PORT HADLOCK — Hip-hop artist, poet and teacher Quenton Baker and 2014-15 Washington state poet laureate Elizabeth Austen will get together to read their poems and engage in a conversation at the Jefferson County Library this Thursday evening.
Admission is free to the 6:30 p.m. gathering at the library, 620 Cedar Ave., as part of Austen’s tour of all 39 counties in the Evergreen State before the end of her term.
While Austen writes about the outdoors, independence and other subjects, Baker’s poetry delves into race and a polarized society — among other topics.
Austen’s debut collection, Every Dress a Decision, was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award.
Baker’s work appears in poetry journals and anthologies including It Was Written: Poetry Inspired by Hip-Hop.
Both writers hold master of fine arts degrees and both consider poetry “vital art,” art that narrates “the storms inside us all,” as Baker writes on www.pathwithart.org.
Baker is a teaching artist at Path with Art, the Seattle center offering classes for people recovering from homelessness, addiction or other trauma.
He was also a 2014 nominee for the Pushcart Prize.
For details about Thursday’s event and other free activities at the Jefferson County Library, phone 360-385-6544 or visit www.jclibrary.info.
To find out more about the state poet laureate, read her blog and see some writing prompts, go to www.elizabethausten.wordpress.com.
