Saturday, March 29, 2-4 PM: Poets Carter McKenzie and Maggie Chula: Chapbook Release Celebration and Poetry Reading
(Free)
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Carter has just published a remarkable chapbook, “The Book of Fire,” (above/ground press), in remembrance of the victims of the Scottish Witchcraft Act, 1563-1736. In this important and scholarly, poetic work, Carter bravely imagines the thoughts of half a score of women who were imprisoned, removed, killed, and exonerated. This is a key addition to anyone’s study or practice of the natural, sometimes mystical healing arts. (Scott’s Pick)
About Carter McKenzie:
Carter McKenzie (she/her) is the author of two full-length books of poetry, Out of Refusal (Airlie Press, 2010) and Stem of Us (Flowstone Press, 2018), and two poetry chapbooks, Naming Departure (Traprock Books, 2004) and The Book of Fire (above / ground press, 2024). Her work has been published in various journals and anthologies over the years, most recently in the anthology Bookstore Clerks & Significant Others (Tsunami Press, 2023) and periodicities: a journal of poetry and poetics (above / ground press, 2025). She has lived in the foothills of Western Oregon’s Cascade Mountains for the past thirty years, in a valley that is the traditional homeland of the Molalla Mountain Band. Since its founding in 2015, Carter has been an active member of the Springfield-Eugene chapter of SURJ/Showing Up for Racial Justice.
About Maggie Chula:
Born in Massachusetts, Maggie Chula has traveled overland through Asia, lived in England and Japan, and now makes her home on the Portland skyline. She has published fourteen collections of poetry including, most recently, Weeding the Labyrinth. Her haibun memoir, Firefly Lanterns: Twelve Years in Kyoto, was awarded a 2022 NYC Big Book Award in Multicultural Nonfiction. Maggie has given readings and lead workshops at haiku conferences throughout the United States, as well as in Poland, Canada, and Japan. She has also served as president of the Tanka Society of America, Poet Laureate for Friends of Chamber Music, and on the Advisory Board for the Center for Japanese Studies at Portland State University. Kim Stafford says of her work: “She has long been a word shaman connecting the wild world to the human heart.”