Join Berks Bards on Thursday for an evening of poetry with Christopher Sohnly and his friend Scott Shingle, father of an electronic musician/composer daughter. Christopher and Scott have teamed up to present a slide show with music and poetry.
As a switch, the open microphone portion of the program will lead off, followed by our featured reader and performer beginning at 7pm.
Christopher Sohnly has been writing poetry since the 1970s and is deeply thankful for the past 15 years of sobriety and for the insights of Buddhism. His friend Scott Shingle works as a computer technician.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
October 7, 2010 First Thursday Poetry Reading 6 to8 pm in the Cucina Cafe at the GoggleWorks Featuring Michael London and Lisa DeVuono-Songs of Rumi
Please join Berks Bards in welcoming husband and wife team Michael London and Lisa DeVuono and an evening of Songs of Rumi:
Michael London performs in concerts, at workshops and conferences, and in support of sacred rituals. He is also a teacher of leadership, organizational behavior, creativity and management at Muhlenberg College. Michael London's CD released on the LuxMusica label, is inspired by the deeply moving, transcendental poetry of Rumi, the 13th century Persian Sufi mystic.
Read what people had to say after his performance at the Sedgewick Theater!
I wanted to let you know that on rare occasions, I have time to relax and contemplate life. Yesterday found me in that state, mostly because I played your Rumi in Song CD in the player. It's the first time I had to really listen through and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, mesmerizing. WOW. There are no words to best describe it. ---Lizanne Knott
Your concert was a millennial celebration...If extraordinary vibes were gold you'd be driving a fleet of BMWs. People gathered from every corner, it seemed, every stripe and disposition, and the sweet songs hugged us all closer. Thank you. More concerts, more concerts! ---Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
I heard Michael's music for the first time on WXPN (Gene Shay's show) and was blown away by the ways in which he wove the exquisite poetry of Rumi with his own inspired musical creations. Hearing him in concert less than a week later, the intensity of the passion and magic increased 100-fold. Sitting in the audience, surrounded by souls listening with rapt attention, I was moved with a certainty that the poet himself was whispering in Michael's ear throughout the performance. At turns, deeply peaceful and vibrantly energetic. What a gift! Thank you for shaing it with us. ---Edie Moser
Lisa DeVuono is a poet and workshop facilitator living in the Lehigh Valley. She was the co-founder of IT AIN’T PRETTY, a women’s writing collective that has performed in a variety of places including bookstores, cafes, and on radio. She has facilitated writing workshops and creative events in a variety of places including conferences, festivals, prison, retreats, hospital and business settings. She has also been a group facilitator and creativity coach for the Artist Conference Network, a nationwide coaching community for artists of all kinds. Her poetry has been published in several literary reviews. Her chapbook, published by Pudding House Press, is entitled “Poems from the Playground of Risk.” And she co-facilitates workshops and performances with her husband for the CD titled The Soul Wakes: Rumi in Song.
Michael London performs in concerts, at workshops and conferences, and in support of sacred rituals. He is also a teacher of leadership, organizational behavior, creativity and management at Muhlenberg College. Michael London's CD released on the LuxMusica label, is inspired by the deeply moving, transcendental poetry of Rumi, the 13th century Persian Sufi mystic.
Read what people had to say after his performance at the Sedgewick Theater!
