This four-part reading series features acclaimed poets, writers, and comics artists who teach in SAL’s Writers in the Schools (WITS) program. In addition to cultivating the next generation of writers, WITS writers are their own creative forces. Tonight’s program will feature Oliver Brickman, Amy Hirayama, Clara Olivo, Vincent Rendoni, Ricardo Ruiz, and Ann Teplick! These resident writers come together to read from their own work, inspiring the same craft and performance skills they teach in the classroom.
All are welcome to join these warm-hearted, fun community events. Murmurations is free to attend but RSVP is appreciated.
Oliver Brickman is a writer, performer, and community organizer from Ann Arbor, MI. The winner of the 2015 Split This Rock Poetry Prize, and a five-time member of Seattle slam teams, Oliver has received grants and scholarships from the Lambda Literary Foundation, the Yiddish Book Center, 4Culture, and more. A BOAAT Writers Fellow and a Ken Warfel Fellow for Poetry in Community, Oliver’s poems and prose appear in Narrative, Adriot, BOAAT, The Indiana Review, Muzzle, and the anthologies Ghosts of Seattle Past, The Dead Animal Handbook and Courage: Daring Poems for Gutsy Girls. Oliver holds an MFA from the University of Virginia and lives in Seattle, where they teach writing to youth and adults, and parents a cat named Latke.
Amy Hirayama is a Hapa writer and educator from Seattle, Washington. She works as the residential workshop administrator for Clarion West, a speculative fiction writer’s workshop. She is also one of the founders of Beam Pedagogy, which provides workshops and retreats focused on educator wellness and changing systems that lead to burnout. Food, family, humor and nature are her favorite things, so she writes about them a lot, sometimes all at once.
Clara Olivo (they/them/elle) is an AfroSalvi poet, author and abolitionist living in diaspora. Born and raised in South Central L.A to Salvadoran refugees, their writing navigates the intersections of disability, displacement, and joy. Weaving an intricate tapestry of history and lived-experience that amplifies ancestral power and pride.
They’ve performed in open mics and ceremonies from Seattle to Washington D.C and are featured in publications such as The South Seattle Emerald, Valiant Scribe and Quiet Lightning’s Literary Mixtape. Their debut poetry collection The Whisper, The Storm and The Light In Between, received the Gold Medal for Best Bilingual Poetry Collection by The International Latino Book Awards in 2022.
Clara currently lives in a quiet home on unceded Duwamish land with their partner, dog and an ever-growing number of houseplants.
Vincent Rendoni is the author of the forthcoming poetry collection Dead Chicano Mixtape (Red Hen Press, 2027) and A Grito Contest in the Afterlife (Catamaran, 2022), winner of the Catamaran Poetry Prize as selected by Dorianne Laux. His work has appeared in AGNI, Prairie Schooner, Ninth Letter, Alaska Quarterly Review, and Pleiades. He has received support from the Jack Straw Cultural Center and Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. A born-and-raised Northwesterner, he currently resides in White Center, WA.
Ricardo Ruiz is a multi-dimensional writer of poetry and prose. The son of potato factory workers, Ricardo hails from Othello, Washington. His work draws from his experience as a first-generation Mexican-American, and from his military service. Ricardo holds an Associate Degree in Business and Accounting from Big Bend Community College, where he was recognized as Student of the Year in both Business and Economics, and English Composition. He also holds a Bachelor of Art in Creative Writing from the University of Washington. While in the military, Ricardo earned the rank of Staff Sergeant while serving on four deployments, two to Afghanistan. His debut collection of poetry reached #1 on Amazon’s Hispanic-American Poetry Chart. He is passionate about elevating marginalized voices from rural communities and takes pride in being a conduit for cultural connection.
Ann Teplick is a poet, playwright, and prose writer with an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. For twenty-three years, she’s been a teaching artist in Seattle public schools; Hugo House; Coyote Central; and Pongo Teen Writing, at King Co. juvenile detention and the Washington State psychiatric hospital. She has received funding from Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, 4 Culture, Artist Trust, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She is also a Hedgebrook and Jack Straw alumna.