Poetry Night featuring local Hudson Valley Artists

200 Main Street,Saugerties NY 12477

16 September, 2022

Description

Fire In Paradise is a collection of poems written by father and daughter during the Pandemic Year 2020. “My father and I started talking about making a split collection of poetry together shortly before the pandemic began. And then he was hospitalized with Covid-19, and we all watched the world change. Together. Separately. It was then that I began to understand how important it was to share our voices in the same collection, to be read together. To not only write with him in the room, but to explicitly invite him in. To make something beautiful out of our conversation. To suffer together. To learn together. To dream of a better world.” —Elizabeth Bayou-Grace (from the Introduction) A History of Place, by Mala Hoffman, is inspired by locations where the author lived prior to landing in New York’s Hudson Valley. It is an exploration of personal history and an examination of where to place those reflections in present day life. We are a compilation of our experiences and while looking back might be unsettling, ultimately it enriches who we are. BIOS: Elizabeth Bayou-Grace studied Creative Writing at Warren Wilson College, where she earned the Larry Levis Creative Writing Award; and then went on to complete an MFA in Creative Writing with a focus in Poetry from Texas State University. She is published widely and is a veteran of the Austin Slam Poetry scene. She now lives in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts with her husband and their beloved cat and dog. Steve Lewis is a former Mentor at SUNY-Empire State College, longtime member of the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute faculty, and longtime freelancer. His work has been published widely, from the notable to the beyond obscure, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, LA Times, Redbook, Commonweal, Ploughshares, Narratively, Spirituality & Health, Road Apple Review, The Rosicrucian Digest, and a biblically long list of parenting publications (7 kids, 16 grandkids). Mala Hoffman is a poet and educator who lives in Gardiner, N.Y. Her work has appeared in the Village Voice, Chronogram, Awosting Alchemy, Literary Gazette and edna , among others. Her poetry collections include Half Moon Over Midnight (Paper Kite Press), A Year of Wednesdays (Finishing Line Press) and Becoming Bubbe (The Poet’s Haven). Her newest collection, A History of Place, was published by Finishing Line Press in January 2022.