I wanted to let you know that on rare occasions, I have time to relax and contemplate life. Yesterday found me in that state, mostly because I played your Rumi in Song CD in the player. It's the first time I had to really listen through and it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL, mesmerizing. WOW. There are no words to best describe it. ---Lizanne Knott
Your concert was a millennial celebration...If extraordinary vibes were gold you'd be driving a fleet of BMWs. People gathered from every corner, it seemed, every stripe and disposition, and the sweet songs hugged us all closer. Thank you. More concerts, more concerts! ---Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore
I heard Michael's music for the first time on WXPN (Gene Shay's show) and was blown away by the ways in which he wove the exquisite poetry of Rumi with his own inspired musical creations. Hearing him in concert less than a week later, the intensity of the passion and magic increased 100-fold. Sitting in the audience, surrounded by souls listening with rapt attention, I was moved with a certainty that the poet himself was whispering in Michael's ear throughout the performance. At turns, deeply peaceful and vibrantly energetic. What a gift! Thank you for shaing it with us. ---Edie Moser
Lisa DeVuono is a poet and workshop facilitator living in the Lehigh Valley. She was the co-founder of IT AIN’T PRETTY, a women’s writing collective that has performed in a variety of places including bookstores, cafes, and on radio. She has facilitated writing workshops and creative events in a variety of places including conferences, festivals, prison, retreats, hospital and business settings. She has also been a group facilitator and creativity coach for the Artist Conference Network, a nationwide coaching community for artists of all kinds. Her poetry has been published in several literary reviews. Her chapbook, published by Pudding House Press, is entitled “Poems from the Playground of Risk.” And she co-facilitates workshops and performances with her husband for the CD titled The Soul Wakes: Rumi in Song.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
September 1st, 2010 First Thursday Poetry Reading 6 to 8 pm Cucina Cafe in the GoggleWorks Featuring Sorina Higgins
Thursday night join Berks Bards in welcoming poet Sorina Higgins.
Sorina Higgins is an adjunct faculty member in English at Lehigh Carbon Community College. She has published one poetry chapbook, The Significance of Swans (Finishing Line Press), and has a full-length MS looking for a publisher. Her poetry and other writing has appeared in several journals, including Comment, Radix, Stillpoint, Relief, Studio and Windhover. She is the Book Review Editor of Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Magazine about blogs about the arts and faith at http://iambicadmonit.blogspot.com. She holds an M.A. from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English. Sorina and her husband live in Kutztown, PA, in a home they built themselves.
Sorina Higgins is an adjunct faculty member in English at Lehigh Carbon Community College. She has published one poetry chapbook, The Significance of Swans (Finishing Line Press), and has a full-length MS looking for a publisher. Her poetry and other writing has appeared in several journals, including Comment, Radix, Stillpoint, Relief, Studio and Windhover. She is the Book Review Editor of Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Magazine about blogs about the arts and faith at http://iambicadmonit.blogspot.com. She holds an M.A. from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English. Sorina and her husband live in Kutztown, PA, in a home they built themselves.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
August 2010 First Thursday Poetry
Celebrate August Eve with Berks Bards at First Thursday Poetry, 6:00 pm on August 5th, at the Cucina Cafe', The GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, 201 Washington St, Reading, PA. Featured poets are ELIZABETH BODIEN from Kempton, PA, and CORTNEY BLEDSOE from Baltimore, MD. Open mic to follow. For more information, call 610-207-0120 or email zilabets@hotmail.com.
Find Berks Bards on Facebook: Berks Bards
Follow us on Twitter: @bardsofberks
Find Berks Bards on Facebook: Berks Bards
Follow us on Twitter: @bardsofberks
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
October 5, 2010 Boscov's Friends Helping Friends Fundraiser
Purchase your 25% off shopping pass from a Berks Bards member for $5.00 before October 5th and support the Bards financially as well as go shopping at Boscov's on October 5th, Friends Helping Friends Day. Please see the shopping pass for exceptions.
All of the proceeds from this sale benefits Berks Bards, a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging poetry.
All of the proceeds from this sale benefits Berks Bards, a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging poetry.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
July 1st, 2010, 6 to 8 pm at the Cucina Cafe in the GoggleWorks featuring Doug Arnold.
Meet and greet Doug Arnold, first place winner of this year's Philadelphia Writer's Conference poetry competition. Doug will be reading his winning poem and other selections followed by an open microphone.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
April 30th 2010, 5 to 7 pm at the Dance Studio in Mount Penn featuring Asian Pears, a pear wine tasting and Asian Poetry
Relax with Berks Bards at the Dance Studio, 2237 Howard Boulevard, Mount Penn, PA and enjoy a pear-wine tasting, desserts made with Asian pears, paired with Asian poetry and an open microphone. Reservations are suggested. Call 610-370-2629 or email Jen at jgittingsd@verizon.net to secure your place.
