Skip to main content

Student Poets Again Will Shine for Wellspring of Imagination

By
In November, the Wellspring of Imagination program will welcome young poets from across the United States and overseas to gather in Lancaster, Ohio, for a week of reading, writing, and performing poetry. The event culminates in a reading where the students present the poems they’ve polished during the experience.

“In a time where creativity and respect for the imagination take a back seat to proficiency-test driven schools, Wellspring provides an opportunity for young artists to shine,” said Alan Cohen, the event’s organizer and a retired school teacher. Cohen is also the founder and organizer of the annual Hocking Hills Festival of Poetry.

This year marks the eighth consecutive year of this event, where young poets from six states and Norway will work intensively on their poetry for three days under the mentorships of established poet/educators. The student poets include two city youth poet laureates and one youth state poet laureate. This year’s teachers are Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer (Colorado), Jon Lee (Massachusetts) and Valencia Robin (Virginia). After working with the students, the teachers will mentor them during the next calendar year, one of the major strengths of Wellspring.

The final poetry performance is free and open to the public and will take place on November 16, 2019, at 7 P.M. at Alley Park, 2805 Old Logan Rd SE, Lancaster, OH 43130. The teachers will also share their work. Admission is free thanks to a grant from the Ohio Arts Council and generous donations from the poetry community.

More information is available at ravensunpoetry.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/RavensunPoetryEvents.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CREATING POETRY CHAPBOOKS

By
Adapted from a workshop delivered for the AOCI W.R.I.T.E.R.S. Group by Chris Minton What is a chapbook? Chapbooks were originally known as "street literature" because they were primarily sold on the streets by traveling salesmen known as chapmen. These small, inexpensive booklets contained a variety of content like ballads, folk tales, and religious tracts, and were a popular form of reading material for the common people, particularly those with limited access to more expensive books (for example, in rural areas). Today, chapbooks are normally used by poets to accomplish a specific objective, which may include: To create a sample of their work for publishers or other parties To target a specific, interested audience To get their work into circulation quickly To make it more affordable (for both the author and reader) To create enough work over time to warrant a full-length collection To demonstrate their commitment to the craft To give as gifts to family and friends Features of...
Post a Comment
Read more

Odes of October 2024 Contest Winners Announced

By
OPA is pleased to announce that our judge for 2024, Karen Scott, has chosen the three winners and three runners-up for the 2024 Odes of October contest. First prize is awarded for "Restless Peace," by Jo Anne Moser Gibbons. First prize includes an award of $65 and inclusion in the 2025 issue of Common Threads, as well being published below. Second prize goes to "Scarecrow," by Dr. Anna Cates. This prize includes an award of $25 and appears below. Third prize goes to "Fall," also by Jo Anne Moser Gibbons. This prize includes an award of $10 and appears below. Honorable mention poems were: "Rite of Passage," by Claire Scott Rubin "Alone in Silence," by Jonathan Smith "Assassination Attempt Haiku," by Susan Glassmeyer Karen said she found her task made more difficult by the high quality of submissions, so each participant should be congratulated for their work. We thank them for participating and being a member of the OPA. A spe...
Post a Comment
Read more

OPA Ambassadors Report: NE Ohio with Ray McNiece

By
From the frozen tundra of the Firelands, through the rusty blast furnace of Cleveland, along the Crooked River’s ice chattering shallows of Kent, down to the worn rubber slushy tire churn of Akron, to the gritty grey clang of Youngstown there’s hot stove poetry cooking this winter all across the Northeast corner of Ohio. We boast a plethora of venues from bookstores, libraries, coffeehouses, cocktail bars and clubs where you can hear the varied carols of our poets should you dare venture out into our perpetually grey climes. Here’s a few highlights, some upcoming features and a reminder of ongoing workshops and reading series. In early December Billy Collins read at CWRU’s Maltz Center to a packed house. He often visits Cleveland thanks to George Bilgere of JCU. John Burroughs had a front row seat. The Tongue in Groove Poetry Music Jam (every third Sunday at the Millard Fillmore on Waterloo hosted by Ray McNiece) featured Mwatabu Okantah reading from his new book A Black Voice in t...
Post a Comment
Read more