Our Poets & Musician
Lynn Darroch - Poet
Writer, broadcaster and performer Lynn Darroch is the author of “Rhythm in the Rain - Jazz in the Pacific Northwest” (Portland State University, Ooligan Press, 2015), host of a weekly radio show on KMHD (89.1 FM), and was for many years the editor of the monthly “Jazzscene.”
He has released three albums of original stories with live musical accompaniment and performs them in various venues as well as on his radio show.
As a journalist, he has written reviews, previews and features for the Oregonian newspaper (1982-2010) as well as other local and national publications, and his work appears in “The Encyclopedia of United State Popular Culture” and “The Oregon Encyclopedia.” He is the editor of numerous books, including “Between Fire and Love: Contemporary Peruvian Literature.”
He has been a speaker for the Oregon Chautauqua program and is a retired college instructor of literature and composition.
Leanne Grabel - Poet
Leanne Grabel, M.Ed., is a writer, illustrator, performer & special education teacher (almost retired). Currently teaching graphic flash memoir to adults in several arts centers and retirement communities, she is in love with mixing genres and has written & produced numerous spoken-word multi-media shows, including “The Lighter Side of Chronic Depression,” and “Anger: The Musical.”
Her poetry books include Lonesome & Very Quarrelsome Heroes; Short Poems by a Short Person; Badgirls (a collection of flash non-fiction & a theater piece); and Gold Shoes, a collection of graphic prose poems.
Grabel has just completed Tainted Illustrated, an illustrated stretched memoir, which is being serialized in THE OPIATE. Her illustrated flash memoirs will soon be published monthly for a year by Another Chicago Magazine.
She and her husband Steve Sander are the founders of Café Lena, Portland’s legendary poetry hub of the 1990s.
Emmett Wheatfall - Poet
Emmett Wheatfall lives in Portland, Oregon where he reads, writes, publishes and performs poetry. His books include He Sees Things (2010), We Think We Know (2011), The Meaning of Me (2012), Bread Widow (2013, his first hardback collection, Fragments (2015), As Clean as a Bone ( 2018, a 2019 Eric Hoffer and da Vinci Eye award finalist), and Our Scarlet Blue Wounds.
He has served on the Nomination Committee for the selection of Oregon Poet Laureate, and in October, 2017, he gave the keynote address at the 2017 Oregon Poetry Association Annual Conference.
Wheatfall was a featured poet at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the March on Washington and the keynote speaker at the Oregon Historical Society’s Oregon Black History Series program, “March on Washington for jobs and Freedom Fiftieth Anniversary.”
He has recorded one non-lyrical (without music) spoken word poetry CD, I Speak, and four lyrical spoken word poetry (with music) CDs: When I Was Young (2010), I Loved You Once (2011), Them Poetry Blues (2013), and Welcome Home (2017). These albums feature Oregon’s jazz, blues, and pop musicians. He has also performed his spoken word poetry live in local jazz venues.
Mike Horsfall - Musician
Mike Horsfall has enjoyed a successful and diverse musical career for over 35 years, as a performer, educator, composer, arranger, recording artist and concert soloist on both piano and vibraphone. He has performed and recorded with a large number of world class musicians, including Leroy Vinegar and Rebecca Kilgore, and has worked with such notable groups as Pink Martini and the Portland Chamber Orchestra. In 1989 Mike co-founded the trio Tall Jazz, which went to perform, record, and educate for over 20 years. He currently serves on the music faculty at Willamette University, Mt. Hood Community College, and Oregon Episcopal School.