For more information on Asian pears go to www.wonderfulfruit.com and for information on Asian pear wines go to www.winesofsubarashii.com.
For more information on Asian pears go to www.wonderfulfruit.com and for information on Asian pear wines go to www.winesofsubarashii.com.
April 29th, 2010 6:30 pm at the Outsiders Folk Art Gallery in the GoggleWorks featuring Craig Czury
Be there to welcome poet Craig Czury to the Outsiders Folk Art Gallery on the fifth floor of the GoggleWorks, 201 Washington Street, Reading PA. The reading will be followed by a book signing.
April 25th, 2010 noon to 2 pm at the GoggleWorks Theater featuring Eleanor Wilner
Join Berks Bards in welcoming award-winning poet Eleanor Wilner at the GoggleWorks Theater, first floor, 201 Washington Street, Reading, PA for a reading, question and answer session and a book signing. Reservations are suggested. Call 610-777-0863 or email Liz at zilabets@hotmail.com.
Eleanor Wilner (nee Rand) was born in Ohio in 1937 and holds an inderdepartmental Ph.D. from John Hopkins University. She has published six collections of poems, most recently The Girl with Bees in Her Hair (Cooper Canyon,2004); Reversing the Spell: New and Selected Poems(1998); and Otherwise (University of Chicago, 1993)). Her other works include a verse translation of Euripides's Medea (Penn Greek Series, 1998); and a book on visionary imagination; Gathering the Winds (John Hopkins Press, 1975). Her work has appeared in over thirty anthologies, including Best American Poetry 1990 and The Norton Anthology of Poetry (Fourth Edition). A new book, Tourist in Hell, is forthcoming from Copper Canyon in Fall 2010.
About Wilner's work, the poet Tony Hoagland has said, "Wilner...has a deep and heroic belief in the transformative power of language and myth. She paddles her surfboard outside the reef where most poets stop; she rides the big waves."
Wilner has been the recipient of numerous awards, including fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Juniper Prize, and two Pushcart Prizes. Former editor of The American Poetry Review, she is currently an Advisory Editor of Calyx. She has taught, most recently, at the University of Chicago, Northwestern, and Smith College. She is currently on the faculty of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, and lives in Philadelphia.
(biography modified from The Academy of American Poets www.poets.org)
Eleanor Wilner (nee Rand) was born in Ohio in 1937 and holds an inderdepartmental Ph.D. from John Hopkins University. She has published six collections of poems, most recently The Girl with Bees in Her Hair (Cooper Canyon,2004); Reversing the Spell: New and Selected Poems(1998); and Otherwise (University of Chicago, 1993)). Her other works include a verse translation of Euripides's Medea (Penn Greek Series, 1998); and a book on visionary imagination; Gathering the Winds (John Hopkins Press, 1975). Her work has appeared in over thirty anthologies, including Best American Poetry 1990 and The Norton Anthology of Poetry (Fourth Edition). A new book, Tourist in Hell, is forthcoming from Copper Canyon in Fall 2010.
About Wilner's work, the poet Tony Hoagland has said, "Wilner...has a deep and heroic belief in the transformative power of language and myth. She paddles her surfboard outside the reef where most poets stop; she rides the big waves."
Wilner has been the recipient of numerous awards, including fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Juniper Prize, and two Pushcart Prizes. Former editor of The American Poetry Review, she is currently an Advisory Editor of Calyx. She has taught, most recently, at the University of Chicago, Northwestern, and Smith College. She is currently on the faculty of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, and lives in Philadelphia.
(biography modified from The Academy of American Poets www.poets.org)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
April 24th, 2010 1-4:30pm Wing Pointe in Hamburg featuring a poetry workshop with Randy Boone and an exploration of perfume with Mark David Boberick
Did you know it can take upwards of 200,000 rose petals to make enough oil for one bottle of Perfume? Or that the secretions of a certain African feline is one of the key ingredients in some of the most legendary fragrances ever created? Or that Marilyn Monroe’s mentioning that she wears Chanel No.5 and nothing else to bed is thought by many to be the reason for its success?
