Maine’s Women Poets Remembered in Historic Celebration
Portland, Maine, October 3rd – A special literary event, Celebrating the Unsung Women Poets of Maine, will take place this Thursday night, at 7PM, at Mayo Street Arts in Portland.
“Megan Grumbling and Christina Mock will be presenting the works of several Maine women whose works deserve more attention,” said Walter Skold, of the Dead Poets Society of America. “These include, Denise Levertov, Elizabeth Akers Allen, and Elizabeth Oakes Smith.”
“We are also fortunate to have New Hampshire actress and historian, Stephanie Voss appearing, who will present the life and writings of Celia Thaxter, “ he said.
“This year’s celebration is a kind of resurrection of amazing poetic voices that have too often been buried in our collective memory over the years,” said Skold, a poet and filmmaker from Freeport.
Grumbling, a well-known poet and teacher from Portland, will be giving a special presentation on the Maine-related poetry of Denise Levertov, who lived and wrote for many summers in Temple, Maine, where she honed her deeply spiritual poetry of Nature.
“Many people who love Levertov’s work are not even aware that she received so much literary and social inspiration from her experiences in Maine,” said Skold. “We think this is the first program of its kind and we’re excited about it.”
Thaxter was an artist and poet who lived on Maine’s Appledore Island and whose name was known nationwide in the late 19th Century.
The evening of poetry and performance is the national kick-off for the second annual Dead Poets Remembrance Day, a literary holiday that was initiated last year by 20 State Poets Laureate.
The cost for participating in this community remembrance of past poets is only $5.00 and a special Bard’s beer will be available for purchase.
The evening event has been made possible by funding from the Maine Women Writers Collection, a nationally-known archive and study center based out of the University of New England, in Portland.
More details of the Maine women poets being remembered is available at the event blog:
Celebrating Maine’s Unsung Women Poets: http://deadpoets.typepad.com/mewomen/
Contact : info@deadpoes.org
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