Voices of Tacoma - Our Story

The Story

The story begins with a conversation in Campfire Coffee about the fact that there hadn't been an anthology of Tacoma Poetry published since 2009. Thus began Voices of Tacoma: A Gathering of Poets, a project partly funded by the 2023-2024 Tacoma Artists Initiative Program.

Over these last two-and-a-half years, we have hosted more than seventy events, including workshops, outreach events, and twenty-eight monthly writer’s group meetings (which take the name, A Gathering of Poets). Since our earliest days we have partnered with the Tacoma Public Library to host events, and we continue to hold our monthly Gatherings at Swasey Library.  

Intentionally focused on creating equity-centered spaces for poetry to be shared, A Gathering of Poets has created mission-driven programming that brings the essence of community building into poetry readings and events. This focus on equity began with the idea of creating the Voices of Tacoma.

Voices of Tacoma

After the project was chosen for a Tacoma Artists Initiative Program grant in 2023, there were ongoing conversations about what this anthology of poetry of, about, and inspired by Tacoma really meant; how could it not only be an anthology but could support the existing literary arts community and truly represent the Voices of Tacoma. To that end, a community conversation organized by Blue Cactus Press, in February, 2024, with the folks at the Hilltop Urban Garden (HUG), was pivotal. 

At that time we had just closed for submissions and had 60+ poets who contributed, which was fantastic. But the racial demographics of contributors, as compared to the demographics of Tacoma, was overwhelmingly white. As this information was presented to the folks at HUG, they spoke out and were clear - the anthology could not be published, or claim to represent Tacoma, without a more equitable representation of BIPOC poets. 

Based on this, we reopened to BIPOC poets immediately and, when we closed for submissions a second time, we had more equitable representation. It was truly the community conversation that pushed us to look at our original mission to represent the City, and we are grateful for the folks who spoke the truth. Our equity work wasn’t perfect – we missed getting a representative group of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish poets – and so we now know where we need to refocus our future efforts.

Project Demographics	Voices of Tacoma	Tacoma 2020 Census
African American / Black	11%	11%
Asian	10%	9%
Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish	6%	12%
Indigenous or Native American	7%	2%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander	1%	1%
White	40%	57%
Two or or more races	17%	13%
Other	7%	4%

We also were very focused on getting a range of voices from across our city. Though submissions were open to poets anywhere in the world, the majority came from the greater-Tacoma area. 

When we plotted the ZIP codes of contributors on a map we saw a large concentration in Central Tacoma and the Hilltop, which was fantastic. But what we were missing was a better distribution of contributors - we missed getting any poets from the Lincoln District and we only had two poets from the Eastside, which is, by population, the largest neighborhood in our city. 

We learned a lot of lessons in the process of creating this anthology. We learned the value of community building (with monthly gatherings, events, workshops, and hundreds of hours of outreach in all corners of the city), and we learned amazing things about our City through the voices of the poets.

Our events since we started:

A Gathering of Poets Events

• 5/31/23 Moore (Pre-Launch)

• 6/28/23 South Tacoma (Pre-Launch)

• 7/25/23 Wheelock (Pre-Launch)

• 8/29/23 Fern Hill (Pre-Launch)

• 9/20/23 Swasey (Pre-Launch)

• 10/17/23 Wheelock (Pre-Launch)

• 11/29/23 Fern Hill (Pre-Launch)

• 12/19/23 Wheelock (Pre-Launch)

• 1/31/24 Moore (Pre-Launch)

• 2/27/24 South Tacoma (Pre-Launch)

• 3/27/24 Swasey (Pre-Launch)

• 4/11/24 Mattice Beauty Supply Community Space (Pre-Launch)

• 5/15/24 Wheelock (Pre-Launch)

