As part of the Third Thursday Art Walk, the Edmonds Bookshop is celebrating Poetry Month Thursday, April 19, with an amazing line-up of local poets, starting at 6:30 p.m.: Victoria Ford, Holly Hughes, Jack McCarthy, Joannie Stangeland. and Joan Swift.

Victoria Ford has published two chapbooks: Following the Swan (Fireweed, 1988) and Rain Psalm (Rose Alley, 1996). Her poems have recently appeared in Limbs of the Pine, Peaks of the Range; Many Trails to the Summit, and Petroglyph. She has taught English at Seattle Central Community College and Antioch University. She currently works as an instructional designer at an educational software firm.

Holly Hughes in 2011 won the Crosscurrents Award for Poetry from the Washington Community College Humanities Association for her poem, “Re-reading Tu Fu Thirty Years Later.” She edited the acclaimed anthology Beyond Forgetting: Poetry and Prose About Alzheimer’s Disease (Kent State, 2009). Her most recent poetry collection is Boxing the Compass (Floating Bridge, 2007). The Pen & The Bell: Mindful Writing in a Busy World, her collaboration with essayist Brenda Miller, is due from Skinner House Press this May. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Bellingham Review; Poetry Daily; Dancing With Joy: 99 Poems; and Family Matters: Poems of Our Families. Holly teaches writing at Edmonds Community College.

Jack McCarthy calls himself a “standup poetry guy.” He was a member of Boston’s 1996 National Slam Poetry team. Now based near Seattle, he performs at local venues and tours nationally. His publications include Actual Grace Notes and a critically acclaimed full-length collection, Say Goodnight, Grace Notes. He has also produced two CDs, Breaking Down Outside a Gas Station and By Gift Unearned. His website is www.standupoet.net.

Joannie Stangeland has published three poetry collections: Into the Rumored Spring (Ravenna, 2011), Weathered Steps (Rose Alley, 2002), and A Steady Longing for Flight (Floating Bridge, 1995 contest winner). Her poems have appeared in Valparaiso Poetry Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, and Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), as well as the two Rose Alley Press anthologies, Limbs of the Pine, Peaks of the Range (2007) and Many Trails to the Summit (2010). Joannie has been a Jack Straw Writer and an instructor at Richard Hugo House. Her blog is https://joanniestangeland.com.

Joan Swift has published six collections of poetry: Snow on a Crocus (2010); The Tiger Iris (1999); Intricate Moves, Poems About Rape (1997); The Dark Path of Our Names (1985); Parts of Speech (1978); and This Element (1965). The Tiger Iris and The Dark Path of Our Names received Washington State Governor’s Awards. She has received three National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. Her poems have been published in many journals, including The Atlantic Monthly, The New Yorker, Northwest Review, Poetry Northwest, Ploughshares, and Yale Review.