Come celebrate National Poetry Month with Clare Martin and Lana Wiggins at Casa Azul. Each will read original poetry, followed by an open mic. Feel free to bring your own poems, songs or stories for the open mic that follows. This free, community event is open to all ages. More details available at http://casaazul.homestead.com

Clare L. Martin is a poet/mother/wife and graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Clare’s creative writing has appeared in Inch, Eclectica Magazine, The Dead Mule, Wheelhouse Magazine, Blue Fifth Review, Clean Sheets, Press1 and Glass: A Journal of Poetry, among others. She has work forthcoming in Literary Mama, Blue Fifth Review and in the anthology The Red Room: Writings from Press 1. Her poem “4-Way Stop at Dusk” appears in the anthology Best of Farmhouse Magazine Vol. 1. Her work has been nominated for Best of the Net and Best New Poets.

Lana Maht Wiggins is currently an English Instructor at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette, and a former Instructor at the University of New Orleans. Lana is the author of Notes from Refuge, a book of poetry that chronicles her life in New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina. Notes from Refuge was recently nominated for the 2009 Kate Tufts Discovery Award, and Lana placed 3rd for The Smoking Poet Award in 2008. She was an invited guest poet at the 2008 Encres de Sang International Writer’s Conference in Paris, France, a finalist for the Marsh Hawk Poetry Award in 2006, a recipient of the 1996 Judge Felix Voorhies Award for Creative Writing and a 1996 recipient of the Jon Z. Bennet Award. Lana has been published in The Southwestern Review, The Deep South Writer’s Chapbook, Dance to Death, Words-Myth, Moondance, Knock, and The Smoking Poet.

Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010

Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Location: 232 ML King Grand Coteau, LA