From Kingsbookstore.com . . .

"January 8 * 7 pm. Distinguished Writer Series and Open Mic.

This monthly event features a distinguished writer and an open mic for poets, playwrights, short story writers, and others. This month features Michael Spence. Open Mic sign-up is at 6:30 pm. Admission is free. The event occurs monthly the second Friday of every month at King's Books. Sponsored by the Tacoma Arts Commission and the Puget Sound Poetry Connection.

A nationally-acclaimed Northwest poet and writer, Michael Spence has also driven public-transit buses in the Seattle area for 25 years. His poetry has appeared recently in The Hopkins Review, The North American Review, Shenandoah, and The Southern Review. New work is forthcoming in The New Criterion, The Chariton Review, The Sewanee Review, and Tar River Poetry. In 1990, he was awarded a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. His latest book, Crush Depth, twice a finalist for The New Criterion Poetry Prize, was published this past May by Truman State University Press."