VALENTINE’S DAY POETRY READING FROM ST. JOHNSBURY ATHENÆUM

Love-Themed Event via Zoom on February 14, 2021 @ 4pm

St. Johnsbury, VT — For the sixth time, the Northeast Storytellers host a special event in honor of the patron saint for lovers via Zoom on Sunday, February 14, 2021 from 4-5:15 pm. In association with the St. Johnsbury Athenæum, group members and guests will participate online via Zoom, sharing love-themed readings. An award for the best love poem reading will be presented, if possible, as determined by audience appreciation.

Readers this year include: Geof Hewitt, Jimmy Pappas, Marta Finch, Marshall Witten, Judy Janoo, S. J. