Geraldine Foote, Leanne Grabel, Gwen McNeir, and Elaine S. Nussbaum

Join us for an evening of spoken word with Pacific Northwest poets Elaine S. Nussbaum, Leanne Grabel, Geraldine Foote, and Gwen McNeir. All have recently published books with Finishing Line Press.

Elaine S. Nussbaum is the author of Jesus Christ Made Seattle Under Protest. She is a former special education teacher and occasionally teaches poetry and lyrics at a juvenile detention center in Portland. She holds a Certificate in Poetics from Naropa University and an MFA in Writing from Pacific University. In 1986, she walked across the USA with the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament.

Leanne Grabel’s graphic collection of prose poems, Gold Shoes, is her most recent published work. Grabel is a writer, illustrator, performer, and special education teacher. Currently, Grabel is teaching graphic flash memoir to adults in several arts centers and retirement communities throughout the Northwest. In love with mixing genres, Grabel has written and produced numerous spoken-word multi-media shows.

Geraldine Foote is the author of Mouth Toward Sky. A former high school teacher, Foote now divides her time between family, peace and justice advocacy work, art, and writing. She is creator of the Peace Leaves, a letter-pressed series of gift poems, many embellished with watercolors.  She helped found the MFA in Writing program at Pacific University.

Gwen McNeir will read from her collection of poems, An Animal With Wings. In addition to writing poetry and creative nonfiction, she has worked as a technical writer and researcher, communications consultant, and grant writer. Grabel also volunteers with Write Around Portland, a nonprofit that brings free creative writing workshops to prisons, schools, hospitals, and social service organizations. She holds an MFA from Pacific University.