Featured presenter Susanna Janssen, came to Mendocino County from Sacramento in 1988 to head the Foreign Language Department at Mendocino College. Now retired from her college career, she continues to teach private classes in Spanish and Italian. For four years, she wrote a bimonthly column in the Ukiah Daily Journal. More recently, Janssen authored the book Wordstruck! The Fun and Fascination of Language, which received five national book awards in the categories of Humor and Education. She writes with heart and humor on everything related to words, language, cultures, and travel.

Writers Read happens on the last Thursday of most every month and has been happening in Ukiah since 1999. Events focus on poetry, spoken word, and stories, combining a reading by a featured author, then followed by an hour of open mic. Writers Read is sponsored in part by Poets & Writers, and by grants from the James Irvine Foundation and the Hearst Foundation. Additional support provided by an anonymous local writer, Dan Barth, Michael Riedell, Bill “Jabez” Churchill, the Poet Laureate Committee of Ukiah, the Grace Hudson Museum, and donations.

For additional information about Writers Read, contact Michael Riedell at innisfree@pacific.net.