NATIONAL POETRY MONTH AT ROE JAN LIBRARY
PRESS RELEASE
03-17-11
Hillsdale—The Roe Jan Community Library will celebrate National Poetry Month in April with a wide ranging series of events, including poetry readings, speakers, films, and a poetry workshop at the Library's new facility.
Cecele Kraus, committee chair, says that the purpose of the events is to bring poets and poetry to the public in immediate and innovative ways. “The poet Mark Doty said it best: ‘Poetry is a way to place value on the dignity, specificity and beauty of individual lives, a way to speak, a way to be heard.’ This is a way for the whole community to do just that,” says Kraus.
Following is the schedule of events. All take place at the Library, located at 9091 Rte. 22, approximately 1/2 mile south of the traffic light in Hillsdale.
April 2, Saturday, 4:30 PM
Joan Murray, poet and playwright, and Old Chatham resident, will open the festival. The theme of her reading and the open reading that follows is Poems of Rural Life. She is the author of prize-winning books from W.W. Norton, Beacon Press, and Wesleyan University Press, and is one of 41 US Poets to be awarded a 2011 National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship. www.JoanMurray.com. “One of the few poets whose work remains accessible to both the scholar of poetry and the casual reader." —The Harvard Review. Join us! Bring a favorite poem or one of your own.
(This event is funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. with public funds from New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.)
April 3, Sunday, 2 PM
Bruno Navasky, poet and elementary school teacher, will talk about reading poetry with children and read some of his favorite poems. He will discuss teaching poetry in the classroom and his editorial process in selecting poems for his anthologies. He is editor of Poem in Your Pocket for Young Poets (2011), Festival in My Heart: Poems by Japanese Children (1993), and Sixty Years of American Poetry (1996). His publications
include poems reviews, and translations in the The New York Times, The Paris Review, and elsewhere.
He is a former editor of American Poet and a current board member of The Academy of American Poets.
April 8, Friday, 7 PM
Film, Dead Poets Society. English professor John Keating instills in his student a love of poetry and inspires them to seize the day. With Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Josh Charles. Directed by Peter Weir.
April 9, Saturday, 2 PM
Shakespeare Performance. Costumed dramatic readings by Taconic Hills High School students.
April 10, Sunday, 2 PM
Peter Bergman, Executive Director, The Millay Society, will discuss Edna St. Vincent Millay’s neighboring home, Steepletop, and her place in the twenty first century. Through poetry, prose, and photography, Bergman will explore the world of Edna St. Vincent Millay, bringing her life alive again more than sixty years after an untimely death. Peter is a writer and reviewer for area papers and a regional playwright with seven dramas and comedies set in the Berkshires. His new novel, Small Ironies, is being published in 2011.
April 15, Friday
An Evening With Peter Dufault: Screening, What I Meant to Tell you: An American Poet’s ‘State of the Union,’ a film about Dufault, directed by his son, Ethan Dufault, followed by a short reading. In his poems, nature is the sublime bedrock that forms the basis for ethics and spirituality. A WW 11 pilot and 1968 Congressional candidate, Dufault remains a peace activist and musician. This is an opportunity to hear him read poems that bridge the gaps between the personal, physical, and political worlds. Author of seven poetry books, his poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, Atlantic Monthly, and Poetry.
April 30, Saturday, 2 PM
J. Daniel Beaudry, Reading and Poetry Writing Workshop
A Way of Poetry?—It is hard to tell if the world is just naturally more luminous to poets, or if it is made so through their engagement in the process of writing. One thing is certain, however: vibrant experiencing and
poetry are intertwined. During this workshop, elements of the Buddhist and Imagist poetic traditions will inform participants’ personal explorations of the possibility that the process—the practice—of writing poetry can lead to a fuller and truer way of being alive.
Daniel Beaudry’s poetry has appeared in Frogpond, Modern Haiku, Nature in Legend and Story, and world-renowned canopy biologist Dr. Nalini Nadkarni’s book, Between Earth and Sky: Our Intimate Connections to Trees. Daniel divides his time between Saint Rose and Hudson Valley Community College, where he teaches Japanese Literature, the Literature of the Returning Soldier, and Composition and Rhetoric. He is studying to become a Tendai Buddhist priest and is the President of the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society. The reading is open to all. However, registration for the workshop will be limited to 12 participants. To register contact Cecele Kraus: 518 329 3056, cecelekraus@gmail.com
Events for Children and Youths
Poetry for Children
April 9, Saturday, 11 AM
Bruno Navasky will lead parents or grandparents and children in reading and sharing favorite poems. He will provide poems or you can bring your own favorites.
Story Hour: Fun With Rhymes
Saturday, April 16th, 10:30am-11:30am
In honor of National Poetry Month, this week's story hour will focus on stories told in rhyme, poetic picture books, funny poems, and rhyming games.
Become The Media: Video Poem Workshop
Tuesday, April 19th, 12pm-2pm
In two short hours, youth participants are challenged to create a collaborative video poem based on a poem of their choosing. Participants will use the library's Flip cameras and editing software. Technical and artistic support will be offered and examples from other youth media makers will be shared. Registration is suggested as space is limited. For youth ages 8-12.
Haiku Zine-Making Workshop
Thursday, April 21st, 3pm-5pm
Zines are self-published magazines which allow artists/authors/youth/etc to dive into the creative process with little expense and little training. Zines can be about all kinds of things and in all sort of styles, but this month we are focusing in on haiku. Youth participants can write about whatever they want, but we will be expressing ourselves through a little 5-7-5 haiku practice! Participants can choose to make their own or to contribute to a collaborative zine. Registration is suggested as space is limited. For youth ages 12 and up.
Movie Night: Howl's Moving Castle
Thursday, April 21st, 6pm-8pm
In this engaging anime based on a children's fantasy novel, 18-year-old Sophie works in her late father's hat shop in a humdrum town. But things get interesting when she's transformed into an elderly woman by the evil Witch of the Waste. Determined to reverse the spell, Sophie seeks the help of the wizard Howl, who has an amazing moving castle that's fueled by a fire demon named Calcifer. Hayao Miyazaki directs. John Donne's poem, "Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star,” serves as the inspiration for the terms of Howl's own curse. Rated PG.
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