Death Rattle Literary is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to providing public platforms to underserved writers locally, regionally, and online by providing the public with free access to quality literary programming throughout the year. Death Rattle is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to providing public platforms to underserved writers locally, regionally, and online by providing the public with free access to quality literary programming throughout the year, culminating in our annual literary festival. Death Rattle yearly programming focuses on the bi-annual publication of Oroboro, our online literary magazine featuring poetry, fiction, and comics; the Penrose Poetry Prize, Oroboro’s poetry contest brining in esteemed guest judges and awarding cash prizes for poetry by LGBTQIA+ poets; The Spill, bi-monthly, open-mic live story-telling events with a featured writer and theme; quarterly educational workshops for adults and children, and multiple live readings with nationally recognized keynote poets alongside established and emerging local artists. This leads up to the yearly festival taking place the first weekend of October: a three day celebration of the arts in Idaho featuring over 60 local writers, artists, and performers as well as dozens of out of state writers all sharing their work at venues across Historic Downtown Nampa, Idaho. The festival has in the past three years included a book fair, featuring over 40 vendors as a place to celebrate and share poetry and comic art in print, with festival participants sharing their books, chapbooks, zines, comic books, and art. All of Death Rattle’s programming is provided free of charge to the public with the exception of The Spill, which has a $3 suggested donation that goes directly back into paying artists for sharing their time, talent, and expertise with the Treasure Valley at Death Rattle events. All this strives to foster an accessible community for those that do not have traditional outlets available for the improvement and presentation of their literary arts, and creates opportunities for the public to engage with that community in a way that is positive, scholarly, and educational. We strive to be a resource in our community and to support work by and about those often marginalized in literary spaces, including Black and Indigenous people, and people of color; trans people, cis women, agender, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, two-spirit, and non-binary people; intersex people; LGBQA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, asexual/aromantic) people; people with disabilities; and especially people living at the intersections of these identities. For the health and safety of our community during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, all of Death Rattle’s events for the remainder of the year are taking place online.
