Congratulations to the new 2014 Berks County Poet Laureate, NANCY YEAGER!  A Celebration in Recognition was held at the Miller Center for the Arts, Reading Area Community College, on October 15, 2014, where the announcement was made by Anna Hehn, Coordinator of the Poet Laureate Award, and Coordinator of Assessment at RACC.

Honored as Scholastic Poet Laureate was Alexandra Papoutsis, and Honorable Mention for Scholastic Poet Laureate was Suhana Jagadesen. 

Poets Laureate Ms. Yeager, Ms. Papoutsis, and Ms. Jagadesen each read a selection of their poetry at the event.  Dr. Stephen Waller, Interim Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs/Provost, was the presenter of the Poet Laureate Award.  Faculty members Joey Flamm Costello and Stephanie Andersen presented the Scholastic Poet Laureate Awards.  Guest readings were offered by J. Dan Glass, Adjunct Faculty - Communications/Arts/Humanities, and Jodi Corbett, Director of Academic Partnerships.

Berks Bards congratulates Nancy Yeager, Alexandra Papoutsis, and Suhana Jagadesen on their great accomplishments.  We look forward to inviting these Poets Laureate to be featured poets at future poetry events in Berks County.

Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2014 6 p.m. in the Student Union Building on Reading Area Community College Campus film screening and poetry open mic

You are cordially invited to Poetry at Six, the 2014-2015 Bruce Stanley Memorial Poetry Series,
hosted by Reading Area Community College.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014 at 6:00 pm

The Ravens Lounge, Student Union Building, RACC

THEME:  "Poetry and the (Un)changeable Earth: Poetry, Nature, and Beauty"

FILM SCREENING:  "The Wisdom to Survive: Climate Change, Capitalism & Community"

Link to the film description: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/wts.html

Open Mic

This event is free and open to students and the general public, sponsored by the
Foundation for Reading Area Community College and Berks Bards.

Liz Stanley
~Berks Bards

Thursday October 2, 2014 6-8 p.m. at the GoggleWorks with poets Jodi Corbett and Cat Mahoney Geisinger

Join Berks Bards in welcoming two amazing poets!

JODI CORBETT and CAT MAHONEY GEISINGER

Thursday, October 2, 2014, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm

The GoggleWorks Café, First Floor ~ Mi Casa Su Casa

Open Mic

BIO:

Jodi A. Corbett has taught writing and literature and still teaches speech at Reading Area Community College, Reading, Pennsylvania. She holds a Master's in English with an emphasis in Composition, Rhetoric and Literacy Studies.  Her poems and flash fiction condense the contradicting energies of working class families. She is grateful for having compassionate creative writing faculty, Heather Thomas and Karen Bloomain, while a non-traditional student at Kutztown University.  

She has published poems in Lehigh Literary Review, Avalon Literary Review, Eunoia Review, Mused:BellaOnline Literary Review, Red River Review, and she was a featured poet in National Council of Teachers of English poetry month, 2012. Her first chapbook Fried Eggs and Un-edged Lawns (2006) is available through Foothills Publishing.

Jodi is reading from three unpublished collections this evening: Mad Geography, Cadet Summer, and Ordinary Time. 

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Bring friends, bring poems, bring your friends' poems!
Liz Stanley
~Berks Bards

Thursday, September 4th at 6:00 pm The GoggleWorks Cafe Featuring spoken-word poet JOSLIN KEARSE (Soul Cry)

Join Berks Bards for a Special Fundraiser and Poetry Reading

Thursday, September 4th at 6:00 pm

The GoggleWorks Cafe', 201 Washington Street, Reading

Featured spoken-word poet is JOSLIN KEARSE (Soul Cry)

Open Mic

Liz Stanley
~Berks Bards

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE FUNDRAISER TO SEND A POET TO MACEDONIA  (See www.gofundme.com/soulcrytomacedonia for more information.)

Hey
Family and Friends, I need your help! I just received an invitation to
the 18th edition of the International Poetry Festival “Ditët e Naimit”,
which will take place from October 16th to 19rd, 2014, in the town of
Tetova (Macedonia).
The trip consists of a 4-day
performance tour through Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and
Bosnia-Herzegovenia. I will be representing the United States at the
festival and will perform along with poets from 20 other countries. I
will be the 2nd Spoken Word artist to represent the U.S. at this
prestigious event.

While my stay will be covered
once I arrive, I'll need your help to cover travel expenses to the host
country. So contribute, like and share with your family, extended
family and friends.

Your help is greatly appreciated!

Children’s Baseball Poetry Contest

For participants under the age of 18: Download this entry form and write an original poem. Drop it off at the Berks Bards table in the concourse at the Fighin’ Phils baseball stadium in Reading before or during the game on August 7, 2014. Winners will be announced during the 7^th inning stretch. Winners must be present to pick up their prize at the Berks Bards table in the concourse following the 7th inning stretch.

After dropping off your entry form with Berks Bards, visit the Reading Theater Project on stage in the concourse for some more fun!

Enter the Fightin' Phils and Berks Bards Baseball Poetry Contest!

Announcing:

The 4th Annual Fightin' Phils and Berks Bards Baseball Poetry Contest

If you are 18 years old or older write an original poem about any aspect of
baseball and email it to klimcho@msn.com on or before July 20, 2014 with the
words RE: Baseball Poetry Contest in the subject line.

The top three winners will be selected by the Fightin' Phils' front office and
receive free tickets to the Thursday, August 7, 2014 game.

The First Place Winner will read his or her poem from the Fightin' Phils'
pitcher's mound on Thursday, August 7, 2014 just prior to the fireworks display.

July 3, 2014 at 6 p.m. First Thursday with poet Charles Cantalupo at the GoggleWorks

Please join Berks Bards in welcoming Charles Cantalupo to First Thursday.

Charles Cantalupo has
three book-length collections of poetry: 
Light the Lights (Red Sea Press, 2004), Anima/l Woman and
Other Spirits (Spectacular Diseases, 1996) and The Art of Hope (Notre Dame, 1985). 
His memoir, Joining Africa – From Anthills to Asmara
(Michigan State University Press, 2012), is a story of poets and poetry in
Africa and a Next Generation Indie Book Award in 2012.  His website is http://joiningafrica.com.  His translations include three books of poetry
from Eritrea:  We Have Our Voice:
 Selected Poetry of Reesom Haile (Red Sea Press, 2000), We Invented
the Wheel (Red Sea Press, 2002), and Who Needs a Story? Contemporary
Eritrean Poetry in Tigrinya, Tigre and Arabic (Hdri Publishers,
2006).  His monograph, War and Peace in Contemporary Eritrean Poetry
(Mkuki na Nyota, 2009) analyzes the poetry in Who Needs a Story?  He is the writer and director of the
documentary Against All Odds (African Books Collective, 2007) and a
co-author of the historic “Asmara Declaration on African Languages and
Literatures” (2000).  His poetry and
essays appear in a wide range of print and online journals.  He is also the author of The World of Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ngugi wa Thiong’o:  Texts and
Contexts (Africa World Press, 1995), and his first book was A Literary Leviathan:  Thomas Hobbes’s Masterpiece of Language
(Bucknell University Press, 1991). 
Charles Cantalupo is Distinguished Professor of English, Comparative
Literature, and African Studies at Penn State Schuylkill.  He lives in Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, one hundred yards north of the grave of the modernist poet, H.D.
(Hilda Doolittle).