After Hours

SAM Word Richard Kenney May 14, 2009 8–9 pm South Hall

Renowned poet Richard Kenney curates two evenings of the written word inspired by SAM’s current exhibitions of American art. Tonight's reading features Eric McHenry, Cody Walker, Jason Whitmarsh and Catherine Wing.

Eric McHenry's first book of poems Potscrubber Lullabies won the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award. He is co-editor of Columns, the University of Washington alumni magazine, and in the fall he will become an assistant professor of creative writing at Washburn University.

Cody Walker lives in Lenox, Massachusetts, where he serves as the Amy Clampitt Resident Fellow. His first poetry collection, Shuffle and Breakdown, was published last year by The Waywiser Press. A longtime writer-in-residence in Seattle Arts & Lectures' Writers in the Schools program, he was elected Seattle Poet Populist in 2007. He hosted three readings at SAM in 2007 and 2008.

Jason Whitmarsh earned his B.A. in mathematics from the University of Chicago and an M.F.A. in poetry from the University of Washington. His poems have appeared in many literary journals, including Yale Review, Harvard Review, Ploughshares and Fence. His book, Tomorrow's Living Room, won the 2009 May Swenson Poetry Award and is coming out this summer from Utah State University Press. He lives in Seattle with his wife and children.

Catherine Wing's first book of poems, Enter Invisible, was published by Sarabande Books and was nominated for a 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her poems have appeared in journals such as Chicago Review, Field, The New Republic and Poetry and have been featured on The Writer's Almanac. Last year she received a grant from Washington State's Artist Trust and one of her poems was chosen for inclusion in Best American Erotic Poems. She lives in Pennsylvania.

With special hosts ranging from spoken word poets to literary figures, these evenings of words as art are at once intimate and engaging.

This event was rescheduled from Thursday, March 12.

Free with museum admission.