Album Notes

The 29th Street Writers gather in Portland, Oregon on most Saturday mornings to study writing, critique each other’s writing, and, above all, write. The group has been meeting in various configurations for two decades. Each year they have a reading to share their work. This CD, titled This is the Welcome, was born from their 2004 Broadway Books reading and is a celebration of its current members who are all published writers and accomplished women from diverse backgrounds. This is the Welcome captures the popularity of their readings with a multicultural array of voices

Information on the writers:


Amy Schutzer is an award-winning poet and fiction writer, and the author of “Undertow.” She has just completed her second novel. The 29th Street Writers has been instrumental in urging her to pursue words, and the eyes and the ears of the other writers in the group have helped her writing to flourish.

Kathleen Saadat began writing in her teens. As an adult, she has contributed articles and essays to political publications. She works for world peace and social and economic justice. Frequently a teacher, joining the 29th Street Writers put her in the position of student. She has grown to enjoy the learning.

Ellen Goldberg feels poetry is essential in times like this. Poets can be hopeful while speaking of disaster and shameful conditions because the act of writing is itself hopeful. The 29th Street Writers have strengthened her desire to write and provided the camaraderie of like-minded women writers. Her poetry appears in Windfall, the Lyric Garden and Calyx

Ila Suzanne’s poems are intimate details of a life lived with intention and purpose. She has several chapbooks and collaborated with Kay Gardner on an oratorio entitled “Ouroboros-Seasons of Life.” She thrives on exploring new ways of seeing what she has taken for granted right before her eyes. The 29th Street Writers nourish her passion for language.

Naomi Littlebear Morena has used music and words to advocate for underrepresented communities for decades. To her “complacency is a far more dangerous attitude than outrage.” Her essay “Dreams of Violence” is part of the breakthrough anthology This Bridge Called my Back, Writings by Radical Women of Color, and her songs were anthems for the women’s movement.

Kathleen Haley has been with the 29th Street Writers for over 20 years. She has been writing since she could hold a pencil. The 29th Street Writers are a circle of women who support her writing and always offer encouragement. Her poem “Sestina for Annie” was published in the Journal of Medical Humanities.

Kathleen Herron didn’t begin writing until her 40s. Her short story, “Hell: A Memoir” appears in the anthology, Resurrecting Grace, and her essay “Valentine’s Day at Oregon State Prison” is translated for inclusion in a Chinese language anthology on Buddhism in daily life. Kathleen has been with the 29th Street Writers for 14 years and is still happily learning from every woman in the group.

Cherry Hartman is the author of three self-help books and one murder mystery, The Well-Heeled Murders. She currently writes short stories about her family. Her involvement in the 29th Street Writers has spanned two decades.

Shirley Kishiyama has honed her writing skills from her teachers in the 29th St Writers. Her work appears in several journals and anthologies: Portland Lights, OR; And What Rough Beast, OH; and In the Ship’s Wake; UK