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and WordTemple on KRCB 91.1FM Santa Rosa, California

 
   
 

 

RECENTLY FEATURED POETS


       

  Al  Young     Robert Hass    Kay Ryan

 


"WordTemple is one of the best reading series in the country. It creates a wonderful, invigorating, exhilarating sense of community..."
—Ilya Kaminsky


WordTemple On the Air!

Katherine Hastings hosts a radio show, also called WordTemple, on Santa Rosa's NPR affiliate KRCB 91.1 FM. Tune in on the third Wednesday of each month from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. for interviews, readings and reconstructions. To listen on iTunes go to Radio/Public/KRCB. To listen on-line, go to www.krcb.org

August 18 , 2010 7:00pm :

Diane di Prima and Carl Sandburg

WordTemple host Katherine Hastings presents current San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane di Prima who reads from her book Revolutionary Letters, a re-printed edition that includes new poems. "Diane di Prima, revolutionary activist of the 1960s Beat literary renaissance, heroic in life and poetics; a learned bohemian, classically educated and 20th century radical…A great woman poet in the second half of American century, she broke barriers of race-class identity, delivered a major body of verse brilliant in its particularity." — Allen Ginsberg. Also, Hastings plays recordings of poet, hobo, organizer for the Social Democratic party, and Pulitzer prize winner Carl Sandburg reading his work. Born in 1878, Sandburg was virtually unknown to the literary world until 1914 when a group of his poems appeared in Poetry magazine. Poetry collections followed, as well as a searching analysis of the 1919 Chicago race riots, a novel, folk songs, a biography of Abraham Lincoln, and an autobiography, Always the Young Strangers. On tonight's show you'll hear Sandburg reading a number of his poems. This and more (Hint: Did you know that the Cadillac car company makes shoes?) on WordTemple!

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Welcome!

The WordTemple Poetry Series is Sonoma County's first long-term, ongoing poetry reading series.  Founded and hosted by poet Katherine Hastings, the series kicked off  in February of 2006 with readings by Jane Hirshfield and David St. John to a standing-room only audience. Also, the first ten minutes of each evening is devoted to a local poet with a good body of work who has not yet published a book.

For information on upcoming readings, click on the 2010 schedule link above. If you are interested in seeing the featured poets who read in our 2006-2009 seasons, check out our Past Readers page. (Fall 2009 readings will be posted soon.)

FLASH: YOU ARE INVITED! A party celebrating the end of 5 years with the WordTemple Poetry Series! MUSIC, POETRY, FOOD and MORE. Special guests will include former Californis State Poet Laureate AL YOUNG, JUDY GRAHN performing with singer/songwriter ANNE CAROL MITCHELL, poet, critic and radio personality JACK FOLEY with ADELLE FOLEY, and more! Keep checking back as the date draws near. The party will be held on OCTOBER 23 at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. For help finding the SCA, click on "Directons" above.

 

"It's clear that Katherine has established a reading series that's the equal of any in the country -- and better than most.  Most importantly, the series has a high standard in selecting poets who are widely respected and influential."

                                        -- Paul Hoover, The Bohemian, February 8, 2006

"What's really unique about (this series) is how she's bringing in less well-published local poets, as well as major national poets ."

                                        -- Jane Hirshfield, Press Democrat, February 9, 2006

"Sometimes a reading series is just magic: the combination of writers, audience, organizers and location creates an irresistible alchemy and you end up with, for example, the WordTemple Poetry Series in Santa Rosa ."

                                        -- Molly Fisk

 

THE SMALL CHANGE SERIES OF WORDTEMPLE PRESS is an invitation-only chapbook series. Authors include David Meltzer, devorah major, Jack and Adelle Foley, Neeli Cherkovski, Gwynn O'Gara, Nancy Dougherty, Elizabeth Coleman and more. For information about the series or to order books, contact Katherine Hastings. All profits go directly to the authors.