01/09/2010 3:15 pm
01/09/2010 5:30 pm
Sunday, January 9, 2011, 3:15 to 5:30 p.m.
Manayunk/Roxborough Art Center (M/RAC), 419 Green Lane (rear)
This program will include: Mel Brake, Joseph Cilluffo, Anna Evans, B.E. Kahn, Jim Mancinelli, and Emiliano Martin.
The poets represent many different cultures-in this reading, African-American, Italian, British, Jewish, and Spanish-and while their experiences either as immigrants or the children of immigrants are similar, the expressions of their feelings are unique and individual, and their approaches to the writing of poetry, varied and powerful. In some cases, poetry will be read in translation together with the English. Rosemary Cappello, Editor of Philadelphia Poets, will serve as emcee.
Mel Brake is an award-winning Philadelphia-based poet/singer/songwriter whose poetry has appeared in a number of media outlets and journals. He is the Founder and Executive Director of MPW Foundation, a non-profit organization that focuses on using the arts to reach children in the Tri-state area. Recently, he was featured on CNN World News.
Joseph Cilluffo's most recent poems address the experience of dealing with cancer. Although not every poem is literally about cancer, they all involve the feelings he and his family experienced facing the disease. Three of his poems will be published in the upcoming 2011 edition of Philadelphia Poets.
Anna Evans' poems have appeared in the Harvard Review, the Atlanta Review, Rattle, and 32 Poems. She has been nominated seven times for a Pushcart Prize and was a finalist for both the 2005 and 2007 Howard Nemerov sonnet award, and for the 2007 Willis Barnstone Translation Award. She is Editor of The Raintown Review and of the formal poetry e-zine Barefoot Muse. She was recently accredited by the New Jersey State Council for the Arts to work as a teaching poet in NJ schools.
B.E. Kahn is a grant recipient of both the PA Council of the Arts and the Pew Fellowships. Her poems have appeared in Harrisburg Review, Bridges: A Jewish Feminist Journal, Schuylkill Valley Journal and others. A retired speech therapist, she teaches poetry to intergenerational, interfaith groups. She is the author of two chapbooks, Spring Apples Silver Birch and Landscapes of Light.
Jim Mancinelli's work rests on the earth, but is informed by the heavens and the voices of his heritage. His work has appeared in the Mad Poets Review, the Fox Chase Review, the Schuylkill Valley Journal of the Arts, and Prompted. Jim hopes to see his series of ekphrastic poems guided by the work of Dali come to life someday. He teaches at La Salle University in Philadelphia.
Spanish-born Emiliano Martin is the founder and past director of the Philadelphia Poetry Forum; also former president of Latin American Guild for the Arts. He has published many poems in his native language as well as several chapbooks in the English language. Emiliano has read poetry at a variety of venues, including radio and television. His latest book is a bilingual collection, titled 511 Aphorisms of My Humor, published in 2010.
Peter Krok, Humanities Director at M/RAC, is the coordinator of the Reading Series, which started in the Fall of 1990. There is a $4 donation and, of course, refreshments are provided. For information about the program, call the M/RAC at 215-482-3363.
