The Student Newspaper of Highline College

Highline professor celebrates new book

Faith Chao Staff Reporter May 12, 2022

Highline professor Susan Rich is releasing her new book, Gallery of Postcards and Maps: New and Selected Poems, at an event in West Seattle later this month.

Gallery of Postcards and Maps: New and Selected Poems collects the essential and award-winning poems from my four previous books of poetry but also includes a generous selection of new work,” said Rich. 

“The poems span the last 20 years looking at a life engaged in the work of international human rights, questions of travel, and my students,” Rich said. “In my poems I try to amplify the beauty we overlook, the nature of home, and the liminal spaces between the personal and the global. There are also poems that deal directly with students whom I have met at Highline.”

Susan Rich

Rich hopes that the Highline community will be able to see themselves in some of her work.

“My poetry deals with the somewhat universal themes such as family, community, love and break-ups. I’ve also lived and worked in many different parts of the world: Bosnia and Herzegovina, West Africa, and Palestine,” Rich said. 

In celebration of Rich’s new book, WordsWest will be hosting a book launch event on May 25, at 7 p.m.

WordsWest Literary Series was a monthly series from 2014 to 2019 that invited writers, readers and the West Seattle community to join its literary events, and was founded and curated by Katy E. Ellis, Susan Rich, and Harold Taw. 

Ellis is a poet, editor, and the author of two chapbooks, Urban Animal Expeditions and Gravity. Taw is a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter, and his debut novel was Adventures of the Karaoke King.

The free book launch event will be held at C&P Coffee Co., 5612 California Ave. SW. 

“There will be a tres leches cake and the space is a 1920s converted Craftsman house with a garden, and a coffee shop that also serves other beverages for sale,” said Rich. “There’s also plenty of free parking.”

The event will also be a reunion of WordsWest and will include readings from co-curators Ellis and Taw.

“The C&P Coffee is about a 30-minute drive from campus, after rush hour, and an exceptionally welcoming community gathering spot,” said Rich. 

“Different nights of the week there are free painting classes, musical gigs, and a monthly poetry open mic,” Rich said. “It would be beyond wonderful to see Highline folk come out to celebrate and support.”

For more information please visit https://wordswestliterary.weebly.com/next-event.html 

If you have any questions please contact wordswestliterary@gmail.com 

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