Two Western Washington authors, one of whom hails from Port Townsend, are set to be featured at the next set of public readings at the Port Townsend Friends Meeting House.
JoAnne Tompkins, a …
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Two Western Washington authors, one of whom hails from Port Townsend, are set to be featured at the next set of public readings at the Port Townsend Friends Meeting House.
JoAnne Tompkins, a Port Townsend resident, is the author of the novel “What Comes After,” which was named the runner-up in fiction for the “Dayton Literary Peace Prize,” a finalist for both the Washington State Book Award and the Edgar Award for Best First Novel, and selected as the New York Times April 2021 book group pick.
Tompkins’ novel was also the 2023 Everybody Reads selection for Washington and Idaho libraries, and was shortlisted for the Prix Libre Nous as Best Foreign Book in French Translation.
Tompkins has said that she draws from her previous career as a trial lawyer and mediator, as well as from personal experiences including a stay at the Quaker learning community Pendle Hill, “exploring themes of resilience and grace.”
She’s currently working on “a hybrid memoir and novel.”
Dion O’Reilly, who divides her time between the Santa Cruz Mountains and Bellingham, Washington, has written three published collections.
“Ghost Dogs” won the Independent Press Award for Poetry, and received an Honorable Mention for the Eric Hoffer Poetry Award.
“Sadness of the Apex Predator” was a finalist for the Steel Toe Book Prize and the Ex Ophidia Prize, and her chapbook “Limerence” was a finalist for the Floating Bridge Press John Pierce Chapbook Competition.
O’Reilly’s work has been featured in journals such as The Sun and Rattle, and according to her, it “often explores transformation, and finds lyricism, in challenging life experiences.”
O’Reilly also hosts a podcast, leads poetry workshops and is launching a new poetry journal.
This installment in the ongoing “Readings at the Meeting House” literary series is hosted by Carl Youngmann and Ellie Mathews, and curated by Bill Mawhinney, with the intent of offering the community “a chance to hear from two distinguished voices in contemporary literature and poetry.”
The series is supported by the Port Townsend Friends, also known as the Quakers.