This workshop celebrates the Art of Perfumery and the words that are inspired by our sense of smell. Guests will learn about the history of perfume, the different ingredients that make up its composition, and will smell firsthand legendary perfumes as well as rare and vintage fragrances and the stories behind some of the most famous perfumes ever created. As you are moved by the scents, you will have time to write about your olfactory experiences.
Join Berks Bards for a Poetry and Perfume Workshop at the Wing Pointe Conference Center, 1414 Moselem Springs Road in Hamburg. Poet and teacher Randy Boone will lead a poetry workshop in conjunction with an exploration of the ingredients of perfume led by Mark David Boberick.
Randy Boone hails from Hellertown, Pennsylvania and teaches at Northampton Community College’s Monroe Campus. He can often be found lurking about coffee shops, thrift stores, the Las Vegas Strip, professional wrestling websites, and outdoors betwixt the local flora and fauna. His most recent publications include poems in Spout, Glimpse, Lehigh Valley Literary Review, English Journal, Connecticut River Review, Clark Street Review, and Epicenter, among other relatively obscure journals, reviews and magazines, and a chapbook of poems titled Ignoble Daydreams for Impudent Minds from Violent Publications.
Mark David Boberick is an Interior and Theatrical Designer who lives in Cape May, NJ. Originally from the Wyoming Valley, Mark has loved fragrances for as long as he can remember and started collecting them since he was 12 years old. Mark has been a writer for SniffapaloozaMagazine.com, an online fragrance journal since 2007 where he has written reviews and interviewed perfume luminaries such as Chandler Burr, Neil Morris, and Michael Edwards. He has also been published in Men’s Health Australia. Mark enjoys visiting museums, attending the opera and the theatre, and is devoted to Greyhound Rescue Organizations.
Reservations are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Please send payments to Marilyn Klimcho, 16 Bentley Court, Reading, PA 19601 or call 610-374-1161.
This workshop celebrates the Art of Perfumery and the words that are inspired by our sense of smell. Guests will learn about the history of perfume, the different ingredients that make up its composition, and will smell firsthand legendary perfumes as well as rare and vintage fragrances and the stories behind some of the most famous perfumes ever created. As you are moved by the scents, you will have time to write about your olfactory experiences.
Join Berks Bards for a Poetry and Perfume Workshop at the Wing Pointe Conference Center, 1414 Moselem Springs Road in Hamburg. Poet and teacher Randy Boone will lead a poetry workshop in conjunction with an exploration of the ingredients of perfume led by Mark David Boberick.
Randy Boone hails from Hellertown, Pennsylvania and teaches at Northampton Community College’s Monroe Campus. He can often be found lurking about coffee shops, thrift stores, the Las Vegas Strip, professional wrestling websites, and outdoors betwixt the local flora and fauna. His most recent publications include poems in Spout, Glimpse, Lehigh Valley Literary Review, English Journal, Connecticut River Review, Clark Street Review, and Epicenter, among other relatively obscure journals, reviews and magazines, and a chapbook of poems titled Ignoble Daydreams for Impudent Minds from Violent Publications.
Mark David Boberick is an Interior and Theatrical Designer who lives in Cape May, NJ. Originally from the Wyoming Valley, Mark has loved fragrances for as long as he can remember and started collecting them since he was 12 years old. Mark has been a writer for SniffapaloozaMagazine.com, an online fragrance journal since 2007 where he has written reviews and interviewed perfume luminaries such as Chandler Burr, Neil Morris, and Michael Edwards. He has also been published in Men’s Health Australia. Mark enjoys visiting museums, attending the opera and the theatre, and is devoted to Greyhound Rescue Organizations.
Reservations are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. Please send payments to Marilyn Klimcho, 16 Bentley Court, Reading, PA 19601 or call 610-374-1161.
