Longtime bookseller Marty Kruse has served literary communities from San Francisco to Seattle; promoted poetry slam locally and nationwide; and was a founding organizer of ILWU Local 5, the Powell's booksellers' union.  If you visit St. Johns Books often, you've probably met him.  He's the tall guy with the glasses, the really knowledgeable one who can almost always put the right book in your hands.  Marty has shared support, inspiration, and skill with St. Johns Booksellers since before we opened (including the design of our beautiful monogram with the St. Johns Bridge).  He has been living with cancer for the last 2 years, which is a lot of work for him and his family--so we're inviting all his communities to show their appreciation and support at a special performance by one of the most honored poets in Slam. We're so excited, we're opening on a Monday for this event!

Ms. Spelt is the stage name of Angus Adair.  He is one of the founders of the Vancouver Poetry Slam and is the only Canadian to ever earn Poetry Slam Inc.'s Spirit of The Slam Award for outstanding contribution to the North American poetry slam community. He is also the only Canadian to ever appear in PSI's Legends Showcase. He is the first and only Canadian to ever be host city director for a major PSI tournament, The Individual World Poetry Slam 2007.  He has been published in 4 anthologies the latest of which, Aim For The Head (Write Bloody Press), recently received a good review in The New York Times. He has been seen performing his work in the Universal Pictures film Love Happens and has been on 4 Vancouver Poetry Slam Teams, including the 2011 team.  He has remained a consistent distinct and powerful voice in the performance poetry community since he first entered it in 1998.  

Longtime bookseller Marty Kruse has served literary communities from San Francisco to Seattle; promoted poetry slam locally and nationwide; and was a founding organizer of ILWU Local 5, the Powell's booksellers' union. If you visit St. Johns Books often, you've probably met him. He's the tall guy with the glasses, the really knowledgeable one who can almost always put the right book in your hands. Marty has shared support, inspiration, and skill with St. Johns Booksellers since before we opened (including the design of our beautiful monogram with the St. Johns Bridge). He has been living with cancer for the last 2 years, which is a lot of work for him and his family--so we're inviting all his communities to show their appreciation and support at a special performance by one of the most honored poets in Slam. We're so excited, we're opening on a Monday for this event!

Ms. Spelt is the stage name of Angus Adair. He is one of the founders of the Vancouver Poetry Slam and is the only Canadian to ever earn Poetry Slam Inc.'s Spirit of The Slam Award for outstanding contribution to the North American poetry slam community. He is also the only Canadian to ever appear in PSI's Legends Showcase. He is the first and only Canadian to ever be host city director for a major PSI tournament, The Individual World Poetry Slam 2007. He has been published in 4 anthologies the latest of which, Aim For The Head (Write Bloody Press), recently received a good review in The New York Times. He has been seen performing his work in the Universal Pictures film Love Happens and has been on 4 Vancouver Poetry Slam Teams, including the 2011 team. He has remained a consistent distinct and powerful voice in the performance poetry community since he first entered it in 1998.

Guest reader Reuben Nisenfeld will compose instant poems on request, for a donation to the cause. Reuben is a native Portlander and thus easily persuaded into clever acts of deviancy and child like wonder. He is a writer and performer and in various eras has ran the Portland Poetry Slam, founded Plazm magazine, taught children to fear theater, and currently performs improv with Brainwaves and Brody Theaters. He is the proud author of several prose/poetry combo platters: Gigolo Of Misfit Toys, Too True To Be Good, the children's book spoof "What's Happening To My Money," and is currently shopping a novel, and by shopping he means sending PDFs to a closed email for Dave Eggers. Reuben has raged for and against the machine with Marty Kruse for years and loves him deeply.

Guest reader Michelle Frost lives in Portland, Oregon where she writes about anything except rain. Her poems and book reviews have appeared in Yoga Journal, Portland Parent Magazine, and Arizona Woman Today. Currently, she is editing a collection of poems to be published by Minor Characters Press (Phoenix, Arizona). Her smallest poems are online at 4and20poetry.org.

Guest reader Ansel Appleton claims he used to catch chickadees in his hands. Ansel is a poet and storyteller who splits his time between Montague City, Massachusetts and Portland, Oregon. A former competitor for the Boston Cantab team and original member of the Hampshire College Slam Collective, he has appeared on the finals stage of the Individual World Poetry Slam and the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. Periodically dropping off the face of the planet, he has surfaced as a cook at the Occupy Wall Street encampment, a carnival switchblade salesman, and an anonymous small-town bartender. Ansel has shared stages with artists as varied as Jim Carroll, Eugene Mirman, and the Country Players' production of A Few Good Men. In addition to performing, he also DJs and helped curate the Oubliette, a community art space in Portland.

Suggested donation: $5 per person

All door proceeds and a portion of bookstore sales from this event will be forwarded to Marty's family.

Photo of Angus Adair courtesy Nora Nathoo.