Hey Seattle! Elizabeth Austin and Maged Zaher Will Help You Pick Out Books!

Word!

To celebrate Small Business Saturday, Open Books in Seattle is organizing a special opportunity: poets, Elizabeth Austin and Maged Zaher, will work as special guests alongside the Open Books crew.

We are absolutely delighted that Elizabeth and Maged, two Seattle treasures, will be joining the Open Books crew on what has become known as Small Business Saturday. This is your opportunity to have these fine writers and utterly engaging souls wander our shelves with you. They might even ring up your purchases and bag your books with their unique aplomb! Of course, you’ll find their books on our shelves, too, and we’ll certainly grant them a break to sign a copy or two.

Maged Zaher will be on the floor from 11 AM – 2 PM. Born and raised in Cairo, Maged Zaher came to the United States to work as a software engineer and lucky for us has been a resident of Seattle for some time now. This year The Stranger rightfully honored him with their Literature Genius Award. He is the author of Thank You for the Window Office (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2012), The Revolution Happened and You Didn’t Call Me (Tinfish Press, 2012), and Portrait of the Poet as an Engineer (Pressed Wafer, 2009). His collaborative work with the Australian poet Pam Brown, Farout Library Software, was published by Tinfish Press in 2007. His translations of contemporary Egyptian poetry have appeared in Jacket and Banipal. He has performed his work at Subtext, Bumbershoot, the Kootenay School of Writing, St. Marks Project, Evergreen State College, and American University in Cairo, among other places.

Elizabeth Austen will sign in at 3:30 PM. Even if you haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth in the flesh, chances are you’ve heard her mellifluous voice. For more than 10 years, she has produced literary programming for KUOW, 94.9, one of Seattle’s NPR affiliates, introducing recordings of Pacific Northwest literary events and interviewing local and national poets. It’s a pity she can’t interview herself, because she’s a captivating poet in her own right. Elizabeth is the author of Every Dress a Decision (Blue Begonia Press, 2011), which was a finalist for the 2012 Washington State Book Award, and two chapbooks, The Girl Who Goes Alone (Floating Bridge Press, 2010) and Where Currents Meet, part of the 2010 Toadlily Press quartet, Sightline. She has been featured at the Skagit River Poetry Festival, Richard Hugo House Literary Series, Bumbershoot and elsewhere. A much admired performer and teacher, she often leads classes on the art of poetry aloud.

What could be better than spending some hours talking poetry books with these amazing poets. Please help us welcome them – and put them to work!

Founded in 1995, Open Books: A Poem Emporium is a poetry-only bookstore in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood. The aesthetically diverse stock contains over 10,000 new and used volumes published by presses from large to tiny. The calendar of events runs September to June with readings by visiting and local poets as well as the bookstore discussion group, Poetry in Conversation.

More at Open Books!