A night of poetry comes to CoupevilleBrave New Words presents “All Kinds of Families,” an evening of poetry and discussion, at 7 p.m. Friday, April 1 in the Coupeville Library meeting room.

“All Kinds of Families” will feature four of the Northwest’s finest poets, Lana Hechman Ayers, Gloria Burgess, Matt Gano and Peter Ludwin. The moderator is Brave New Words co-director Faith Wilder. The event serves as one of the kickoff events for the Whidbey Island Writer’s Conference, and is free and open to the public.

Ayers resides in Kingston and runs “Night Rain Poetry,” a poetry editing, manuscript organization service, and teaches writing and publishing workshops. An award-winning poet, she is also a Hedgebrook alumna, a Jack Straw writer and a Pushcart nominee, and has published four poetry collections.

Gano is a nationally known poet, writer and performance artist residing in Seattle. He has been on a number of Seattle’s National Poetry Slam teams, and remains one of the top performing artists in the international poetry circuit.

Burgess has been featured on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and in a PBS film on the arts and activism. Her books include “The Open Door,” “Journey of the Rose” and “Legacy Living: The Six Covenants of Personal and Professional Excellence.”

Ludwin’s first book, “A Guest in All of Your Houses,” was published in 2009 by Word Walker Press.

Brave New Words was founded in 2009. It is committed to producing inspiring spoken word and performance poetry events on Whidbey Island. Co-directors are Victory Lee Schouten and Faith Wilder operate the program under the auspices of the nonprofit Greenbank Farm and believe that spoken-word productions can provide a platform for the culture, concerns and values of a community and are happy to collaborate with the writers conference.

For details, e-mail info@BraveNewWords or call 331-7099 or 222-3070.