Bill Shively papers, 1975-2014

Bill Shively (1952-2014) was a poet and performer in the underground performance poetry scene in Seattle. In the 1970’s he wrote and performed poetry in San Francisco and New York before moving to Seattle, where he met Joseph Keppler, Don Wilsun, Roberto Valenza, among others with whom he later collaborated. In 1981 he became one of the founding board members of the Red Sky Poetry Theater, the longest running live weekly poetry and open mic series in Seattle. He also co-founded and edited Open Sky, an experimental literary magazine from 1983-1985 and SkyViews Magazine, a monthly newsletter for the Red Sky Poetry Theater community. During this time he also performed at Seattle’s annual arts festival, Bumbershoot (1982-1985), and served as a panelist at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference (1984).

The mid to late 1980’s saw Bill Shively traveling and living in Japan and Mexico. While living in Kyoto, Shively continued to write and perform poetry, as well as edit the poetry section of a quarterly English language magazine, Kyoto Journal. In 1990 he moved to Newberg, Oregon, where he taught elementary and middle school students and continued to write and perform until his death in 2014.

Bill Shively’s poetry was published in several Pacific Northwest-based literary magazines, among them Wind, The Wandering Hermit Review, Swale and The Raven Chronicles. His work was also included in Pacific Northwestern Spiritual Poetry (1998) and Red Sky Morning (2004), the latter being a celebration of Red Sky Poetry Theater’s 24th anniversary. Other published works include: Terminal Bar: Poems (1989), 2nd Edition (1989), Sleep by the River Waiting, Sleep in the Shade of Stone (1986) and s/he said (2014). He also wrote prose, screenplays, and performed with the eponymous Bill Shively Band.