The next Field’s End Writers Roundtable features award-winning poet Frances McCue at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 17 at the Bainbridge Public Library.

McCue, the winner of the 2011 Washington State Book Award for Poetry and was a finalist for nonfiction, leads the Roundtable titled “Reading and Writing Poems that Startle Us.”

McCue has written two poetry books – “The Bled” and “The Stenographer’s Breakfast” – as well as a collection of essays about Northwest towns and Richard Hugo, titled “The Car That Brought You Here Still Runs.” She is Writer in Residence in the Undergraduate Honors Program at the University of Washington and is a freelance “Arts Instigator” – described as a catalyst for people and organizations to generate creative, innovative projects.

McCue will talk about why great poems surprise their readers. “Not only do they defy predictable accounts of being alive, they move language around until it says the unsayable,” reads the description of the Roundtable. “This interactive talk showcases some surprising, inspiring poems and offers techniques to create verse that tingles and shimmies with unexpected turns.”

After McCue speaks, attendees are invited to join in a question-and-answer period. The evening closes with a chance to network. No registration is required.

Writers’ Roundtables are presented free of charge each month by Field’s End, and are designed to give writers of all experience levels an opportunity to listen to and ask questions of published authors.

Field’s End is celebrating its 10th year of serving the writers’ community and nurturing the written word through classes, monthly Roundtables with authors and an annual writers’ conference, set for April 28 this year at IslandWood.

Registration is still open for the Writers’ Conference, which features workshops and panels in fiction, non-fiction, poetry and professional development.

For more information, visit www.fieldsend.org or call the library at 206-842-4162.