Poetry Read-In

On Sunday, September 22 at 2 p.m. the public is invited to hear well-known poets Christine Beck and John Stanizzi as they lead an afternoon of poetry at the Noah Webster House & West Hartford Historical Society. Maria Sassi, West Hartford poet laureate emeritus, will host the afternoon’s festivities, including an open mic portion.

A former lawyer and professor of legal studies at The University of Hartford, Christine Beck has a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and teaches creative writing at the University of Hartford, Southern Connecticut State University, and in private workshops. The Charlotte Chronicles won the mini-chapbook contest at The Centrifugal Eye and was published in 2012. Her first full-length poetry collection, Blinding Light, is forthcoming from Grayson Press.

John L. Stanizzi has delighted readers and listeners throughout New England and (thanks in part to his presence on Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac) beyond the Northeast.  He is the author of Ecstasy Among Ghosts, now in its fourth printing, Sleepwalking, Windows, and Dance Against the Wall, and After the Bell, which was just released this June from Big Table Publishing in Boston, MA. He teaches English at Manchester Community College and Bacon Academy, where he also directed the theater program for fifteen years. He lives with his wife, Carol, in Coventry, Connecticut.

Maria Sassi, the host of Webster’s Read-Ins, is a prize-winning poet and playwright and served as the first Poet Laureate of West Hartford from 2005-2009. Her book of poems, Rooted in Stars, is in its second edition, the first is in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University. She has hosted many poetry venues, including the Old State House, Charter Oak Cultural Center, and the Noah Webster Library.

Poets are encouraged to read their own works during the open mic portion of the afternoon. Light refreshments will be served. The event is free to the public, but donations will be gratefully accepted.