Firestorm • Women’s Voices Rising
Firestorm is a poetry reading series featuring women poets, which was originally started in the early
1990s by Juliette Torres. Current organizer Maresa Thomspon says, “The world needs women’s voices.
They remind us of who we are and where we came from. They speak of what it is to be a warrior, a
mother, a wise woman, and look to who we are becoming. This event inspires participation because the
poets know they will be heard and understood in a welcoming environment.”
 
SLAM
3 Rounds • 12 Poets • 3 minutes each
Sign up at or prior to the event
Free to the public
Saturday, Oct. 13, 8pm

Inga Abele
Latvian poet, novelist and playwright Inga Abele is one of the most popular, unconventional
and prolifi c authors of the youngest generation of Latvian writers. She has written four
plays including her tragic drama Dark Deer which has been staged at theatres in Riga and
Valmiera, at the Stuttgart State Theatre and the Bonner Biennale in 2002 and has also
been made into a fi lm. Abele has also published one novel and several books of poetry
and short stories including, Notes During the Time of Snow, which won the Annual Award
for Literature in 2004.

Inara Cedrins
Inara Cedrins is an artist, writer and translator of Latvian descent. She has studied both
traditional silk painting in China and thangka painting in Nepal. Two collections of her
poetry were published bilingually by the Foreign Literature Press in Beijing. Her latest
book of poetry Fugitive Connections was published by the Virtual Artists Collective in
2006. She currently lives in Albuquerque and is writing a book on Albuquerque ghosts for Schiffer Publishing.
 
516 WORDS is an ongoing literary arts series presented in partnership with the UNM MFA in Creative Writing program.
This event is organized by Maresa Thompson.