
by Lorie Lewis Ham
It’s that time of year again, time for the Fresno County Library’s Big Read! This is a fun time where the library features a specific book and has a lot of great programs! I interviewed Tiffany Polfer, who is Teen Programming Librarian with the Fresno County Library, about this year’s Big Read!

by Melanie Moseley,
Richard Fisher, & Edward Hinojosa
The Rogue Festival will be here soon, we are on the home stretch-it opens on March 1! Here we have 3 more Rogue Show Previews in this post, with several more coming this week.

by Mallory Moad
If I say “poetry,” what comes to mind? Is it a Shakespeare sonnet or The Cat In The Hat? Perhaps it’s a name: Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson, Jack Kerouac, Gil Scott Heron. We’ve all encountered poetry, in one form or another, at some point in our lives. But what’s the best way to truly experience poetry? How about a poetry slam?

by Sarah A. Peterson-Camacho
LitHop 2017, an annual literary festival founded last year by former Fresno Poet Laureate Lee Herrick as a fundraiser for the Fresno Arts Council’s poetry programs, kicked off last Saturday, April 29, in an array of venues around Fresno’s Tower District. Forty diverse readings spread out over five hours, featuring the work of more than 150 writers, explored themes of love, hate, sex, violence, politics, motherhood, cultural identity and heritage, and feminism.

by Patti Yeager
In honor of World Rat Day we thought it would be fun to publish this rat poem by Seattle writer Patti Yeager. The art work is hers as well.

by Pattie Yaeger
This poem is dedicated to pet rats everywhere! The artwork with it is by The Illustrated Rat, Drusilla Kehl.

by Valley Teens
This time our poetry contest is a little different–we only had one entrant so here is our winner of the Teen Talk poetry contest. The contest is open to anyone age 13-19. Any subject or type of poem will be considered with five or more poems selected each time, details below.

by Valley Teens & More
These poems were written by local, and not so local, teens who won our most recent Teen Talk poetry contest. The contest is open to anyone age 13-19.

by Heather Parish & Terrance V. Mc Arthur &
Christine Autrand Mitchell
Throughout Rogue Festival we will be reviewing several of the shows beginning today! So check back often we will be adding new reviews as they come in! So far we have a reviews of The Velocity of Gary (Not His Real Name), Approaching 80, The Golden Strings of the Forbidden Planet, Poetry Ghosts, Breaking Rank!, Almost Shakespeare, The They, Lot o’ Shakespeare, Hitler’s Li’l Abomination, The Fat Guy Show, Boxcar Figaro, The Sparrow and the Mouse, Songs for Pints, A Hair of the Dog That Humped Ya, The Guy From Out of Town, Poe and Mathews & Kristie With a “K”.

by Valley Teens
These poems were written by local teens who won our most recent Teen Talk poetry contest. The contest is open to anyone age 13-19. Any subject or type of poem will be considered with five or more poems selected each time.

by Teen Poets
These poems were written by local teens who won our September 2011 Teen Talk poetry contest. This time we only have two winners-one from Parlier and the other from Reedley. The contest is open to anyone age 14-19. The next contest results will be published in October and will have a Halloween theme.

by Teen Poets
These poems were mostly written by local teens who won our May Teen Talk poetry contest. The contest is generally open to anyone age 14-19 in the Kings River area, but when we got an entry from Texas we thought that was so cool we included hers in the winners this month. Take advantage of this chance to have your poem published online and available for everyone to read! Any subject or type of poem will be considered with 3 to 5 poems selected at the end of most months. Since it’s Memorial Day weekend one of the winners we picked is a Memorial Day poem she wrote last year.

by Valley Teens
These poems were written by local teens who won our February Teen Talk poetry contest. The contest is open to anyone age 14-19 in the Kings River area. Take advantage of this chance to have your poem published online and available for everyone to read!

by Valley Teens
These poems were written by local teens who won our January Teen Talk poetry contest.The contest is open to anyone age 14-19 in the Kings River area. The next winners will be published in February.