Series directed by Angela Pelster, Featuring Guests Chris Martin, Mark Eati and Kathryn Bastiensen
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
March: Chris Martin showing “Wretches & Jabberers” in conversation with Mark Eati and Kathryn Bastiansen.
Chris Martin is the author of The Falling Down Dance (Coffee House, 2015), winner of the 2016 Midwest Independent Booksellers Choice Award; Becoming Weather (Coffee House, 2011); and American Music (Copper Canyon, 2007) chosen by C. D. Wright for the Hayden Carruth Award. He’s been a writer-in-residence at the Minnesota History Center’s Gale Library, a Bartos Fellow at United World College, a reader-in-residence at the South Minneapolis Society Library, and is the recent recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Minnesota State Arts Board. In 2015 he co-founded Unrestricted Interest, a consultancy and writing program dedicated to transforming the lives of kids and adults on the autism spectrum through poetry and song. He also co-edits Unrestricted Editions, dedicated to transforming poetry and song though the voices of those with autism. He now co-edits Society Editions, a publishing concern at the intersection of politics and poetics.
Mark Eati is a joyful and savvy writer on many disability topics and also a poet who has deep expressive abilities. No one can tell from her writings that she is a non-verbal autistic that cannot even tie her own shoes. Mark is currently at Intermediate District 287 and a student of poetry with Unrestricted Interest. Her first chapbook of poems will be published this spring by Unrestricted Interest
Katie Bastiansen is a Special Education Teacher with Intermediate District 287 who works with young adults, 18-21 years old, with Developmental Cognitive Disabilities or Severely Multiply Impaired. Many of her students have one or more additional disabilities such as: Speech/Language, Autism, Physical Impairment, Other Health Disability, Deaf/Hard of Hearing, Vision Impairment, and/or Emotional/Behavior Disorder. Katie’s mission is to prepare students for success in adult life. Her passion is to maximize the learning potential of each one of her students, especially in the area of communication. She holds a bachelor’s degree and teacher licensure in Elementary and Special Education from Minnesota State University Mankato and a M.Ed. in Teaching and Learning from St. Mary’s University of MN.