This event on 2/23/23 had to be postponed due to the severity of the winter snowstorms in the Ukiah area. This has been rescheduled to Thursday, October 26, 2023. See the listing for the October event: https://theresawhitehill.com/event/felicia-rice-theresa-whitehill-heavy-lifting-writers-read-ukiah/

Join Writers Read Ukiah in an event celebrating the publication of the limited-edition artists’ book, Heavy Lifting, the outcome of a collaboration between artist/printer Felicia Rice of Moving Parts Press and poet Theresa Whitehill. This is the first of a series of events as part of a “listening tour” that will travel to six different population centers in Mendocino and Lake Counties over the spring of 2023 before moving on to other venues in northern California.

The evening will include presentation of a short experimental film, a brief talk by Felicia, a reading of poetry from the project by Theresa with an opportunity for the audience to respond to the themes and material. Theresa’s reading will be conducted in a round-robin format, alternating poems from the book with poems or brief statements from the audience.

The artists’ book will be displayed along with a prototype of the companion book that includes the full manuscript of poems and documentation of the project. 10% of sales of the companion book will go to support humanitarian aid in Mendocino County.

The limited-edition artists’ book Heavy Lifting began in 2019 with an exchange in which a poem sparked a drawing which sparked a poem which led to a book structure, then spiraled back round again. In 2020, during their early work on the project, Felicia lost her letterpress shop of over 40 years to a devastating megafire in the Santa Cruz Mountains just as the death of George Floyd trained a blazing light on the many deep-seated inequities in this country amid the global Pandemic and the threat of encroaching political totalitarianism. This project tackles these individual and public crises and has become our search for ways in which to share our experiences from the past several years in book form, performance, and dialogue, leading to thinking collaboratively about our shared future.

For more information, and for those who want to explore the themes of the project so they can choose related pieces for the open mic session, see: https://movingpartspress.com/publications/heavy-lifting/

To see the full lineup of events for the Heavy Listening Tour, see: https://movingpartspress.com/publications/heavy-lifting-listening-tour/

We continue to strongly recommend that you do not attend unless fully vaccinated. Masking while indoors is also recommended.
Suggested donation: $5, Refreshments provided.
For Information, contact Writers Read Ukiah MC Michael Riedell, innisfreeriedell@gmail.com

Writers Read happens on the last Thursday of almost every month and has been happening in Ukiah since 1999. This reading series is sponsored by an anonymous local writer, Colored Horse Studios, Michael Riedell, Dan Barth, the Poet Laureate Committee of Ukiah, the Grace Hudson Museum and donations.