YOU WILL FIND MEMBERS' NEWS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
THE CAPE COD WRITERS CENTER OFFICE IS CLOSED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 8, 2008.
After a successful conference week, we have closed the office to give the staff some comp time. Please save your questions until we are back in the office.
THE FIRST MASSACHUSETTS POETRY FESTIVAL WILL BE HELD IN LOWELL COLUMBUS DAY WEEKEND, 2008
The Cape Cod Writers Center proposal to present a program at the first Massachusetts Poetry Festival has been accepted. Poet and CCWC member Alice Kociemba and I will co-facilitate Cape Cod Voices: Poems of People and Place, a 90-minute reading of over a dozen poets whose work has helped to raise awareness of poetry on Cape Cod and the Islands.
The poets representing our area will read their own work and some poems of well-known but unavailable Cape Cod poets as well, as we combine voices from the past and present, native and "wash-ashore," who have contributed to a cultural identity and regional voice for Cape Cod and the Islands.
Some of these poets include Jadene Stevens, founder of Salt Wind Poets; Jose Gouveia, founder of the long-running poetry venue at Prodigal Son in Hyannis; and Falmouth poet Jarita Davis. We have attempted to assemble a representative and diverse group of poets from the Upper, Mid, and Lower Cape, including some slam and performance poets and those who have played an influential role in the development of a poetry voice on Cape Cod and the Islands.
Cape Cod Voices: Poetry of People and Place,
sponsored by the Cape Cod Writers Center,
at the first annual Massachusetts Poetry Festival
Saturday, October 11, 2008, 3:00 – 4:30 PM
Brush Art Gallery, 256 Market Street, in the heart of downtown Lowell, Massachusetts
Over a dozen native and "washashore" Cape Cod & Islands poets will read for a maximum of five minutes each. Their poetry will reflect the diverse voices and rich cultural identity that has developed in this naturally beautiful, sometimes isolated, area of Massachusetts, with its unique socioeconomic character and independence from “the mainland.”
Organizers:
Anne Elizabeth Tom, Executive Director of the Cape Cod Writers Center, and a poet who founded the Grange Hall Poetry Series, and the Louise Imogen Guiney Center for Poets and Playwrights.
Alice Kociemba, who founded the Calliope Poetry Reading Series at the West Falmouth Library, and facilitates the Barnstable Unitarian Poetry Group. She is also a member of the Jamaica Pond Poets in Boston.
This celebration in the Merrimack Valley will affirm our state's position as a literary leader since Colonial days when Anne Bradstreet put her thoughts into beautiful poems. The goal of the festival is to raise the profile of poetry in Massachusetts and to help to make it part of the culture of our communities. The festival will include a small press book fair, poetry slams, workshops, panel discussions, and readings by well-known, as well as emerging, poets.
I believe that Cape Cod will provide an exceptional level of energy and diverse work for the size of the population of our small peninsula and little islands.
Please show Massachusetts your commitment to poetry by attending. Some of the festival is free; other events require purchase of tickets, on sale now.
Paul Marion, organizer of the festival and community relations director for UMASS Lowell, addresses us below.
Anne Elizabeth Tom
Executive Director, CCWC
Member, Masachusetts Poetry Festival Committee
Dear Cape Cod Writers Center,
In 1780, John Adams of Massachusetts wrote to his wife, Abigail, saying he had to study politics and war so that his grandchildren would have a right to study poetry and enjoy the arts that lift our minds and spirits. We are a long way from the old Revolution, but the best of poetry is still revolutionary and helps keep us free. In 2008, it is time for all of us to celebrate what poetry means in our lives and to the Commonwealth we call home.
For thirty-five years, poetry has enriched my life. I want to see the power of poetry spread across our state. My passion for poetry has led me to join my friends at the Massachusetts Poetry Outreach Project to organize the first ever Massachusetts Poetry Festival, on October 10th, 11th and 12th in Lowell, Massachusetts. As we prepare our Festival schedule and line up readers and performers, we have an immediate need for your financial support to make this Festival a reality:
http://masspoetry.org/donate/
We have planned a three-day celebration of the poets, poetry, and literary heritage of this state, whose contribution to American poetry is unsurpassed in the nation. The celebration will include readings by well-known and emerging poets, workshops and panel talks, films, performance poetry, programs for children and youth, a small press fair, exhibits, literary tours, and more.
But we need to raise money for this good cause. Our goal is to raise $60,000, and we need another $21,500 to reach it. We are grateful for whatever you can give. If each person on this list gives as much as $100, we will reach our goal. Please donate today and ask one friend to support the Festival. This is a chance to be a founding donor:
http://masspoetry.org/donate/
Readers, performers, artists, and presenters will include Marjorie Agosin, Lucie Brock-Broido, Andre Dubus III, Martin Espada, Rhina Espaillat, Henry Ferrini, Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord, Regie Gibson, Barbara Helfgott Hyett, X. J. Kennedy, Samkhann Khoeun, Eileen Myles, Joyce Peseroff, Robert Pinsky, Jeff Robinson, Ed Sanders, Lloyd Schwartz, Joe Torra, and Everett Hoagland, among others. Poetry groups from the Merrimack Valley, Worcester, Cape Cod and elsewhere will offer readings. Student poets from UMass Boston, UMass Lowell, Emerson College, and Lesley University will participate.
