Poetry at the Library
THANK YOU to The Friends of The Library for sponsoring poetry events!
THANK YOU to The Friends of The Library for sponsoring poetry events!
Poetry Night Series – Lauren SchmidtLauren Schmidt’s poems have been published or are forthcoming in The Progressive, Alaska Quarterly Review, New York Quarterly, Rattle, Nimrod, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Ekphrasis Journal, Wicked Alice and other journals. Her chapbook, The Voodoo Doll Parade (Main Street Rag), was selected as part of the 2011 Author’s Choice Chapbooks Series. Her first full-length collection, Psalms of The Dining Room (Wipf & Stock) is forthcoming. An open mike will follow the reading.
Poetry Writing WorkshopPoet and English professor Maxine Susman will conduct a poetry workshop. Each participant will produce a poem and have the opportunity to read it to the group. Maxine Susman, formerly a literature and writing professor at Caldwell College, has published in several dozen journals and anthologies, including Paterson Literary Review, CHEST, Runes, Earth’s Daughters, US 1 Worksheets, Home Planet News, and Poet Lore. Maxine has published four poetry collections: Gogama (2006) is about her father, a young Jewish doctor in remote Northern Ontario during the Great Depression. Wartime Address (2009) tells of a young woman trapped in Occupied Paris in World War 2 before escaping to Free France and Tunis. Familiar (2009) focuses on family life, place, and shifting states of mind and body. Creamery Road, published in 2011, tells stories of rural New York State and Maine. Please register at the front desk or call the library at 732-572-2750.
Poetry Writing WorkshopWrite the first draft of a poem, read it and help critque the work of other poets. Gail Fishman Gerwin will facilitate. Gerwin is a poet and playwright who lives in Morristown, New Jersey. Her work has appeared in Lips, U.S. 1 Worksheets, Cutthroat Online, Caduceus, The American Voice in Poetry, and the Paterson Literary Review. Gail earned honorable mentions in the 2008, 2009, and 2010 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards and her poetic memoir, Sugar and Sand, was a finalist for the 2010 Paterson Poetry Prize. Currently, Gail is preparing a second collection of poetry.
Glenis Redmond – Performance Poet – State Theatre-Artist-In-ResidenceGlenis Redmond is poet, educator, performer, and counselor rolled into one passionate soul. She presents her poetry in performances that cause the printed word to spring from the page and dance, sing, weep, and laugh. Glenis tells stories with poetry—tales from her life, her family, her African-American heritage, and her sensitive observations of the world around her—inspiring audiences of all ages. Her original poetry pays tribute to those who lift us up: mothers and grandmothers, sisters and brothers, and those in the world who dare to write, to speak, to dance, to sing for us all. Her performance is for adults and teens and is a State Theatre Artist-in-Residence, sponsored by the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey. Her performance is one of three events in Celebration of April as Poetry Month.
Nick Virgilio – A Film and Talk about Haiku PoetryRick Black, a poet and publisher will be presenting a film and reading about one of the most notable haiku poets. Nick Virgilio, who started writing in the 1960s and was a pioneer of American haiku poetry, penned some of this country’s most elegiac and memorable haiku. Born and bred in Camden, New Jersey, he was a legend to some, an inspiration to others. He spent countless hours in his cellar at his Remington typewriter, writing haiku about nature, the people of Camden and south Philadelphia, and his family. In particular, he detailed the deep sense of loss that affected him and his family when his youngest brother, Larry, was killed in Vietnam.
Poet Mark DotyPoet Mark Doty has written 12 books of poetry and three memoirs. Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, published in 2008 won the National Book Award for Poetry in that year. In 1995 His collection, My Alexandria, won the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry, the first American poet to do so. The book was also honored as a finalist for the National Book Award, winner of the 1993 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. His memoirs Firebird about his childhood growing up in the South and Arizona, Heaven’s Coast: A Memoir about the death of his partner Wally Roberts, and the Dog Years, about the lives of his two dogs, have all been honored with awards. He is director of Rutgers University’s Writer House. After Mark Doty’s reading there will be a book signing and an open mike.
Poetry Writing Workshop with Lauren SchmidtLauren Schmidt’s poems have been published or are forthcoming in The Progressive, Alaska Quarterly Review, New York Quarterly, Rattle, Nimrod, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Ekphrasis Journal, Wicked Alice and other journals. Her chapbook, The Voodoo Doll Parade (Main Street Rag), was selected as part of the 2011 Author’s Choice Chapbooks Series. Her first full-length collection, Psalms of The Dining Room (Wipf & Stock) is forthcoming.
Poet Daniel ZimmermanPoet Daniel Zimmerman , an English professor from Middlesex County College will give a reading that will be followed by an open mike and refreshments.
Poetry Writing GroupIf you are interested in joining a poetry writing group that meets once a month contact Valeri Drach Weidmann at 732-572-2750 or valeri84@hpplnj.org
Friends Poetry Night SeriesDiane Lockward is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently, Temptation by Water (Wind Publications, 2010). Her earlier books are What Feeds Us, which received the Quentin R. Howard Poetry Prize; Eve’s Red Dress; and a chapbook, Against Perfection. Her poems have been published in several anthologies, including Poetry Daily: 366 Poems from [...]