January 20, 2011
Karen Finneyfrock is a poet, novelist, and teaching artist. Her second book of poems, Ceremony for the Choking Ghost, was released by Write Bloody press in 2010. Her young adult novel, Celia, the Dark and Weird, is due from Viking Children’s Books, a division of Penguin, in Spring 2012. She is a writer-in-residence at Richard Hugo House in Seattle, an alumna of Hedgebrook Writer’s Retreat, and was nominated for the Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award in 2009. A member of four National Poetry Slam teams, Karen teaches for Seattle Arts and Lectures’ Writers in the Schools program and lives in Cooper School Artist Housing in Seattle, Washington.
Matt Gano is a poet, writer, and performance artist residing in Seattle, Washington. Three-time member of the National Poetry Slam team for Seattle, and 2008 Seattle Poetry Slam Grand-Slam Champion, Matt Gano remains atop the list of spoken-word artists in national and international poetry communities. Matt is an international teaching artist and workshop facilitator. He has taught creative writing abroad in Seoul, Korea, and in 2009 earned a three-month artist residency at the Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity in Hong Kong. He is a senior artist in residence with Seattle Arts and Lectures Writers in the Schools program, and an independent writing mentor.