with an underage male student.
8 PM:
VIDA is bringing an all-star lineup—Cheryl Strayed, Nick Flynn, Pam Houston, Natalie Diaz, Melissa Febos, Kate Lebo and Alexander Chee—to the Hugo House to discuss the the post-war domestic goddess, with pie and booze on hand. Press materials indicate that "Party goers are encouraged to dress as their favorite medicated 50s housewife." I've heard that VIDA's AWP events are always packed, so show up early.
Also, there's a fish fry/reading/hootenanny that you should think about attending.
9 PM:
Fred Wildlife Refuge will be home to a benefit for APRIL, which is the best book festival in Seattle. Readers include Amelia Gray, Melissa Broder, and Sommer Browning, there will be music by DJs Jon Francois and Christian Science, and the party will also feature a "60-foot video wall" by HTMLGiant.
10 PM:
Ink Node, which is an online literary journal, hits up Left Bank Books with an impressive lineup of writers who have always brought a lot of literary joy to Seattle, including Seth Abramson, Kevin Sampsell, Kate Lebo, Sara Guest, and Emily Pettit.
Again, there are dozens of events I can't fit into this blog post. Go see them all.
