Words From the Café: An anthology, 2nd Edition, Edited by Anna Balint
On April 10, 2022, Raven will launch the 2nd Edition of Words From the Café, An Anthology, edited by Anna Bálint, with photos by Willie J. Pugh.
This is an exciting and unusual collection of stories and poems written by people in recovery. Every Friday at Seattle’s Recovery Café, in downtown Seattle, people struggling with addiction, mental illness, trauma, and homelessness came together in Anna Bálint’s Safe Place Writing Circle to write and share writing. There they discovered their own unique voices and ways of shaping language to write stories and poems as part of reclaiming their lives. This collection, born out of that involvement, includes a literary range and breadth of human experience that flies in the face of prevailing stereotypes about some of the most marginalized members of our society. These are voices that need to be heard.
Words
From
the
Café
This is an exciting and unusual collection of stories and poems written by people in recovery.
ISBN 978-0- 9979468-9-5, $14.99, 206 pages
Available April 10, 2022
Cover photo: Ginny Banks, 2015
Orders: https://www.ravenchronicles.org/books
Email: editors@ravenchronicles.org
“What’s so astonishing about this collection is the range of emotions and the quality of the writing: joy and grief, exuberance and ennui, as well as a host of other emotions, all dwell together in this compelling book.” —Tod Marshall, Washington State Poet Laureate (2016-2018)
“As I read Words From the Café, I find myself entering not only into the lives of others through their poems and prose, but into a whole range of physical, cultural, philosophical and psychological territories....”
—Martha Linehan, Organization for Prostitution Survivors
“Speaking plainly, Words From the Café is a recovery program knocking on the door of mainstream American culture. Editor Anna Bálint has shaped an anthology that breaks down conventional definitions and boundaries.”
—Jim Bodeen, Ed., Seeking Light in Each Dark Room/Buscando Luz en Cada Cuarto Oscuro
Anna Bálint is a London-born, Seattle-based poet, writer, editor and teacher of East European descent. Her most recent editorial work is the anthology Take a Stand, Art Against Hate (Raven Chronicles Press, 2020). Her story collection Horse Thief (Curbstone Press, 2004), was a finalist for the Pacific Northwest Book Award, and her poems, stories, and essays have appeared in numerous journals and magazines. Two earlier books of poetry were Out of the Box and spread them crimson sleeves like wings. An alumna of Hedgebrook’s Writers in Residence Program and the Jack Straw Writers Program, Anna has also taught creative writing for many years and in many places, including Washington State Prisons, El Centro de la Raza, Writers in the Schools, Antioch University, Richard Hugo House, and Path with Art (all in Seattle). In 2001, she received a Leading Voice Award in recognition of her creative work with urban and immigrant youth at El Centro de la Raza. Currently she is a teaching artist at Recovery Café where, in 2012, she founded Safe Place Writing Circle for people in recovery from trauma, addiction, mental illness, and homelessness.
Willie Pugh brings nearly thirty years of Direct Marketing experience to his position with Raven Chronicles. He is a forty-year veteran of the US Postal Service from which he retired in 2017 as Senior Sales Executive-Mailing. While in that position he assisted many companies in the State of Washington achieve their direct marketing goals, including numerous small and mid-sized businesses. He was also instrumental in helping Washington State Elections create and move to its current Vote By Mail system. A graduate of the Leadership Tomorrow Class of 1993, Willie devoted scores of volunteer hours working with arts and non-profit organizations in the Northwest. This included working as a board member for Danceworks Northwest and in various capacities with Discover Dance, Langston Hughes, Festival Sundiata, Intiman Theater, Group Theater, and the Seattle Rep. Aside from working with arts organizations Willie is also an artist himself: a long time Seattle photographer. An Alabama native, Willie attended an all-Black high school in Selma, Alabama, during the height of the Civil Rights Movement.