April 22, 2010 6:30 pm at Mifflin Community Library featuring Catherine Rittenhouse Good, Virginia Stefan and Edward Morrison
Join Berks Bards in welcoming Catherine Rittenhouse Good, Virginia Stefan and Edward Morrison, all local poetry contest winners. Mifflin Community Library is located at 6 Philadelphia Avenue in Shillington. An open microphone follows the reading.
April 15th, 2010 6:30-8:30 at Clay on Main featuring winners of the Poet's Wall Contest
Join Berks Bards at the Half Moon Cafe in Clay on Main, 313 Main Street in Oley, for a reading by the winners of the Poet's Wall Contest. The reading will be followed by an open microphone.
April 11, 2010 from 11:30 until 2 pm in room 411 at the GoggleWorks for Poetry Publishers Showcase
Join Berks Bards on Second Sunday at the GoggleWorks where featured poets from FootHills Publishing Co., Plan B Press and Paper Kite Press will read, followed by a book signing.
April 6th, 2010 at 7 pm poetry reading at West Lawn-Wyomissing HIlls Library featuring John Yamrus
Join Berks Bards in welcoming John Yamrus to BardFest 2010. An open microphone and book signing follow the reading.
April 6th, 2010, 6 pm in the Berks-Penn Rooms at Reading Area Community College featuring Argentinian poets Esteban Charpentier and Griselda Garcia
Join Berks Bards in welcoming Esteban Charpentier and Griselda Garcia to the Bruce Stanley Memorial reading series, Poetry at Six. An open microphone and book signing follow the readings.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
April 1st , 2010 First Thursday 6 pm at the Cucina Cafe in the GoggleWorks featuring Berks County Poet Laureate Heather Thomas
Dr. Heather H. Thomas is an award winning poet and professor of English at Kutztown University where she has taught since 1988. She earned her B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.A. In English/Creative Writing from Temple University. Her Ph. D. was also earned at Temple. Thomas is the author of seven books of poetry including her most recent work, Blue Ruby. Some of her works have been translated into Spanish and published in Argentina. Her work has appeared in the anthology Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania and in more than thirty print and online journals including American Letters and Commentary, Chain, 13th Moon, and mid)rib. Thomas is an associate poetry editor for the online magazine 5Trope and has published literary criticism, journalism as well as fiction and non-fiction essays. She has given readings in Argentina, Ireland and Russia as well as traveled the United States. She has won awards from the Academy of American Poets, the Gertrude Stein Awards in Innovative American Poetry and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Currently Thomas is serving as Berks County's Poet Laureate. Following the reading will be a book signing and an open microphone.
Monday, March 8, 2010
BardFest 2010 on Berks Community Television for the entire month of April
Throughout the entire month of April catch one-minute poems between programming on Berks Community Television by the following poets: Heather Thomas, Craig Czury, Lorah Hopkins, Egedeme, Barbara Cassidy, Elizabeth Stanley, Michael Clipman, Ruth Martelli reading a poem by her daughter Elizabeth Martelli, Emily Whittle, Irv Westerfer, Jennifer Gittings-Dalton, Lynnel Jones, Michele Swigart-Uhrich, Doug Arnold, Nancy Knoblauch, Elizabeth Bodien, Lester Hirsh, Awilda Castro-Suarez, Patrick Klimcho and Marilyn L.T. Klimcho.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
March 4th, First Thursday 6 pm at the Cucina Cafe in the GoggleWorks featuring Ed Terrell
Ed Terrell is a local artist from Reading, Pennsylvania. He was born in Philadelphia but came to Reading when he was six years old. He went to elementary school right up the street from the GoggleWorks—Lauers Park. Art has been a big part of his life, he says. "Ever since I can remember—even going back to the sixth grade. Even in school I was entering in contests and stuff like that. The reason I mention Lauers Park is that recently we had a dedication of a piece of my artwork there. We donated it to the school. I was there for that dedication, and it was so emotional for me because I started out there in that school and never thought a piece of my art work would be there in that lobby."
