A special evening invites lovers of the Columbia River to celebrate a much-anticipated book release with live poetry readings and a conversation with Claudia Castro Luna, the author of One River, a Thousand Voices. Claudia’s project is designed to explore a sense of place, of ecology, of history, and to celebrate the power of words and stories to define ourselves and our communities. She is joined by Tyrone Ross Thompson (Wyampum Nez Perce) for readings and conversations recalling the energy, beauty, and power of the big river. Columbia Riverkeeper’s executive director, Brett Vanden Heuval, will moderate the conversation. RSVP required.
Claudia Castro Luna is Washington State Poet Laureate (2018 – 2021) and served as Seattle’s first Civic Poet (2015-2017). She is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets, Poets Laureate Fellowship, the author of Killing Marías, a finalist for the WA State Book Award 2018, One River, a Thousand Voices, and the chapbook This City. Born in El Salvador she came to the United States in 1981. Her non-fiction has appeared in YES! Magazine, the anthologies This is the Place (Seal Press) and Vanishing Points: Contemporary Salvadoran Narrative (Kalina Eds). Learn more at castroluna.com
Tyrone Ross Thompson is Wyampum Nez Perce of the Columbia River. He is the grandson of Moses Jerome Thompson who was the son of Henry "Pi-usha" Thompson and his father was Tommy "Kuni" Thompson. The direct lineage of the founders of Celilo Fish Committee. He is an alumni of Columbia Basin College and is working toward a bachelor's degree at Eastern Washington University. He hosts an open mic on the Yakama Indian Reservation, has written for the digital magazine Last Real Indians and used poetry to celebrate Indigenous People's Day at EWU. His intent is to build with poetry a medium to heal self, to help assist communities that have experienced the social ills and as a chance of resolve for kinships.