The Arts Cafe' featuring poet and essayist Katha Pollitt

An evening of Poetry and Music

Featured Poet: Katha Pollitt is exceptional among contemporary American writers for being celebrated as both a poet and essayist. She has published two volumes of poems - Antarctic Traveller in 1982 and The Mind-Body Problem in 2009 - each of which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Ms. Pollitt is surely best known for her column “Subject to Debate”, which regularly appears in The Nation and which The Washington Post calls “the best place to go for original thinking on the left.” Pollitt’s essays have also appeared frequently in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s and The New York Times, earning her many honors, including National Magazine Awards for Essays and Criticism, and for Columns and Commentary. She has published four volumes of essays, including the acclaimed Learning to Drive: And Other Life Stories.

Opening Voice: Suzanne Levine is the author of Haberdasher’s Daughter, her first book of poems, which was a finalist for the Eric Hofer Award and da Vinci Eye Award for cover art. Her poems have appeared in many literary magazines and journals, including California Quarterly, Calliope, Interpoezial, and Southern California Review. She teaches the craft of memoir writing with Lary Bloom at the Mark Twain House in Hartford.

Music: The Marcy Kelly Quartet is led by singer Marcy Kelly and features Mike Golembeski on Piano, Tom Latawiec on double bass, and Ian Kelly on drums and guitar. Ms. Kelly also heads up the band Sugar and is equally home in jazz and rock. Mr. Golembeski, who was educated at the Berkley College of Music, also performs with Mind Body and Soul, the Michael Thomas Trio and Sugar. Mr. Latawiec has toured nationally and performed regionally with several top acts, including the Michael Thomas Trio. Ian Kelly, who has played in many styles and genres for many of the region’s best ensembles, was trained at the Collective College of Music in New York and the Daniel Paul School of Percussion in Maui.