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Poets @ Large
September 10 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Three distinct poetic voices will unleash their truths at Roseland Park, 205 Roseland Park Road (in the barn) on Sunday, September 10th at a free, spoken word reading hosted by Poets at Large. The reading will be from 2-4 p.m. with an open mic (5-minute limit as time allows), and is recommended for ages 14 and up. Featured will be CT poets Pegi Deitz Shea, T’Challa Williams and C.C. Arshagra.
Deitz Shea will start the afternoon reading some pieces from her newest book, The Weight of Kindling (Grayson Books). This work examines her roots of inspiration including her grandmother’s history, her own world travels, and the family she helped create. Deitz Shea, a Tolland resident and two-time winner of the CT Book Award, taught Children’s Literature and Creative Writing from 2007-2020 at UCONN. She is the author of more than 450 published articles, essays, poems for adult readers and 16 books for young readers. She was the inaugural Poet Laureate of Vernon, and directs Poetry Rocks, a quarterly reading series she founded in 2017 and currently serves as the President of the CT Council of Poets Laureate. Learn more at www.pegideitzshea.com; contact: pegideitzshea@gmail.com.
Hartford’s T’Challa Williams will bring her urgent and timely poems to this reading. Williams is a poet, storyteller, actress and community activist. She is Executive Co-Founder of the literary organization Hartford’s L.I.T; Chairperson of Weaver High School’s – School Governance Council; member of the Artists Advisory Committee for the Greater Hartford Arts Council and she sits on the Board of Directors for the Greater Hartford Arts Council. She has several collections including Papers on my floor, The Lover and the Revolutionary and Vehemence. Find out more about her work at https://culturalyst.com/tchalla.
C.C. Arshagra of Cornwall will close out the first section of the afternoon. Activist/poet Arshagra is also a musician and publisher. One of his latest ventures is The Human Room Open Voice, a project that supports and encourages poets in an online open mic forum. In January of this year Arshagra was profiled on Poetry Online Radio. The article states, “Arshagra is an autodidact raised in his grandfather Arshag’s garden. Arshag, an Armenian genocide survivor, taught him profound attitudes of benevolence: no hate, no enemy, no blame and no vengeance… In more recent years, his writing has been complemented by work on websites that serve free speech and humanitarian goals.” He is the author of several collections including Emotional Geography, Poems, and Scared Sacred.
CT resident Tianna Mercier will be the featured open mic reader. Mercier’s book One Woman’s Journey came out in 2021.
This year’s Roseland Park events are made possible in part by donations from Charter Oak FCU, bankHometown, Linemaster Switch, WHZ Strategic Wealth Advisors, Global Partners, The Putnam Area Foundation and Atty. Mark Brouillard.
Contact Poets at Large Coordinator Karen Warinsky @karen.warinsky@gmail.com to be included in the open mic.