EWU’s 16^th annual literary festival, Get Lit! is right around the corner! What’s the best way to get ready for Get Lit!? Come to the Downtown Library on April 7 at 4:00 pm to hear Spokane Poet Laureate Thom Caraway (pictured at right) give a State-of-the-LSIS address (LSIS = Literary Scene in Spokane). Thom’s address is the official kick-off for the Get Lit! Festival so come and flood the building with people who appreciate books and words and writers!

Get Lit! will continue in Spokane April 7- 13 with author presentations, workshops and poetry slams. You can get a full schedule of events at their website. At the library we’ll be hosting a black-out poetry project all month long. If you haven’t tried black-out poetry then the library is a great way to check it out. We’ll have sheets of text (from old, donated books) and markers. You “black out” the words that don’t belong in the poem and the words that remain are your poem. Take your poem with you or snap a photo and share it on Instagram (be sure to tag #spokanelibrary).

This month we browsed the poetry stacks to celebrate National Poetry Month. In the Dewey Decimal system, Literature and Rhetoric are housed in section 800. Just to disabuse anyone of the notion that poetry is stuffy or boring, we will start in 808, Rhetoric and Collection of Literature, with Lure of the Limerick: An Uninhibited History. This is filled with gems like “A flatulent nun of Hawaii…” well, that’s not exactly newsletter friendly, but if you want to know the rest, by all means check it out. A quick side note: a sure way to feel young again – or at least like a snickering junior higher – is to stand in the stacks and read a book of limericks.

We also have How to Read a Poem: and Fall in Love With Poetry. It can be assumed a person wouldn’t need this book to appreciate the aforementioned limericks, but for the poetry of giants such as Donne, Keats and Byron (found in 821 English Poetry) this book would certainly be a helpful resource. Aspiring poets may be interested in Next Word, Better Word: The Craft of Writing Poetry. The title may call to mind Dr. Seuss books, but hopefully it goes beyond rhyming cat and hat.

As with all literature, poetry is important in myriad ways. It can be artistic – the book Beautiful and Pointless is a nice example, as is Catching Life by the Throat. Or it can be utilitarian – see The Poetry Home Repair Manual or Poetry as Spiritual Practice. And of course the library has plenty of poetry books that one would expect to find in the Dewey Section 821 English Poetry. Beautiful, thick old books with the call number hand written on the spines, English Romantic Poetry, 16th Century English Poetry and 17th Century Lyrics from Original Texts.

Local authors and local history are well represented at the libraries this month with two presentations that you’ll definitely want to mark on your calendar:

David Douglas’ 9 Lives
presented by author Jack Nisbet
Monday, April 14, 6:00 pm at the South Hill Library

David Douglas was a Scottish naturalist who did much of his best work in the Pacific Northwest, where his contacts with local fur traders and tribal families resulted in key information about our native landscape. Douglas met his demise in a spectacular and mysterious manner while on the big island of Hawaii, but he had several close calls in our region as well. This slide presentation will focus on why he managed to say alive here, what his collections mean to us today, and the search to find out what really happened at the scene of his death. Pictured at right is a painting of the Kilauea Crater where Douglas died.

Jack Nisbet is the author of David Douglas: A Naturalist at Work: An Illustrated Exploration Across Two Centuries in the Pacific Northwest.

Pictured above: Kilauea Crater by Day by Titian Ramsey Peale, 1842, Bishop Museum, Honolulu

Colorful Characters from Spokane’s Wildest Era
presented by author and historian Jim Kershner
Saturday, April 19 at 2 p.m. at Shadle

Spokane has a long history of interesting and notorious characters. Through his work with the Spokesman-Review and as a historian for HistoryLink.org Jim Kershner has spent time with many of these individuals (some personally and some through study and research). A great storyteller, Jim will share his knowledge of some of Spokane’s more interesting citizens – knowledge that they may not have wanted known. Luckily they’re not around to chastise us!

Jordan Hilker (pictured at left) works in our Outreach department and takes library materials out to over 40 retirement and assisted living centers throughout Spokane each month. Outreach is one of the most beloved services the library offers and Jordan and his colleague, Al, are always welcomed at the centers they visit with huge smiles and thanks for the visit. When he’s not delivering large-print books, movies and other library materials Jordan plays the bass. Jordan’s own music isn’t on Freegal (yet!) but he has selected some favorites from there. Here’s what he has to say about his choices.

“Songs Without Words – The Power of Instrumental Music: The 5 songs I downloaded from Freegal are all instrumental songs spanning a wide variety of musical flavors. I have a love for music, especially instrumental, since I’m a musician that plays in two instrumental bands (Odyssey and The 3H Band). This type of music is tough to relate to for most people. This is generally because much of the popular musical landscape is dominated by vocal or lyric driven music. I’d like to prove otherwise though. The beauty of instrumental music is that it evokes emotions through melody allowing the listener to create their own personal storyline. Take a listen to the 5 songs I chose and explore the world of instrumental music!

“Somnarium” by Animals as Leaders from the album “Weightless”
“Friends” by Joe Satriani from the album “The Extremist”
“Supererogation” by Chimp Spanner from the album “At the Dream’s Edge”
“Drifting” by Andy McKee from the album “Art of Motion”
“Colossal” by Scale the Summit from the album “The Collective”

*All you need to download free music from the library is your library card. If you need help, call or stop by the library.