Catamaran Summer Launch Party

Catamaran Literary Reader, founded in 2012, is located in the Tannery Art Center in Santa Cruz. This beautiful, high quality, full-color quarterly magazine features fine art, poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction. The contributing artists and writers come from California and beyond. It has a loyal following of readers who celebrate culture, arts, books, and museums. Catamaran also features a poetry prize for West Coast poets and an annual Catamaran Writing Conference during the summer. Visit the website at www.catamaranliteraryreader.com.

Mechanics' Institute is delighted to collaborate with Catamaran to celebrate their Summer 2026 edition.

Join us for a reception at 6:00 pm, with readings beginning at 6:30 pm until 7:30 pm.

Magazines will be sold onsite.

About the Readers

Amanda Turner is the author of the Chapbook Of Nectar, winner of the Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship. Her poems have appeared in CALYX, Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art, Fourteen Hills, Waxwing, and other journals, and have been featured in Best New Poets. She lives in California.

Andrew Fague teaches writing, literature, mythology, and poetry at Cabrillo College. His poems have appeared in Catamaran Literary Reader, Windfall, SALT, Chicago Quarterly Review, Porter Gulch Review, and other journals. He lives in Santa Cruz, California.

Katie Renz works in land conservation in the Santa Cruz Mountains. A former national park ranger, waitress, and zine-maker, her writing has appeared in The Sun, Pacific Horticulture, and The San Francisco Bay Guardian. She lives in San Francisco.

Kathryn Jordan is a Berkeley poet whose work reflects a lifelong devotion to language, music, and teaching. She studied with U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass at UC Berkeley and later returned to poetry after a career teaching English, music, and creative writing. Her poems are enriched by a love of birdsong, performance, and the natural world, and she brings a theatrical flair to her readings, occasionally weaving music into her work.

Courtney Edwards is a teacher and photographer from Portland, Oregon. Her work has appeared in West Trade Review, Literary Mama, Sonora Review, Wild Roof Journal, and other publications. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family.

Christie Cochrell is a poet whose work has appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, Tin House, Catamaran Literary Reader, The Plentitudes, and other journals. A recipient of several awards and Pushcart Prize nominations, she is the author of Contagious Magic (Bay Company Books, 2020). She lives on the Northern California coast.

Laura Rosenthal is a Pushcart Prize–nominated poet whose work has appeared in Driftwood Press, Chicago Quarterly Review, Raleigh Review, Tampa Review, CALYX, and other journals. A former public interest attorney, she holds degrees from Cornell University, Stanford Law School, and Pacific University. She lives in Northern California.

Kat Ricker lives in Oregon and holds an M.A. in English. She is the author of Something Familiar, Daculi Witch Chronicles, and Doubting Thomas.

Polly Conway is a writer and editor based in Alameda, California. Her poems have appeared in One Art, Wildscape Literary Journal, MEMEZINE, Pictura, and Catamaran Literary Reader. She is Poetry Editor at Nulla and holds an MFA in Poetry from California College of the Arts.

Courtney Edwards is a teacher and photographer from Portland, Oregon. Her work has appeared in West Trade Review, Literary Mama, Sonora Review, Wild Roof Journal, and other publications. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family.

Ryan Masters is a poet, writer, musician, and bodysurfer from Santa Cruz, California.

Sean Stiny is a writer, woodworker, naturalist, and owl box maker based in Petaluma, California. His work has appeared in Catamaran Literary Reader, Los Angeles Review, Kelp Journal, Whitefish Review, and Outside Magazine, among other publications.

Rory Meagher studied creative writing at Susquehanna University. His fiction has appeared in Fourteen Hills, Westwind, and Flock, and he received an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train's Family Matters Contest. He lives in Los Angeles.

Caroline M. Grant is the author of the forthcoming essay collection Make Yourself Useful: Remembering a Life in Essential Utensils and Unexpected Foods (She Writes Press, 2027). She has co-edited two anthologies, published essays in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Salon, and serves as co-director of the Sustainable Arts Foundation. She lives in San Francisco.

Patricia Canright Smith is a writer and visual artist living outside Seattle. A retired psychotherapist, her work has appeared in Shenandoah, Quiddity, CALYX, North Dakota Quarterly, and other journals. Her essay "83 Problems, A–Z " was named a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2014.

Members: $5

Non-Members: $15