Community Corner
Inaugural Poetry Reading by the New West Hartford Poet Laureate
An inaugural poetry reading by Christine Beck the new West Hartford Town Poet Laureate along with 3 to 4 other CT town poets laureate.
October 21 - An inaugural poetry reading by Christine Beck the new West Hartford Town Poet Laureate along with three to four other CT town poets laureate and announcement of a town wide Favorite Poem Project for residents to submit a favorite poem, leading to a town wide reading.
The Favorite Poem Project invites all West Hartford residents to choose and submit a “favorite poem” along with a statement of no more than 200 words about the significance of the poem to the resident. The project is modeled on the Favorite Poem Project begun by Robert Pinsky when he was U.S. Poet Laureate. Information about the national project and videos of Americans reading their favorite poems can be seen at www.favoritepoem.org.
Christine Beck invites residents, including students, to submit one poem and a statement about why they love it [in a Word document] to the email address: favoritepoem@comcast.net.
The project in West Hartford will culminate in a town-wide reading of submitted poems to be selected by Christine Beck in the Fall of 2016.
Beck will be joined by other poets laureate from Connecticut towns as well at Connecticut State Poet Laureate Rennie McQuilken, who will each read a favorite poem, introduced by a short statement about why each chose that poem.
Christine Beck holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing degree from Southern Connecticut State University. She is the author of Blinding Light (Grayson Books 2013) and I’m Dating Myself, forthcoming from Dancing Girl Press. Her collection, The Charlotte Chronicles, won a mini-chapbook award and was published by Centrifugal Eye in 2013. She teaches poetry, creative writing and literature at The University of Hartford, Southern Connecticut State University and in private workshops. Christine Beck is a former president of the Connecticut Poetry Society, a board member of Riverwood Poetry Series, and is currently Poet Laureate of the Town of West Hartford.
Her website is www.ChristineBeck.net.
Library contact: Joe Cadieux
http://bit.ly/beck21oct
