Locals poets Irene Cooper and Jana Zvibleman share their latest works.

Irene Cooper earned her MFA in Poetry from OSU-Cascades. She is a freelance copywriter and essayist, as well as a novelist in search of publisher.

Her poems have appeared in the Oregon Poetry Association anthology, Verseweavers, in Indolent Books’ anthology, Poems in the Aftermath, on the online project, What Rough Beast, and in The Feminist Wire. She co-facilitates Blank Pages Workshops in Bend, OR, with her handsome and talented husband, Michael, and leads workshops at Deschutes Library, MUSE, and COCC whenever they let her.

Jana's poetry and poetic prose meander from contemporary Coyote tales, through keyholes into family angst, in and out windows of adult children's games - and she is not above humor nor far from grief. She has been featured in diverse literary events; her writing and visual arts have been exhibited in art galleries and published in various journals and anthologies, and she has illustrated her own chapbooks. She has led creative writing classes and workshops and teaches response techniques for critique groups. Dedicated to promoting the literary arts, she was active on two annual mid-Willamette Valley events: The Magic Barrel, and The Tcha Tee Man Wi Storytelling Festival. For years Jana wrote fluidly in the Valley, and is currently offering he dry wit in Bend.

"Jana" starts with J and rhymes with "banana"
Zvibleman = ZWEE bel mn

Jana will be reading from her illustrated book "The Bad Mothers," which was adapted as a short play and made its stage debut at Cascades Theatrical Company in November. She will share other pieces also, as determined by the moon cycle, audience chemistry, and whim.




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