10 Apr Shore Poets Launch New Micro-Memoir Anthology

Join us for the Long Beach Public Library’s First Annual Poetry Festival and Poetry: It’s a Shore Thing! In
an Unsure World, A Micro Memoir Anthology book launch! Spend the day with the Shore Poets at the Long Beach Library’s Poetry Festival on April 13th, 2024 starting at 10 a.m. with Peter V. Dugan, Theresa Rosario-Berzner and myself as we open up with our own readings and hear a special a morning keynote from Long Beach’s’ woman’s empowerment leader and poet Annisa Moore. Writers in the curated reading will be representing Long Beach from several local organizations including the Latino Civic Association’s Herstory writing group lead by Helen Dorado-Alessi, Long Beach Library’s zoom writing circle with Alice Laby and the Long Beach Arts Council Literary Arts Journal with David Feldman. Several other noteworthy poets from Long Island will be there representing their organizations, and reading throughout the day. Including the Nassau County Poet Laureate Society, The Scene Magazine, the Performance Poets Association, The Long Island Writers Guild, and 13 Poets from a different shore, Sea Cliff! There will be open reading circles and information engagement tables too.

Poetry: It’s a ‘Shore’ Thing! In an Unsure World will launch at 2 p.m. with an afternoon visit from AIP’s Johanna Matheson. We will have several poetry readings including our Shore Poet features: Pearl Ketover-Prilik and Doreen Dd Spungin. Peter, Pearl and I have been tweaking our editing skills for over the past six months on this anthology project and are biting our nails to see it in the hands of those poets who have submitted their petite snapshots. Poets from Long Beach, Bellmore and Freeport libraries have been involved in this project; all of them wrote their short memoir poems on 5 x 8 index cards and submitted them at their open mic or writers group meeting between October 2021 and July of 2022. I am underwriting the Poetry: It’s a Shore Thing! In an Unsure World, A Micro Memoir Anthology.

So, if you submitted and were printed in the book, you will get one free copy from me! But you have to come to the festival to get it. Otherwise, you’ll have to buy it on Amazon. At 3 p.m. we will have an open mic hosted by Shore Poet Theresa Rosario-Berzner with the help of James Coulter, Nina Malkin and Ralph Hooton. The open mic will last into the evening spearheaded by Lost Island Arts. Oh, and don’t forget to attend on the 14th, Shore Poet William McGee and I will be facilitating workshops, along with a few other fabulous workshop leaders. See you at the festival.

The Long Beach Poetry Festival is being funded the Long Beach Public Library and in part by Poets & Writers with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The Acoustic Poets Network™ visitation project underwrites both the Poetry: It’s a ‘Shore; Thing! Shore Poets Open Mic and the Poetry: It’s a Shore Thing! In an Unsure World, A Micro Memoir Anthology. The Shore Poets’ Open Mic is an endorsed Art of Wellness Week activity.