BookTree’s First Saturday free writing workshop, PIE reading and open mic is now in it’s 10th year! Saturday Nov. 7 2026 we welcome Laura LeHew and Roy Seitz travelling in from Eugene Oregon to lead a free 90 minute workshop with the focus on WITNESS in our writing as in witnessing beauty, trauma, violence, change, love, life;the good, bad and maybe funny!
The workshop begins at 4:24 pm. Followed by a reading from Roy and Laura and an open mic – beginning at 6:15 pm. JOIN US!
*PIE = Poetry Is Everything
Bios
Laura LeHew grew up in the Midwest where she spent her childhood summers playing Man from U.N.C.L.E. and chasing fireflies. Widely published her collections include: Let Widows Be Widows (Unsolicited Press) 2022, themed around the elegiac, Dear John—(The Poetry Box) 2021 themed around love and divorce, Buyer’s Remorse (Tiger’s Eye Press—Infinities) poems on abuse, Becoming (Another New Calligraphy) a non-linear discourse on alcoholism and dementia, Willingly Would I Burn, (MoonPath Press) themed around math and science, It’s Always Night, It Always Rains, (Winterhawk Press) murder/noir and Beauty (Tiger’s Eye Press) fairy tales.
In her alternate life Laura was active in the high-tech industry for over four decades. Her company Deer Run Associates, Inc. provided Computer Forensic investigations and Information Security consulting services to select clients working with law enforcement and commercial organizations on some of the largest and most high-profile cybercrime cases in recent years. After her retirement she joined Lane Community College as an Administrative and Technology Specialist.
Laura received her MFA from the California College of the Arts. She was on the steering committee for the Emerald Literary Guild. Laura held various positions for the Oregon Poetry Association including President, Contest Chair and Cascadia editor, she co-hosted a reading series with R.R. Seitz—Poetry for the People, and has received residencies to Hypatia-in-the-Wood, PLAYA, the Montana Artists Refuge, and Soapstone. Laura facilitates ;unruly poets, owns and edits Uttered Chaos, a small press and is the recipient of the 2021 Oregon Poetry Association’s (OPA) Patricia Ruth Banta Award. She spends her days rehabbing the foot. Find her at: www.lauralehew.com | www.utteredchaos.org .
Roy R. Seitz drew the pirate but never heard back from the Art Institute so in 2001 he fell over sideways into poetry throughout Western Washington and then into Eugene Oregon where he hosted (pre-Covid) the Poetry for the People monthly gatherings. His Right Here Right Now poetry chapbook (3rd printing in 2023) reflects his Vietnam experiences. His poetry has appeared in anthologies including Poets Against the War. He still has no letters behind his name but was instrumental in putting his carpentry skills to good use helping to build bookshelves and counters inside Kirkland’s independent bookstore, BookTree in 2016.