Jalayna Carter

April 4, 2018

Jalayna Carter is a storyteller with pieces published in a handful of journals including Puerto Del Sol, Third Point Press, and Reality Beach, as well as an anthology by 2Leaf Press: Black Lives Have Always Mattered. Originally from St. Louis, MO, she studied literature and journalism in the Midwest before pursuing nonprofit communications. Her work […]

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Dujie Tahat

April 4, 2018

Dujie Tahat is a poet and critic living and working in Washington state. They are the 2025-26 Seattle Civic poet and author of Shibboleth (Fonograf 2027) as well as three poetry chapbooks: Here I Am O My God, selected for a Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship; Salat, winner of the Tupelo Press Sunken Garden Chapbook Award […]

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Nic Masangkay

April 3, 2018

Nic Masangkay is a Seattle-based community musician and poet. They graduated in 2016 from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Arts in English. Notable highlights include Buzzfeed, Autostraddle, and Tumblr features for poem “My Gender Is for Mothers”; 2018 Jack Straw Cultural Center Artist Assistance Program Resident; 2019 4Culture Arc Artist Fellow; and […]

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Kathya Alexander

April 3, 2018

Kathya Alexander is an author, playwright, storyteller, and teaching artist. Growing up in the South during the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement greatly impacted her life and continues to influence her writing. She was a Writer-in-Residence at Hedgebrook and won the Fringe First Award for Black to My Roots: African American Tales from the Head […]

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Harold Taw

August 4, 2017

Harold Taw’s debut novel was Adventures of the Karaoke King; his writing has been featured on NPR, in a New York Times bestselling anthology, and in The Seattle Times; and his screenplay DOG PARK has received numerous accolades. He currently co-curates WordsWest Literary Series. Harold (book) and Chris Jeffries (music and lyrics) co-wrote Persuasion, a […]

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ilvs strauss

August 4, 2017

ilvs strauss is an analytical chemist turned multi-disciplinary performance artist and theater tech living and making work in Seattle. Her art cuts a wide swath across disciplines, ranging from Dance Narrative performance to anamorphic outdoor sculptures, illustrated storytelling (aka Slide Shows) to haiku poetry. She also leads workshops on writing, movement, performance and the ever […]

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Sharon Nyree Williams

August 2, 2017

Sharon Nyree Williams has been living in Seattle since 2001. In 2006, she founded the collaborative arts organization The Mahogany Project. Sharon is an arts administrator, playwright, filmmaker, solo performer, producer and poet. She has written, performed several solo pieces: The American Dream, Homelessness: Driven – Spirited – Broken, Plight: I am my brother’s keeper and Circles […]

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Gabriela Denise Frank

March 24, 2017

Gabriela Denise Frank is a transdisciplinary artist, editor, educator—and a Jack Straw Writer. Winner of the 2024 Fern Academy Prize, her work has appeared in BOMB Magazine, Chicago Review, EcoTheo Review, DIAGRAM, Poet Lore, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. The author of How to Not Become the Breaking (Gateway Literary Press 2025), she serves as creative […]

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John Mullen

March 17, 2017

John D. Mullen is a short story author and monologist. He has performed at On the Boards, Bumbershoot, New City Theater, Annex Theater and Park West – Chicago, Mercer Island Youth Theater, Richard Hugo House, The Rendezvous and Jack Straw Cultural Center. His writing has appeared in the L.A. Times, Drawn and Quarterly, Modern Odysseys, […]

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Stephen Reed Griggs (AKA Steve Griggs)

March 17, 2017

Stephen Reed Griggs (b. NYC, 1960) earned certificates in Narrative Non-Fiction and Arts Management from the University of Washington, a Bachelor of Musical Arts in Saxophone Performance from the University of Illinois, and a Master of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from Pace University. As a writer, Griggs is a member of the Jazz […]

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