In celebration of April’s National Poetry Month, Byrd's Books in Bethel will host an afternoon of poetry on Sunday April 2 at 3 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. This event is free and open the the public and is handicapped accessible.
Currently scheduled to appear are poets Gail Carson Levine, David K. Leff, Lisa Schwartz, Sydney Eddison, Brian Clements with WCSU MFA alumna Kateri Kosek and WCSU MFA student Ben Chase.
About the writers:
Gail Carson Levine: Gail Carson Levine’s first book for children, Ella Enchanted, was a Newbery Honor Book. Levine’s other books include Ever, a New York Times bestseller; Fairest, a Best Book of the Year for Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal, and a New York Times bestseller; Dave at Night, an ALA Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults; The Wish; The Two Princesses of Bamarre; A Tale of Two Castles; and the six Princess Tales books. She is also the author of the nonfiction books Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly and Writer to Writer: From Think to Ink, as well as the picture books Betsy Who Cried Wolf and Betsy Red Hoodie. Gail Carson Levine and her husband, David, live in a two-centuries-old farmhouse in the Hudson Valley of New York State. "Transient" is her first book of poetry.
David K. Leff: David K. Leff is an essayist and poet and former deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. His work focuses on the surprisingly intimate relationship of people to their built and natural environments. His nonfiction book, The Last Undiscovered Place (University of Virginia Press, 2004) was a Connecticut Book Award finalist. He is the author of two other nonfiction books, Deep Travel, (University of Iowa Press, 2009) and Hidden in Plain Sight, (Wesleyan University Press, 2012). His poetry collections are The Price of Water (Antrim House, 2008), Depth of Field (Antrim House, 2010), and Tinker's Damn (Homebound Publications, 2013). His latest book, Finding the Last Hungry Heart (Homebound Publications, 2014), is a novel in verse about the confluence of the present and the 1960s. Maple Sugaring: Keeping it Real in New England, about the culture of producing this unique food, is forthcoming from Wesleyan University Press in October 2015. Canoeing Maine's Legendary Allagash: Thoreau, Love, and Survival of the Wild, a memoir about a backcountry river trip, is due out from Homebound Publications in 2016. His work has appeared in the Hartford Courant, The Wayfarer, Appalachia, Yankee, Connecticut Woodlands, Connecticut Coastal, Canoe & Kayak, and The Encyclopedia of New England and elsewhere.
Lisa Schwartz: Lisa Schwartz is the former Poetry Editor of The Newtowner Magazine, a local literary arts publication. She was also recently named the Poet Laureate of Newtown, Connecticut. Lisa has been writing poetry since 6th grade where she happened upon Walt Whitman's poem, "When I heard the Learn'd Astronomer," and fell in love with verse.
Sydney Eddison:Sydney Eddison lives with her Jack Russell Terrier, Phoebe, in a yellow farmhouse surrounded by a 2-1/2-acre garden of her own creation in Newtown, Connecticut. Her articles have appeared in such publications as Fine Gardening and Horticulture, and she is the award-winning author of seven books on gardening, including Gardening for a Lifetime, A Passion for Daylilies, and A Patchwork Garden. She was also honored to serve as Grand Marshall of Newtown's Labor Day Parade. Sydney has written two books of poetry.
Brian Clements:Brian Clements is the author of three Quale titles: And How to End it, its sequel, Jargon, and, most recently, A Book of Common Rituals. He edited with Jamey Dunham the anthology An Introduction to the Prose Poem, and he founded/edited Sentence: a Journal of Prose Poetics. He is Professor of Writing, Linguistics, and Creative Process at Western Connecticut State University, where he coordinates the MFA in Creative and Professional Writing and advises the literary journal Poor Yorick (pooryorickjournal.com)
Kateri Kosek and Ben Chase: one a former and one a current student of Brian Clements, we are so glad to have them and are looking forward to hearing their work!
Byrd's Books is located at 126 Greenwood Ave in Bethel. Visit Byrd's Books online here.
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