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

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.

First Thursday Sept.3-Jodi Corbett

September 3, 2009, at 6:00 p.m.
The Cucina Cafe' at the GoggleWorks, 201 Washington ST, Reading
Featured poet is JODI CORBETT
Open Mic to follow


Jodi Corbett, Berks County native, writes and paints scenes filled with people. Her poems are often meditations upon capturing the competing energies of place as viewed through a mother-creator lens. Her poetry is published in Shoofly, Essence, Legacy, and Lehigh Literary Review. She published her first chapbook Fried Eggs and Un-edged Lawns through Foothills Publishing in 2006 and is writing a travel collection. Local collectors enjoy her water color paintings and the public can view her collaborative mural project “The Color of Money” at Reading Area Community College.

She holds a BA in English and Professional Writing from Kutztown University where she is working on her MA in English. She teaches writing at Reading Area Community College and coordinates an open mic night at Hard Bean Café in Boyertown. She lives with her two teenage sons and husband in Boyertown, Pennsylvania.

Sponsored by Berks Bards, a grassroots community group dedicated to the lively art of poetry.This event is free and open to the public.

First Thursday August 6

Featured poets Emily Hayes Whittle and Naimon Lyons will present an experiment in voices, as they read each others' work as well as their own for First Thursday Poetry, August 6, 2009, at the Cucina Cafe' in the GoggleWorks, 201 Washington ST, Reading, PA. Open mic to follow.

This event is open to the public. Bring poems. Bring a friend. Bring your friend's poems!

Sponsored by Berks Bards.

Fourth Annual Northeast PA Poetry at Tamaqua

Stonehedge Gardens will offer an ideal backdrop for the Fourth Annual Northeast PA Poetry and Writer’s Festival on Saturday, July 18 from 10 am to 4 pm. The festival will feature writing workshops, networking opportunities, open readings, the chance to meet publishers, and a marketplace to display, sell and sign published work.

This festival is open to any interested or aspiring writer at any skill or experience level and a $10 donation will cover breakfast and all workshops. For more information or to register in advance, call 570-386-4618 or email stonehedgeinfo@hotmail.com.

The event will offer a chance for local writers to share creative ideas, techniques and tools, and original work in the natural setting of the Stonehedge six-acre gardens, and will begin with continental breakfast mixer hosted by Black Diamond Writer’s Network where participants will choose his or her morning and afternoon workshop choice.

Workshop presenters will include Sara Hodon and Jodi Webb of the Black Diamond Writer’s Network, and professional writer and workshop facilitator Holly Landau and Deborah Filanowski, published poet and presenter. Two open mic sessions will allow participants to read poems, flash fiction or flash non-fiction, and those who opt to stay after 4 may join an informal critique group. At noon, the Stonehedge Café will sell lunch items and the Market Place will offer an area for writers to display, sell and sign their work, and meet with publishers.

All participants will enjoy poetry by special guest Jeff Rath, the acclaimed Lancaster-based poet and author of The Waiting Room at the End of the World and his most recent In the Shooting Gallery of the Heart, both published collections of poetry. Rath is the 2007 R.E. Foundation award winner for Outstanding Poetry and a Pushcart Prize nominee.

Stonehedge is a six-acre, free public garden, gallery and gift shop used for art exhibits and education, as well as a variety of community events focused on nature, art and wellness. Visitors are invited to discover the garden at any time between noon and dusk.

Operated as a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, Stonehedge Gardens is member-supported and operated almost completely through volunteer20support. Its mission is to provide an environment for personal and community transformation and wellness through its gardens and the arts. For pricing on private tours, to join as a member, or become a volunteer, visit http://stonehedge.org or call 570-386-4618.

Berks Bards slamming!

Get ready to deliver your poems out loud! First Thursday Poetry for July 2nd invites attendees to speak and perform their poems out loud, more spoken word, more slam nation, in celebration of Berks Bards' 11th anniversary. Join us for an open mic marathon, beginning at 6 pm in the first floor cafe at the GoggleWorks, 201 Washington St, Reading. Bring a friend, speak a poem. Out Loud.

Finale of Bard Fest 2009

Join poets and writers with Berks Bards to celebrate the FINALE of BARD FEST 2009. First Thursday Poetry at the GoggleWorks, 2nd & Washington Streets, Reading, in the first floor cafe' on June 4, 2009, at 6:00 pm.Jennifer Gittings-Dalton will be the featured poet, and there will be an open mic. Berks Bards will host a small reception after the reading with all attendees. You are invited to bring an appetizer or dessert to share. Join us for a poets' potluck!

Liz Stanley~Berks Bardszilabets@hotmail.comFind us on Facebook