Patrick Dixon presents 'Mending Holes'

Third Place Books is pleased to welcome fisher-poet and photographer Patrick Dixon to our Ravenna store to celebrate his new collection, Mending Holes—a reflection on his time as a commercial fisherman in Alaska and an examination of his own life.

This event is free and open to the public. For important updates, RSVP is highly recommended in advance. This event will include a public signing and time for audience Q&A. Sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book!

This event is free to attend. Registration is recommended in advance.

"Patrick Dixon conjures his past life as an Alaskan fisherman with his considerable poetic and storytelling gifts and a capacious memory for the perfect detail. That world's thrills, exhaustion, danger, jonesing, friendships, boats, whiff of diesel layered over fish, and orange pink sunsets all feel close enough to touch. So does the push and pull of yearning, fear, and wonder that remain. This is a beautiful account of an old life lived completely in the crystalline present, and the cost and reward of giving it up in time."—Kathleen Flenniken, former Washington state Poet Laureate and authorof Plume and Post Romantic

Patrick Dixon's first full-length book of poetry, Mending Holes (MoonPath Press), is a collection of poems inspred by his 20 years working as a commercial salmon fisherman on Cook Inlet, Alaska. From his two years spent as a deckhand to his inexperience as a skipper fishing in a leaky wood boat to finally learning how to best catch the sockeye salmon he chased as they made their way up the inlet, these poems serve as a container for larger issues such as coming of age, finding knowledge, the frustration of inexperience, the timeless beauty and danger of the sea, and the trials of growing old and leaving what you loved.

Patrick Dixon is a writer/photographer retired from careers as an educator and commercial fisherman. A member of the Board of Directors of the Olympia Poetry Network, he has been published in several literary journals, including Cirque, Claudius Speaks, Linden Avenue, Mom Egg Review, Oberon, Panoplyzine, The Raven Chronicles, Soul-Lit, The Tishman Review, and World enough Writers. His work appeared in the anthologies Examined Life, Madrona Project #7, FISH 2015 and WA129. He was also included in the Washington State Book Award-winning anthologies Take a Stand: Art Against Hate (Raven Chronicles, 2020) and I Sing the Salmon Home (Empty Bowl, 2024). Mr. Dixon is a past poetry editor of North Pacific Focus, a quarterly supplement to National Fisherman, and he is on the organizing committee of the annual FisherPoets' Gathering. Mending Holes is his first full-length collection of poetry.

Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, Washington, Third Place Books is dedicated to the creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. With locations in Lake Forest Park and Seattle's Ravenna and Seward Park neighborhoods, Third Place Books is proud to serve the entire Seattle metro area. Learn more about their event series at thirdplacebooks.com/events.

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