The Rain is Clearing: A Book Launch for Luther Hughes's A Shiver in the Leaves

Join us in the store on Tuesday, September 27 at 7:00 pm to celebrate the publication of one of the most hotly anticipated debut poetry collections of the year, A Shiver in the Leaves (BOA Editions), by Seattle's very own Luther Hughes! Enjoy a reading by the author, as well as readings by two other poets, Dujie Tahat and Gabrielle Bates, and then stick around to chat and get your book signed. This is sure to be one of the most heart-warming and inspiring poetry events of the year—We hope to see you there!

*Please note that masking is required at all Open Books: A Poem Emporium events. Thank you for helping us keep each other healthy!*

Luther Hughes is the author of the full-length collection A Shiver in the Leaves (BOA Editions, 2022) and the chapbook Touched (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2018). He is the founder of Shade Literary Arts, a literary organization for queer writers of color, and co-hosts The Poet Salon podcast with Gabrielle Bates and Dujie Tahat. Recipient of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship and 92Y Discovery Poetry Prize, his work has been published in various journals, magazines, and newspapers. Luther was born and raised in Seattle, where he currently lives.

Dujie Tahat is a Filipino-Jordanian immigrant living in Washington state. They are the author of three chapbooks: Here I Am O My God, selected for a Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship; Salat, winner of the Tupelo Press Sunken Garden Chapbook Award and longlisted for the 2020 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry Collection; and Balikbayan, finalist for The New Michigan Press / DIAGRAM chapbook contest and the Center for Book Arts honoree. Dujie has earned fellowships from the National Book Critics Circle, Hugo House, Jack Straw, and the Poetry Foundation, as well as a work-study scholarship from Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. currently an MFA candidate at Warren Wilson College, Dujie serves as Critic-at-Large for Poetry Northwest and poetry editor for Moss.

Gabrielle Bates is the author of Judas Goat, forthcoming from Tin House in January 2023. A Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship finalist and recipient of support from the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Artist Trust, and Hugo House, her poems and poetry comics have appeared in the New Yorker, the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, Ploughshares, American Poetry Review, POETRY, and elsewhere. She is originally from Birmingham, Alabama. On Twitter (@GabrielleBates) + Instagram (@gabrielle_bates_).