Seek

In honor of our inspiration and namesake, Lilla Leach, the intrepid explorer of Oregon’s most wild spaces, we present “Seek,” a literary reading featuring Idris Anderson, Kate Gray, Takashi L. Kendrick, Missy Ladygo, Gigi Little, and Anis Mojgani. Join us for this literary expedition on the East Terrace of Leach Botanical Garden, August 18th, 4-6PM. Discover new authors to love (or discover something new about an already-loved author), plus ample supplies of food, wine, and conversation, all in Lilla’s magical back yard. Come early and explore the Garden!

$10 suggested donation at the door. Proceeds to benefit Leach Botanical Garden, a 501(c)3 nonprofit.

Idris Anderson’s second collection of poems Doubtful Harbor won the Hollis Summers Prize and was published by Ohio University Press in 2018. Her debut collection of poems Mrs. Ramsay’s Knee was selected by Harold Bloom for the May Swenson Poetry Award and published by Utah State University Press. She has won a Pushcart Prize and published poems in AGNI Online, Crab Orchard Review, The Hudson Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Southern Review, and other journals. She was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina but has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than two decades.
silvertrout.net

Kate Gray is the author of the poetry collections For Every Girl and Another Sunset We Survive, as well as two poetry chapbooks, and a novel that stares at bullying without blinking. In her novel-in-progress, Kate narrates, in Sylvia Plath’s voice, what led to The Bell Jar and Plath’s suicide attempt in 1953. (Clearly, she’s all about light and happy topics.) With BowTie Kate de Gutes, she curates Incite, a reading series for queer writers; she also teaches, leads salons, and volunteers as a writing facilitator with women inmates through Write Around Portland. Kate and her partner live in a purple house in Portland, Oregon with their impetuous dog.
kategraywrites.com

Takashi L. Kendrick is a native Northwesterner who lives, writes, and plays in Portland, though he works over the border in Washington, where he directs communications and marketing for one of the region’s largest library districts. A 2018 Oregon Literary Fellowship recipient, he holds an MFA in creative writing from Naropa University and cofounded the short-lived journal Ellipsis… Literary Serials and Narrative Culture. He’s currently working on a novel, which he describes as occupying the crossroads of magical realism and guilt.
literary-arts.org/2018/03/2018-oregon-literary-fellowship-recipient-takashi-kendrick/

Missy Ladygo has a tattoo on one arm of a flying-diamond-bird-beacon that was drawn by her daughter. She plans on having her son do the other one, but she’s waiting until he’s bored with drawing Captain Underpants. She writes personal essays, fiction, comedy, and poetry. Sometimes she throws these all into a big mash and writes that. She’s read at Unchaste, Tin House, Literary Arts, and Lit Crawl, and her work has appeared in Hip Mama and the Unchaste and Lit Kit anthologies. A graduate of the IPRC creative writing program, she’s also studied at Corporeal Writing, Comedy Sportz, and the Lie Factory. She co-produces the comedy game show Wait, What? and serves as a literacy volunteer.
ispelled.com, @missalady

Gigi Little’s essays and short stories have appeared in journals and anthologies including Portland Noir, Spent, and The Pacific Northwest Reader. She’s the editor of the collection City of Weird and co-editor/co-designer of the book The Untold Gaze, alongside her husband, artist Stephen O’Donnell. She’s also a freelance book cover designer and staff designer for Forest Avenue Press. In her earlier days, Gigi spent fifteen years in the circus as a lighting director and professional circus clown. She never took a pie to the face, but she’s a Rhodes Scholar in the art of losing her pants.
gigilittle.jimdo.com

Anis Mojgani is the author of In the Pockets of Small Gods (Write Bloody Publishing, 2018) and four previous books of poetry. A two-time National Poetry Slam champion and winner of the International World Cup Poetry Slam, he’s performed on HBO and NPR and his poems have appeared in such journals as Bat City Review, Rattle, Buzzfeed Reader, Thrush, and Forklift Ohio. Originally from New Orleans, he now lives in Portland, where he serves on the board of Literary Arts.
thepianofarm.com