Ed Terrell left Reading in 1970 and went out west to California. From there he went to Europe. He stayed over in Europe and then went on to Asia and Africa for about thirty years. He just recently came back about ten years ago. He's lived off his art all of his life. It was painting, sculpture, or crafts—whatever he felt like doing. "I’ve lived off my creativity. I owe that to my perseverance. Art is not an easy profession, but I felt I needed to stick with it because it made me feel good. It was something coming from me. It was something I could control. Even with the ups and downs of the so-called starving artist I’ve stayed with this and till this day I’m very thankful that I did."
Ed Terrell is the president and art director ACOR. For more information, visit www.acor-pa.org
Ed Terrell left Reading in 1970 and went out west to California. From there he went to Europe. He stayed over in Europe and then went on to Asia and Africa for about thirty years. He just recently came back about ten years ago. He's lived off his art all of his life. It was painting, sculpture, or crafts—whatever he felt like doing. "I’ve lived off my creativity. I owe that to my perseverance. Art is not an easy profession, but I felt I needed to stick with it because it made me feel good. It was something coming from me. It was something I could control. Even with the ups and downs of the so-called starving artist I’ve stayed with this and till this day I’m very thankful that I did."
Ed Terrell is the president and art director ACOR. For more information, visit www.acor-pa.org
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
First Thursday February 4th - Beth Phillips Brown
February 4th 2010 at 6 p.m.
The Cucina Cafe at the GoggleWorks, 201 Washington ST, Reading PA
Featured poet is BETH PHILLIPS BROWN
Open mic to follow
Beth Phillips Brown is a poet and storyteller who carries her Welsh and Celtic ancestors’ oral traditions through two languages, English and Welsh. A fluent Welsh speaker, a teaching artist and a 2002 PCA Folk Arts Performing Traditions fellowship recipient, she aspires to the calling of cyfarwydd, the Welsh word for bard and tradition-bearer. Her most recent chapbook, Book of Enchantments, was published by Foothills Publishing in Summer 2007. As Guest Poet for the 2006 Authors & Artists of the Sea session of Whale Camp on Grand Manaan Island, she edited Small as a World, Large as Alone, available on the Whale Camp website as a PDF download. Other publications include Poiesis, It Has Come To This: Poets of the Great Mother Conference, Block Island Poetry Project website, Philadelphia Poets, Blue Sofa Review, Schuylkill Valley Journal and the Painted Bride Quarterly among others. She is a founding member of The Delco Poets’ Cooperative, the first poetry organization in Delaware County which evolved into the present Mad Poets’ Society. In addition to her poetry and storytelling work, she is a book artist as well as the editor and publisher of Gwasg Cwtsh y Bardd (The Bard’s Cupboard Press). Beth is an avid TriYoga practitioner, recently becoming certified as a Basics teacher and is currently studying for further certification.
The Cucina Cafe at the GoggleWorks, 201 Washington ST, Reading PA
Featured poet is BETH PHILLIPS BROWN
Open mic to follow
Beth Phillips Brown is a poet and storyteller who carries her Welsh and Celtic ancestors’ oral traditions through two languages, English and Welsh. A fluent Welsh speaker, a teaching artist and a 2002 PCA Folk Arts Performing Traditions fellowship recipient, she aspires to the calling of cyfarwydd, the Welsh word for bard and tradition-bearer. Her most recent chapbook, Book of Enchantments, was published by Foothills Publishing in Summer 2007. As Guest Poet for the 2006 Authors & Artists of the Sea session of Whale Camp on Grand Manaan Island, she edited Small as a World, Large as Alone, available on the Whale Camp website as a PDF download. Other publications include Poiesis, It Has Come To This: Poets of the Great Mother Conference, Block Island Poetry Project website, Philadelphia Poets, Blue Sofa Review, Schuylkill Valley Journal and the Painted Bride Quarterly among others. She is a founding member of The Delco Poets’ Cooperative, the first poetry organization in Delaware County which evolved into the present Mad Poets’ Society. In addition to her poetry and storytelling work, she is a book artist as well as the editor and publisher of Gwasg Cwtsh y Bardd (The Bard’s Cupboard Press). Beth is an avid TriYoga practitioner, recently becoming certified as a Basics teacher and is currently studying for further certification.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)