Mark this date and meet Claudia Castro Luna our current Washington State poet Laureate. She will lead a workshop and then be a featured reader.

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One of her projects is a state-wide digital map of poetry (The Washington State Poetic Grid). She has previously won acclaim for her Seattle Poetic Grid. 

Claudia will lead a workshop at 4pm on writing poems of place.  Participants will be able to send her poems to be considered for submission and possibly be part of the State Poetic Grid!

The featured reading will begin at approximately 6:15 pm.

Claudia Castro Luna, a prominent Seattle poet and teacher, has been appointed the fifth Washington State Poet Laureate by Governor Jay Inslee. Castro Luna's term will run from February 1, 2018 to January 31, 2020. She succeeds Tod Marshall, the previous poet laureate. Prior to Marshall, Elizabeth Austen (2014-2016), Kathleen Flenniken (2012-2014), and Sam Green (2007-2009) held the position.

Castro Luna fled war-torn El Salvador for the United States at the age of 14 with her family. She went on to earn an MFA in poetry and an MA in urban planning. After working as a K-12 teacher, she became Seattle’s first Civic Poet, a position appointed by the mayor. In that position, Castro Luna won acclaim for her Seattle Poetic Grid, an online interactive map of showcasing poems about different locations around the city. The grid even landed her an interview on PBS NewsHour. She is also the author of the poetry chapbook This City and the collection Killing Marías.