Biographical Info

Rachel Kessler is a writer, artist, and educator in dᶻidᶻəlalič. She co-founded interactive poetry collaborations Typing Explosion and Vis-à-Vis Society, and collective Wa Na Wari, a residential reclamation project centering Black art and media in Seattle’s Central District. Her poetry appears in many publications and she has taught creative writing for 25 years to youth, teens, elders, and college students. Her work is deeply rooted in place: her public art pillar representing the CD’s Jewish history will be installed on the street her ancestors immigrated to, lived and died on. As artist-in-residence at public housing project Yesler Terrace (her great grandparents’ home), she and community members activated a vacant apartment slated for demolition with poetry, live music, storytelling, potlucks, dancing, and collective murals. Her illustrations of the PNW urban shore feature in Cascadia Field Guide: Art Ecology Poetry.