EVENT LINK: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/id-rather-be-lightning-book-launch-reading-tickets-673200038437
You are invited to a book release reading for I'd Rather Be Lightning, debut poetry collection by Nancy Lynée Woo.
This book launch celebration will be held Sunday, August 6, 2023, from 5-8 pm at Wrigley Coffee, 437 W. Willow St., Long Beach, CA 90814.
About the Event
Opening Reception: The main program will begin at 6:00 pm, but you are invited to come as early as 5:00 to partake in some pre-show activities, including a poetry prompt, letter from the future, and conversation starters. Coffee, tea and snacks will be for sale. 1 free raffle ticket if you arrive before 6, and additional raffle tickets for sale that will benefit the Sunrise mutual aid fund.
Main Program: Author will read selections from the book and share her personal journey dealing with the existential threat of the climate emergency.
Also co-featuring some very special guests:
Heidi Miller, longtime close friend of the author and professional child cargiver will share some very special selected readings
Terri Niccum, longtime patron, friend and poetry peer will read a selection of poems
Susannah Lodge-Rigal, sister pressmate with Gasher Press's first run of books will share selections from her book that came out this year
Claire Beeli, our first ever Long Beach Youth Poet Laureate will read a selection of poems about environmental issues in Long Beach
Local environmental leaders will also be spotlighted, and they will share a little about what is going on in Long Beach - including the fight to end oil drilling and urbanist car-lite initiatives.
Closing Reception: Book signing. Stay afterward to buy books, chat and create community connections.
You might like this event if:
You like poetry
You love connecting with community
You want to live in harmony with nature and end extractive systems
You’re interested in learning what Long Beach community groups are doing to build a more equitable, sustainable future
You like coffee
You like air conditioning
Event is free to attend. Option to pre-purchase a special book ticket through Eventbrite for $25, which will get you a signed copy of the book and contribute to a mutual aid fund for the local Sunrise Movement hub, of which Nancy is the hub coordinator. The Sunrise Movement is a nationwide youth climate movement advocating for good jobs and a livable future.
PLEASE NOTE: Due to our first print run selling out faster than expected, there will be a limited number of books available for sale on a first-come basis at the event. If you would like to reserve a book ahead of time, you can do that here on Eventbrite by selecting the appropriate ticket. If you would like to order a book online, you can do that and bring it to the event to be signed - this will also help me try and make the bestseller's list at SPD!
About the Venue
Wrigley Coffee is a special place to the author! Back when it used to be Fox Coffee, Sarah Thursday and G. Murray Thomas would host monthly poetry readings there for many years. Definitive Soapbox also hosts readings there. It's a very special place for poetry community.
Space is limited in the venue, so please RSVP with an Eventbrite ticket if possible so we can get a head count. If you can no longer make it, please un-reserve your ticket.
The venue has no dedicated parking, so please be prepared to find street parking in the surrounding neighborhoods if you are driving.
There is air conditioning and seating.
The venue is wheelchair accessible.
About the Book
I’d Rather Be Lightning is a love song to the earth, celebrating what we stand to lose. These poems are “throwing a tantrum” about the climate crisis, written by a “child / of imperialism whining about freedom / from the bondage of stuff.” Nancy Lynée Woo transmutes anxiety into dynamic and playful poems, writing into the absurdity of the global crises facing humanity with a soft wit, enduring hope, and deep love for the more-than-human world. Eco-feminism moving at lightspeed, I’d Rather Be Lightning captures a Millennial’s despair over environmental destruction with bolts of humor, compassion, and formal experimentation.
PRAISE FOR I'D RATHER BE LIGHTNING
"Nancy Woo's I'd Rather Be Lightning is a necessary invocation. It's a handbook, spellbook, and remembered lucid dream to guide us in and through these times. Clear-eyed about the climate crisis while brimming with love for humans and more-than-humans, this debut collection is a powerful force of language and hope." Tamiko Beyer
"I read the collection with care, afraid I’d miss a single gem about our planetary crisis, along with Woo’s wise and kind eye towards us flawed humans (“Everyone you disagree with//is right in some way”), and the joie de vivre and optimism she offers us, alongside the great existential dread so beautifully depicted, in the playfulness of her poems." Elizabeth J. Coleman
"Nancy Lynée Woo’s I’d Rather Be Lightning is a riotous and candid collection of ecopoems that traverse landscapes and species to tell the story of our changing world. She reports 'Earth’s problems are not getting/ any smaller.' While hope for humanity is ever-present in her work, Woo is in search of the 'eye of life' and isn't afraid to examine the irreparable damage to the Earth and its non-human inhabitants. Using bold language and body-level perceptions, Woo frankly reminds us, 'Just because you want to survive doesn’t mean you will.' Jessica Gigot
About the Author
Nancy Lynée Woo is a poet, writer, organizer, and climate activist who harbors a wild love for the natural world. Her debut poetry collection is called I’d Rather Be Lightning (GASHER Press, March 2023). Nancy has received fellowships from Artists at Work, PEN America, Arts Council for Long Beach, and Idyllwild Writers Week. Her work has been published in The Shore, Tupelo Quarterly, Stirring, Radar Poetry, and other journals and anthologies. Nancy has an MFA in creative writing from Antioch University and a BA in sociology from UC Santa Cruz. Find her cavorting around Long Beach (Tongva land) in California, and online at nancylyneewoo.com or @fancifulnance on social.