The Voice of Empathy: Sam Roxas-Chua and Annie Lighthart

Organized by Portland poet A. Molotkov, The Voice of Empathy is a poetry series that showcases writers whose work investigates the human capacity for compassion and generosity and invites the reader/listener to care deeply for others and the world. Each reading will be followed by a Q&A.

March 3
Sam Roxas-Chua
Annie Lighthart

Limited seating, please arrive early for a guaranteed seat.

From the Facebook event page:

The Voice of Empathy is a poetry series that showcases writers whose work investigates the human capacity for compassion and generosity and invites the reader/listener to care deeply for others and the world. This description is for the poets’ reference only and does not presume to impose any constraints on the work selected for presentation.

There is room for 37-39 poetry lovers. Please come a few minutes in advance to reserve your seats.

Annie Lighthart is a poet and teacher who started writing poetry after her first visit to an Oregon old-growth forest. She has taught at Boston College and with writers of all ages, teaching poetry workshops wherever and whenever she can. Poems from her books Iron String and Lantern have been featured on The Writer’s Almanac and in various anthologies, including Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems and Healing the Divide. Pax, her next book of poetry, will be out in 2020 from Salmon Poetry. Annie’s poems have been turned into choral music, used in healing projects in Ireland, England, and New Zealand, and have traveled farther than she has.

Poet Tyehimba Jess describes Sam Roxas-Chua’s work as follows, “Surreal yet rooted in palpable color and history, this poet’s vision transcends oceans, blends geographies and bleeds a multi-tongued heritage for us to better find ourselves. We need more maps like this in the world, and cartographers of language like Sam.” His publications include Fawn Language, Saying Your Name Three Times Underwater, and Echolalia In Script – A Collection of Asemic Writing. His poems and visual art folios have appeared in various journals including Narrative, december Magazine, Cream City Review and his collection of poems, Diary of Collected Summers, won first place in the 7th Annual Missouri Review Audio Competition in poetry. An essay/review of his works appeared in The Georgia Review and an interview is found in the Gulf Coast Journal. Recently Sam exhibit and read for PEN International in the Philippines. Sam lives in Eugene, Oregon.