About the Book
This Light Called Darkness, A Raven Chronicles Anthology, Selected Work 1997-2005-edited by Kathleen Alcalá, Phoebe Bosché, Paul Hunter, and Anna Odessa Linzer-is the second anthology in the Raven Chronicles Press series featuring some of the outstanding work that appeared in Raven Chronicles Magazine-a nonprofit, independent publishing and cultural organization, based in Seattle, that soared for twenty-seven years, 1991 to 2018. Through forty-eight issues in twenty-six magazine-format volumes, Raven brought together flocks of writers in the Pacific Northwest / Salish Sea region and beyond, for readings, workshops, cultural celebrations, and the occasional march or demonstration.
This anthology includes poems, essays, fiction, interviews, and storytelling from 85 writers who were published in Raven Chronicles Magazine from Summer 1997-Winter, 2005, and the artwork of 34 mostly Northwest artists.
Read poems by Pamela Moore Dionne, Peter Ludwin, Gail Tremblay, Glenna E. Cook, Murray Gordon, Robert Gregory, Marion Kimes, Jeanne Ruth Lohmann, Jo Nelson, Judith Roche, Joan Swift, David Lloyd Whited, Connie Walle, Kevin Miller, Deborah Miranda, Virgil Suárez, Mark Svenvold, Victor Hernández Cruz, Koon Woon, Lois J. Red Elk-Reed, Cat Ruiz, Cynthia Pratt, Janet Sekijima, Carletta Carrington Wilson, Peter Pereira, Margot F. Boyer, Mary Lou Sanelli, Bill Yake, Susan Landgraf, Maged Zaher, Martha Silano, Diane Westergaard, Danny Romero, James R. Lee, Paul r. Harding, Mercedes Lawry, Ronda Piszk Broatch, Anna Bálint, Joan Fitzgerald, Andrena Zawinski, Kathleen Walsh Spencer, Stephen Thomas, Jim Bodeen, Mario Susko, Natalie Pascale Boisseau, Qwo-Li Driskill, Martha Linehan, Lara Stortoni, and Camincha.
Essays by Eric Lee Christensen, Lisa Purdy, Bobby Anderson, Paul Nelson, Doug Nufer, Suzanne A. Villegas, David W. Paul, Matt Briggs, Michael Daley, Larry Laurence, Mark Sargent, Whitney Pastorek, Suzannah Dalzell, Amontaine Aurore, John Olson, Ann Spiers, Waverly Fitzgerald, and Pat Duggan.
Read fiction by Sharon Hashimoto, Nancy Redwine, Rebecca Brown, Anna Mockler, Deb Parks-Satterfield, Stacey Levine, Sue Pace, Taha Ebrahimi, Polly Buckingham, Avital Gad-Cykman, Jan Priddy, Keith Egawa, Priscilla Long, Anita Endrezze, Don Kunz, and Stephen D. Gutierrez.
About the Author :
Kathleen Alcalá (p. ) was born in Compton, California, to Mexican parents, and grew up in San Bernardino. Both a graduate of and instructor in the Clarion West Science Fiction and Fantasy Program, her work embraces both traditional and innovative storytelling techniques. She is the author of six award-winning books that include a collection of stories, three novels, a book of essays, and The Deepest Roots: Finding Food and Community on a Pacific Northwest Island. With Norma E. Cantú, Kathleen is the co-editor of Weeping Women: La Llorona's Presence in Modern Latinx and Chicanx Lore. A member of the Ópata Nation, Kathleen makes her home on Suquamish territory. Phoebe Bosché is a cultural activist, and has been managing editor of The Raven Chronicles literary organization/Raven Chronicles Press since 1991. Since 1984, she has organized literary events and readings in the Pacific Northwest. In 1985, she co-founded, along with poet Roberto Valenza, "Alternative To Loud Boats," a literary and musical festival which ran for ten years in various venues in Seattle. She was co-editor of Swale Magazine (with Valenza) and SkyViews, a monthly literary publication of Red Sky Poetry Theater, in the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Her spoken word poems appear in various publications, including the anthology Durable Breath, Contemporary Native American Poetry, Salmon Run Publishing Co., Anchorage, Alaska, and Open Sky. She is a full-time editor and book designer. Her favorite poet is Archy, the cockroach, whose muse is Mehitabel, the alley cat. Paul Hunter's (p. )poems have appeared in numerous journals, as well as nine full-length books and four chapbooks. His first collection of farming poems, Breaking Ground (2004, Silverfish Review Press) was reviewed in The New York Times and received the 2004 Washington State Book Award. A second farming volume, Ripening, appeared in 2007, a third volume, Come the Harvest, followed in 2008, and the fourth, from the same publisher, Stubble Field, appeared in 2012. He has been a featured poet on The News Hour, and has a prose book on small-scale, sustainable farming, One Seed to Another, from the Small Farmer's Journal. An autobiography in prose poetry, Clownery, appeared in 2017, and two western novels, Sit a Tall Horse and Mr. Brick & the Boys, were published in 2020 and 2022, from Davila Art & Books, in Sisters, Oregon.
Review :
This Light Called Darkness is a gorgeous gathering of poetry, story, essay, and art. It is a gripping read, page after page, a great tribute to the cultural force of Raven Chronicles in our Pacific Northwest. This Light Called Darkness belongs in every library and in every home.
-Priscilla Long, author of Fire and Stone: Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?
And as we read This Light Called Darkness, we find ourselves compelled to call upon the light of our own spirit to appreciate and resonate with the multiplicity of voices speaking here, showing us the way.-Carolyne Wright, author of Masquerade, Poems, co-editor of Raising Lilly Ledbetter: Women Poets Occupy the Workspace
From its enigmatic title to the moving dedication to writers passed, this fine collection affirms the diverse voices and the trickster magic that's been at the heart of Raven Chronicles since its founding in 1991. -Holly J. Hughes, author of Passings, winner of an American Book Award, and co-publisher of Empty Bowl Press