This is our opportunity to celebrate the transformative art of poetry. Save the date for the Festival in October and vote with your feet by coming to Lowell - but please give today so we can make the first Festival an extraordinary success. We are still finalizing our programs and venues. Tickets will go on sale beginning Monday, August 18. Your donation today will allow us to rent larger facilities, expand our reach across the state, and offer more programs for young people and for teachers.
Thank you for everything you do - for your belief in the power of poetry.
Paul Marion, Lowell Poetry Network
The Massachusetts Poetry Outreach Project
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Massachusetts Poetry Festival
http://masspoetry.org/
Office of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
375 Merrimack Street, Lowell, MA 01852 |
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Help Us Market the Cape Cod Writers Center by Using Newly-Designed, Well-Made CCWC Products
Using the new CCWC logo and playing off its color scheme (the quill against a Cape Cod blue and sand backdrop), we had new tasteful tote bags, tee shirts, and travel mugs made, which sold well at this summer's conference. We have a limited number left in each category, and will re-order if there is a demand.
If you did not attend the conference, you may still purchase these products from us by emailing in an order. We can send the totes and tee shirts out to you by mail easily, or you can pick them up at the office by arranging with us in advance. The travel mugs will have to be on a pick-up basis only for now, since we are not equipped for packaging them. Some of these items will be for sale at Breakfasts for the Authors in September and October.
Please consider purchasing a few products to use in public to help us market the center, and buy some to give some to your writing friends for the holidays and other special occasions.
The tote bag is zippered and well-made of off-white, heavy canvas. It would make an excellent GREEN GROCERY BAG. The black travel mug has an oval insert with the logo in full color. The tee shirts will come in a few colors with the new logo on the left breast. They are all tastefully designed and made.
NEWS ABOUT SOME OF OUR MEMBERS
Woman's Day magazine has written an article about Cape Cod Writers Center member Cindy Kershaw and her self-published book, My Good Grief. It is featured in the October 7th issue, on the stands Sept. 9th.
CCWC member and Cape Cod Times columnist, Saralee Perel, recently won an award in the National Society of Newspaper Columnists annual contest. The NSNC is the largest columnist organization in the U.S. (Dave Barry says he wins every year but uses a pseudonym.) This is Saralee's second win. Her first was in 2005. Her lucky run also includes First Place in the most recent North American Mature Publishers Association yearly contest. She has three stories in current Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Two appear in "Love Stories" and one appears in "A Tribute to Moms." Last month, it was officially announced that Saralee is now an essayist for The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
Saralee encourages other writers. "Submitting to Chicken Soup is simple. Plus they take pre-published material if you own the rights. All of my stories have been published previously. An NSNC win can happen to you too. The people at the organization are wonderfully personal and their newsletters are invaluable for all writers: www.columnists.com. Feel free to e-mail me with any questions: sperel@saraleeperel.com or see further information on my new web site: www.saraleeperel.com. I know the odds are daunting in our writing submissions, but if we don't try, the odds are zero. Don't give up. What's the point in that?"
Also, take note CCWC playwrights:
THE 2008 NEW PROVINCETOWN PLAYERSʼ FALL PLAYWRIGHTSʼ FESTIVAL
October 30th -- November 2nd
Short play submissions sought from the following three groups by October 1st:
- Provincetown Theater Playwrightsʼ Lab members
- Playwrights who have had plays previously produced in Provincetown Theater Playwrightsʼ Festivals (and are not Lab members)
- Playwrights who live on Cape Cod for most of the year
· No more than 10 minutes (about 10 pages), but can be shorter, keeping in mind simplicity with regard to set/costumes, casts.
- No prior production ( readings permitted).
- Any subject matter will be considered.
- Submissions will include a title page with name of playwright, address, phone/s and email address. Name cannot appear on any other pages of submission. Only one submission per person will be considered. Send or hand deliver three hard copies by October 1st (no exceptions) to the Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St., Provincetown, MA 02657.
- Plays should also be available in electronic format upon request. (Email, scanning or faxing will be acceptable.)
- Selected plays will be produced by the New Provincetown Players in four performances, October 30, 31, November 1 and 2.
- Compensation will be in the form of complimentary tickets to performances (# TBD).
- Questions may be directed to Operations Manager, Kristin Hatch at 508-487-7487 or: OperationsMan@NewProvincetownPlayers.org
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Cape Cod Writers' Center Writers Night Out is taking a summer break, and will resume in the fall.
Writers Night Out is for CCWC members only. If you are unsure that your membership is up-to-date, ask us and we will check our records.
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