Join us for Raven Chronicles Press’s live reading at Elliott Bay Book Company, June 1, 2023. Kathleen Alcalá will be interviewed by Professor Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs about Raven Chronicles’ new edition of THE FLOWER IN THE SKULL.

Spanning 130 years, The Flower in the Skull opens in the 1870s with Concha, an Ópata Indian woman who has fled to Tucson, where she works as a housekeeper and clings to memories of her old way of life. Her daughter, Rosa, feels the trauma of Concha’s loss but struggles to understand her mother’s culture. The story jumps forward to 1990s Los Angeles, where Shelly, a young Chicana woman, digs through historical archives in search of information about the Ópata people.

“Kathleen Alcalá is one of America’s best writers. The clarity and depth of her work allow us to see and treasure the many untold stories about our indigenous ancestors in a territory always influenced by both Mexican and American history.” —Gabriella Gutiérrez y Muhs, author of How Many Indians Can We Be? ¿Cuántos indios podemos ser? and The Runaway Poems

“Alcala’s timely endeavor to reclaim, research, write and honor the ‘old stories’ of her Ópata great-grandmother is an utterly glorious achievement.” —Penina Ava Taesali, author of Sourcing Siapo

“A book of deep connections, one that bridges the Old Ways with modern life, the Mexican-American culture with its Native roots, and the unrelenting grind of reality with the triumph of spirit.” —Anita Endrezze, author of Butterfly Moon

As artist-in-residence at the Dr. James and Janie Washington Studio and Cultural Center in the Central District, Wilson created a series of site-specific installations whose process is documented in Poem of Stone & Bone. Journal entries chart her journey and visceral responses to objects found on the grounds, in the house and studio of the artist. Poem of Stone and Bone engages objects, land and literature to create a nuanced perspective on the life and work of James W. Washington Jr.

On April 24, 7-8:30 pm, at Elliott Bay Bookstore Raven will be launching our 2nd anthology of work, selected from the work we published from 1991 to 2018: This Light Called Darkness, A Raven Chronicles Anthology, Selected Work 1997-2005. The anthology contains the work of 85 writers and 34 artists. Readers include Anna Odessa Linzer, Kathleen Alcalá, Paul Hunter, Koon Woon, Carletta Carrington Wilson, Anna Bálint, Raúl Sánchez, Annie Pearson, Carolyne Wright, Natalie Pascale Boisseau, and Martha McAvoy Linehan.

Reception for Carletta Carrington Wilson’s book “Poem of Stone & Bone, The Iconography of James W. Washington Jr.” 2-5 pm, Sheraton Grand Hotel Seattle, 1400 6th Avenue, Seattle 98101. This is a reception for the Raven Chronicles Press’s 2023 publication of Carletta Carrington Wilson’s “Poem of Stone & Bone, The Iconography of James W. Washington Jr. in Fourteen Stanzas and Thirty-One Days.” This book documents four site-specific installations Wilson created in 2011 on the Seattle property of noted African American sculptor James W. Washington Jr. This house, located at 1816 26th Avenue in Seattle, Washington, honors the life and legacy of Washington, a celebrated African American painter and sculptor and a leading member of the Northwest School of artists.