She bestowed the honor on local poet Christopher Luna.
Jackson made this decision in order to acknowledge Christopher Luna’s seven years of service to the local poetry community as a teacher, event organizer, mentor, and the host of the popular open mic reading series at Cover to Cover Books. The series, which Luna founded in 2004 and moved to Cover to Cover in 2007, has also hosted nationally and locally renowned writers including David Meltzer, Charles Potts, Neeli Cherkovski, Jack McCarthy, Walt Curtis, Judith Arcana, Sage Cohen, Dan Raphael, Washington State Poet Laureate Sam Green, and Oregon Poet Laureate Paulann Petersen.
Leah Jackson and Christopher Luna have organized several events together at both Sixth Street Gallery (where she was the director from October 2004 - October 2007) and Angst Gallery. These included a 50th Anniversary reading of Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” which Luna arranged for 14 voices, and “Words,” an exhibit that showcased text-based art. Jackson has charged Luna with developing several projects to serve the community, beginning with a contest seeking submissions for lines of poetry to be printed on a limited edition set of coasters for Niche.
Leah Jackson made the following statement about the honor she has bestowed upon Christopher Luna:
“As the proprietor of Angst and Niche it is my honor to appoint Christopher Luna as poet laureate for my businesses for the year 2011. I have created this position to call attention to the art of poetry, a branch of the arts that can be easy to overlook. Christopher has the skill and the dedication to this art that will allow us to pursue poetry focused projects in Vancouver, the city that I choose to call home.
“In the following year, Christopher will work on three poetry-based projects. These projects will be funded by Niche. It is my hope that this is just the beginning of the exciting work that will be done. Thank you to Christopher Luna for accepting this position.”
Leah Jackson and Christopher Luna are available for interviews. Click on their links to email either one.
Christopher Luna
Poet, Editor, Teacher
http://christopherluna-poetry.blogspot.com
http://www.printedmattervanc.wordpress.com
Co-author (with David Madgalene and Toni Partington)
of “To Be Named and Other Works of Poetic License,” a limited edition
art book and 200+ page poem
http://tobenamed-artandpoetry.blogspot.com/
Columnist for Sage Cohen's Writing the Life Poetic E-Zine
http://writingthelifepoetic.typepad.com/writing_the_life_poetic/
Angst Gallery, 1015 Main Street, Vancouver, WA 98660
Phone: 360-253-1742
Niche Wine and Art Bar, 1013 Main Street, Vancouver, WA 98660
Phone: 360-980-8352
Cover to Cover Books, 1817 Main Street, Vancouver, WA 98660
Phone: 360-514-0358
