Rainshadow Poetry Competition 2015
Live reading: 2 p.m. Sunday, April 26, Olympic Theatre Arts
Deadline: Jan. 23
Submittals: Up to three poems with up to one being selected for print in a special book.
Entries: Cost $5 for students, $10 for adults and $7 for seniors 65 and up.
To enter: E-mail judy1ster@gmail.com and pay fee at wideawakepublishing.com. Or, mail poems to Judy Duncan/Poetry, PO Box 1033, Sequim, WA 98382, with check payable to OTA.
More info: on entering and contest guidelines, visit wideawakepublishing.com/poetry.html or http://lighterview.net/poetry/or call 681-2205.
In an effort to bring a tradition of National Poetry Month to Sequim, two local poets look to start a poetry competition this April.
Ruth Marcus and Judy Duncan plan the Rainshadow Poetry Competition 2015 with winners doing a live reading at Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave., at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 26.
While the event may be months ahead, organizers have set deadlines for both children and adults due Jan. 23 with selected winners being published in a poetry book.
“(We hope) it’ll become an annual event,” Marcus said. “We want to inspire people to write and read poetry. There are so many diverse styles of poetry that we want to help inspire people find what inspires them.”
Marcus said her group borrows its model from Bainbridge Island’s competition that’s been going since the mid-1990s.
“This is a wonderful collaborative community concept,” she said. “(Olympic Theatre Arts) has been willing to host our reading and be our nonprofit sponsor so donations are tax deductible and (the North Olympic Library System) agreed to host our poetry workshops.”
The competition is dedicated to the memory of Sequim’s late Jim Fisher, who was a well-known poet and professor at Peninsula College.
“Jim was an advocate for all writers – poetry or prose,” Marcus said.
“To dedicate this to him really is something that speaks to Jim for who he is in this community. He inspired a lot of students at the college and in the writer’s groups.”
The competition is open to people of all ages in Clallam and Jefferson Counties and will be judged in children and adult categories.
Marcus said she hopes for 64 entries to go in the published book that will go to winning entries. Judging will be blind from four jurors including Tim McNulty, Sarah Zale and others to be announced.
Entries cost $5 for students, $10 for adults and $7 for seniors 65 and up. Each entry can include up to three poems and at most one selected for the book and live reading. For information on entering and contest guidelines, see wideawakepublishing.com/poetry.html or http://lighterview.net/poetry/or call 681-2205.
Poetry workshops
Gene Bradbury’s “Raising a Poem from Seed”
From 9:30-11:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 5, Sequim Library; free and open to all writing levels; register at 683-7400 or gdbradbury@yahoo.com.
Ruth Marcus’ “Wanna-Be a Poet? You, too, can write poems”
From 9:30-11:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 9, Sequim Library; free and open to all writing levels; register at 681-2205 or Rmarcus@olypen.com.
Kate Reavey and Alice Derry’s poetry workshop
From 9:30-11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 7, Port Angeles Library; free and open to all writing levels; call 417-8500.
