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Bio

Ann Spiers lives on Vashon Island, a green refuge in Puget Sound, a ferry trip from Seattle WA. Her writing includes poetry, prose, and essay. She actively enjoys the community of Island and Northwest writers through sharing the podium, reading their books, and attending readings. Her community work focuses on the environment through enduring commitments to Vashon Audubon, Land Trust, and Park District. She belongs to Vashon’s haiku group.

Ann grew up on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, a post-WWII Catholic neighborhood, with hundreds of neighbor kids filling the years. Second of seven siblings, she attended Holy Names Academy, dropped out to San Francisco (briefly) for the Summer of Love, honeymooned at New York’s Chelsea Hotel, did not die on Coldwater 1 in Mt. St. Helen’s eruption, hiked the Washington Coast from the Columbia River to Cape Flattery, and loves madly two sons, two daughters-in-law, and two grandchildren.

Ann is second from left.

Ann’s experience includes a Master in Literature and Creative Writing with emphasis on poetry and playwrighting from the U of Washington. She was a founding student co-editor and cover editor of The Seattle Review. She has sat on many literary selection committees, served two terms as King County Arts Commissioner, produced reading series, and leads writing workshop series focusing on the Northwest chapbooks’ history, craft, and poetry. She was awarded residencies at Hedgebrook, UW’s Whiteley Center, and Espy Foundation. She is the inaugural Vashon Island Poet Laureate.

Her chapbooks include most recently What Rain Does (Egress Studio, Bellingham) and Bunker Trail (Finishing Line). Other chapbooks are The Herodotus Poems (Brooding Heron, Waldron Is.), Long Climb into Grace (FootHills, New York), and letterpress editions of Volcano Blue, Tide Turn, and A Wild Taste (May Day Press, Shelton WA).  These letterpress volumes individually are included in the Special Collections of U. of Washington, Stanford U, London’s British Library, Portland’s Multnomah County Library, U of Puget Sound, Cynthia Sears Collection at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, and many private collections.

Tide Turn, May Day Press, accessed at the British Library

Her poems appear in anthologies and journals including Beloit Poetry, Calyx, Seattle Review, The Raven Chronicles, Sing Heavenly Muse, Lifting the Sky Southwestern Haiku & Haiga, 13th Moon, The Temple/ElTemplo, Weathered Pages, Fine Madness, Crab Creek Review, Scarab, Sing Heavenly Muse, 13th Moon, Modern Haiku, Backbone, New Poets of the American West, 500 Handmade Books, and on-line in Fire on her Tongue, A Sense of Place: NW Geospatial Poetry, and  Seattle Weekly blog “Voracious.”

Ann’s honors include residencies at Hedgebrook, Whiteley Center, and Espy Foundation.

She participates widely in readings, notably Elliott Bay Books, NorthWind Gallery, KSER Radio, Wessel & Lieberman, U. of Washington Book Store, It’s About Time, Village Books, PoetsWest, UW Special Collections. Three writing groups (haiku and poetry) keep her inspired and thankful.

And sometimes in her busy life, Ann makes a bouquet.