In the summer of 2008, poet and novelist Chris Abani read to a standing-room only house from a new work in progress.

Many of the poems that he read have just been released in a new book, "Santificum", by Copper Canyon Press.

"In this book-length sequence of linked poems, Abani bravely travels the charged intersections of atrocity and love, politics and religion, and loss and renewal," notes the Press. "With language of devastating beauty and complexity, he investigates conflicted personal history and political tragedy, and how the human body fares against both."

Although Chris Abani's fiction workshop at the 2010 Port Townsend Writers' Conference is completely sold out, with a waiting list started, there are still ways to enjoy his work. Abani will be giving a free craft lecture at 4 pm on Monday, July 19, and will present a reading on Saturday, July 24, at 7:30 pm.

Registration for all available Conference workshops is available here, as well as by calling Centrum at 360.385.3102, x131. 

For Conference prose options, morning workshop faculty members include nonfiction writer Bich Minh Nguyen (leading a master class) and fiction writer Peter Orner.