Sonoma County Literary Update

Dear Literary Folk,

News from Budapest
Actually, I’m enjoying a quiet morning in the town of Eger, center of Hungary’s wine country. The landscape looks a little like home, except it’s so remarkably green and has a few more castles.

I’ll be going wine tasting this afternoon before heading to Budapest where we will spend a few days (and no, I won’t be driving—we have a Hungarian guide and a Slovenian driver getting us from place to place).

My husband and I have been two weeks in Central Europe, first visiting relatives in Prague, and then with a small tour group making our way through Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, and Slovenia.

I’ve been posting photos and travel notes on Facebook, if you’re curious about the details.

Because this post is being typed one-fingerstyle on my iPhone, I’ll keep it short and ask your understanding if an event or announcement doesn’t get the shout-out it deserves.

Remembering Maureen Hurley
I imagine many of you reading this post knew Maureen Hurley. She was a vital force in the Sonoma County writing scene, especially the Russian River Writers Guild and California Poets in the Schools. She was truly a dynamic and energizing poet, artist, and teacher. When I moved to Sonoma County in 1990, Maureen was one of my mentors with California Poets in the Schools, and over the years we got to know each other’s lives and poetry pretty well, even discovering we have some common Irish relatives.

On July 15, 2024 Maureen Hurley suddenly and tragically died.

Maureen went to College of Marin to earn her AA, working in the theatre with Robin Williams, Michael Pritchard and a whole cast of characters. Maureen went on to Sonoma State University to complete her bachelor’s in Art, discovering her ability to tell stories in writing and poetry.

Maureen took jobs with local independent newspapers honing her writing and photography skills. She had fabulous editors who helped her learn and thrive in this creative world she discovered. Maureen also worked as an Artist in Residence for California Poets in the schools, teaching students poetry and art from pre-K through high school. Sonoma County was her stomping grounds at any or all the schools that supported the Arts hired her to teach. Maureen completed her last residency in May 2024 at Alexander Valley School after more than 40 years.

Maureen travelled the world studying ancient Celtic sites in Europe. 1986 travel to the USSR for cultural poetry and writing exchange, she lived in Moscow. She also travelled in Mexico, Central and South America, learning, seeing and experiencing indigenous cultures. She saw the wonder in the Galapagos Islands, swimming with dolphins and turtles.

A more complete obituary is posted online at Legacy.com, also the location for a celebration of life will be announced there.

Petaluma Poetry Walk
The Petaluma Poetry Walk is an annual poetry festival founded in September 1996 by the late poet Geri Digiorno. It features 25 poets reading their work at eight venues. The event has grown over the years, attracting notable poets and a diverse audience and includes readings in both English and Spanish.

During this day-long “movable feast,” participants walk to different locations to enjoy a variety of poetic performances. It has become a cherished tradition in Petaluma, reflecting the city’s rich cultural and literary heritage.

Go to petalumapoetrywalk.org for the full day’s schedule of poets and venues.

Poets: Christina Lloyd, Alice Templeton, Murray Silverstein, Emily Schulten, Lynn Watson, Gene Berson, Jonah Raskin, Lisa Summers, Stacey Tuel, Avotcja, Maxine Flasher-Düzgüneş, Nancy Miller Gomez, Lee Herrick, Genny Lim, Ellery Akers, Lee Rossi, Georgina Marie Guardado, Jodi Hottel, Elizabeth Jiménez Montelongo, Emilie Lygren, Kirk Lumpkin, Chris Olander, Lin Marie deVincent, Fran Carbonaro, Dave Seter.

Event Presenters: Terry Ehret, Gwynn O’Gara, Daedalus Howell, Elizabeth Herron, Iris Jamahl Dunkle, Francesca Bell, Sabine Wolpert, John Johnson, Bill Vartnaw, and Kary Hess, with Steve Shain on standup bass.

Venues: Hotel Petaluma, The Petaluma Cheese Shop, Keller Street CoWork, The Phoenix Theater, Copperfield’s Books, Usher Gallery, The Petaluma Historical Library and Museum, and Aqus Café.

Sixteen Rivers Poetry Reading in Berkeley


Ed Coletti’s Fall Poetry Festival
final reading event of the year at Café Frida Gallery, 300 South A Street, Santa Rosa, on the outdoor stage, will happen on Sunday, September 29th at 1 PM. Any of you who have attended regularly know this series to be a joyful festival which began following the height of the pandemic when poets and audiences were hungering to get out and mingle. Each subsequent gathering has been similarly well-received by large (at least by poetry reading standards) audiences. Come one, Come all!  Come early to enjoy lunch and listen to the jazz! Readers, not necessarily in this order, will be: Elizabeth Herron, Dave Seter, Pat Nolan, Ed Coletti, Nancy Dougherty, Arthur Dawson, Brian Martens, Jodi Hottel. Steve Shain will provide accompaniment on bass.

Call for Micro-Prose Submissions
Sonoma-County based Wordrunner eChapbooks, a hybrid literary journal and chapbook publication, has a new call out in September for MICRO-PROSE, to be published online in October. Free submissions, one per author. A maximum of 200 words (fiction or nonfiction). Submit your polished gem of a micro before September 30. Guidelines: echapbook.com/submissions.html#micros

A Labor of Love
Are any literati reading this interested in a labor of love? Jo-Anne could use some help keeping the Literary Update up to date and thus re-vitalized. No technical skills are required. Some of our pages are sadly out of date and need to be checked for accuracy. Are all ongoing groups still ongoing? Have writers’ connections expired? If interested, you may contact her at: editor@socolitupdate.com.

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Poem for September

Safeway
by Elizabeth Bennett

Your shapeless pink knit dress
hangs straight down your shapeless legs
to the toes of your black slippers.
The tag “Blair” sticks out from your collar.
You don’t know.
In the slow line of “Express < 15 Items”
  we stand.
You inspect Carmello and Hershey bars
content to plan an evening of chocolate.
You don’t know how sad I am
  standing behind you.
I offer to fix your tag
  and we meet in a sliver of dignity.

“Safeway” is from the chapbook The Price of Saffron, which can be purchased at Copperfield’s Bookstore in Sebastopol for $11.95.

Elizabeth Bennett‘s career has been as a teacher of English and ESL. Snce 2022, she has extended her love of teaching as a California Poet in the Schools. She has published two other chapbooks, Frog Takes Her Leap (1996), and The Colors of Apricots (2008). She takes immense pleasure in sharing and receiving the inspiration that poetry creates. She lives in Sebastopol, California.

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Terry Ehret
Sonoma County Literary Update Co-editor