WILSON, N.C. — On Saturday, April 23, The Sam and Marjorie Ragan Writing Center on the campus of Barton College will host a poetry reading, followed by a concert by the female vocal harmony quartet Fleur-de-Lisa. The program will begin at 2 p.m. Following the reading and musical performance, a free poetry workshop will be offered for poets of all levels, fledgling poets and veteran poets alike. The event is free of charge, and the community is invited to attend. Attendees are invited to bring one or more cans of food to share with Hope Station, Wilson’s local food pantry.
Five poets, Richard Krawiec, Debra Kaufman, Lynn Veach Sadler, Jim Clark, and Marty Silverthorne, will read from “The Sound of Poets Cooking,” a collection of recipes and poems inspired by food, published by Jacar Press in 2010. Proceeds from the sales of the book are used to pay writers small stipends to teach free writing workshops in their communities.
Editor and poet Krawiec has published three novels, a short story collection, two young adult biographies, four plays, a chapter book for children, and textbooks on teaching writing to children and to people in community settings such as prisons and homeless shelters. His first book of poetry, “Breakdown,” was a finalist for the 2009 Indie Awards in Poetry. He has edited three anthologies, including the international collection “Taboo Haiku.” A past recipient of Creative Writing Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council, he currently teaches Beginning and Intermediate Fiction Writing online for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill through the Friday Center. In 2009, he won the Excellence in Teaching Award for these classes.
Kaufman, a poet and playwright, is the author of four poetry collections, including “Still Life Burning” and “Moon Mirror Whiskey Wind.” She is working on a full-length play, “The Fairest,” and makes her home in Mebane.
Saddler, a former college president, has published six chapbooks and has a full-length collection in press. She won the 2009 overall award, in poetry and fiction, at San Diego City College as well as Wayne State’s 2008 Pearson Award for a play on Iraq. She also has published a novella and short story collection and has almost completed her novel.
Clark, the Elizabeth H. Jordan Professor of Southern Literature and chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages at Barton College, has published two books of poetry as well as “Notions: A Jim Clark Miscellany.” He also edited “Fable in the Blood: The Selected Poems of Byron Herbert Reece” and has released three CDs, including “Wilson” and “Words to Burn.”
Silverthorne works as a licensed clinical addiction specialist in Greenville. He is the author of four chapbooks, including “Dryskin Messiah,” “Pot Liquor Promises,” and “Rewinding at 40.”
Fleur-de-Lisa, the a cappella vocal harmony quartet based in Durham, has performed throughout the eastern United States. Among the group’s recent work has been a haiku-to-music project. Their song “Rainy Season,” with music by Sarah Kenan Shunk and lyrics based on a Roberta Beary haiku, won Best Original Song in the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Harmony Sweepstakes: A Cappella Competition. Shunk, the group’s main composer, is an occupational therapist who majored in music composition at Southern Methodist University and Kenyon College. Group member Deborah Stewart, a medical social worker, also has been the lead singer for the roots-based rock band named HWY 54. Andie Piddington, the group’s main percussionist, sang with the Intonations at William and Mary College. Sylvia Freeman, who like Piddington and Shunk has performed with the janes, sang madrigals and jazz while growing up in High Point. Freeman has sung with pianist Chris Reynolds and is a co-founder of Yoga for Women in Durham. Fleur-de-Lisa has two CDs. For additional information about the group, visit their web site at www.haikusongs.com.
For additional information about the event, please contact Dr. Rebecca Godwin, director of The Sam and Marjorie Ragan Writing Center, at 252-399-6364 or email: rlgodwin@barton.edu.
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Questions? Please contact Kathy Daughety, director of public relations, at 252-399-6529 or email: kdaughety@barton.edu