• 10/23/2024 Swasey

• 11/20/2024 Swasey

• 12/4/2024 Swasey

• 1/15/2025 Swasey

• 2/4/2025 Swasey

• 3/18/2025 Swasey

• 4/2/2025 Swasey

• 4/30/2025 Swasey

• 5/28/2025 Swasey

• 6/25/2025 Swasey

• 7/30/2025 Swasey

• 8/27/2025 Swasey

• 9/24/2025 Swasey

• 10/22/2025 Swasey

• 11/19/2025 Swasey

• 12/17/2025 Swasey

• 1/28/2025 Swasey (Upcoming)

• 2/25/2025 Swasey (Upcoming)

• 3/25/2025 Swasey (Upcoming)

• 4/29/2025 Swasey (Upcoming)

• 5/27/2025 Swasey (Upcoming)

Workshops

• 9/28/23 Autumn Workshop Series - Writing about Place with Kristy Gledhill

• 10/11/23 Autumn Workshop Series - Workshop with Celeste Schueler

• 11/15/23 Autumn Workshop Series - Workshop with Jenny Bartoy

• 12/15/23 Autumn Workshop Series - Workshop with Christina Vega

• 4/18/2024 Writing Memory - with Celeste Schueler

• 4/23/2024 Writing Your Poem About Tacoma - with Burl Battersby

• 9/24/2024 Freedom to Read: banned poetry workshop - Moore Library

Outreach:

• 5/6/2023 Alma Artist Connect

• 6/30/2023   Tacoma Community House

• 7/20/2023 Write253 Summer Camp Class - Making an Anthology

• 8/26/2023 Hilltop Street Fair

• 10/5/2023 Kaleidoscope at STAR Center

• 10/14/2023 Tacoma Arts Studio Tour - Mad Hat Tea Co.

• 11/11/2023 Tacoma Arts at the Armory

• 11/12/2023 Tacoma Arts at the Armory

• 1/11/2024 CityLine Interview

• 2/24/2024 Lakewood Winter Garden Poetry Event

• 3/9/2024 Dancing Under the Urban Canopy at BCP

• 4/11/2024 CityLine Interview

• 4/29/2024 UWT Poetry Festival 

• 5/23/2024 Tacoma's Landmarks Preservation Commission, Historic Preservation Awards at Blue Mouse Theater

• 6/13/2024 Tacoma Pride Festival

• 7/20/2024 Poets on the Porch at Porchfest

• 8/24/2024 Hilltop Street Fair

• 9/26/2024 CityLine Interview

• 9/26/2024 TCC Art Gallery Reception - Mauricio Robalino (first book sales)

• 10/1/2024 Creative Colloquy Crawl 

• 10/2/2024 Installation of Voices of Tacoma - Pantages Windows

• 10/2/2024 Kaleidoscope at STAR Center

• 10/12/2024 Tacoma Arts Studio Tour Book Launch - Mottet, Fern Hill, and South Tacoma 

• 10/17/2024 Voices of Tacoma - Launch Event at King's Books

• 11/23/2024 BARN Bazaar - Bainbridge 

• 12/7/2024 Tacoma Arts at the Armory 

• 12/8/2024 Tacoma Arts at the Armory 

• 4/3/2025 CityLine Interview

• 4/5/2025 Voices of Tacoma Reading and workshop at Booktree (Kirkland)

• 4/28/2025 UWT Poetry Festival 

• 6/5/2025 Interview with TV Tacoma (253)

• 9/4/2025 CityLine Interview

• 9/7/2025 House Concert/Poetry Reading (Wild Rose Project)

• 10/7/2025 Creative Colloquy Crawl 

• 10/11/2025 Tacoma Arts Studio Tour - Tacoma Library Main Branch

• 11/15/2025 Tacoma Arts at the Armory 

• 11/16/2025 Tacoma Arts at the Armory

• 11/21/2025 Fall of Freedom Poetry of Protest - Grit City Books 

We will, at some point, create Volume 2 of the anthology. In the meantime, come join us to hear the #VoicesOfTacoma and share your poetry with the world.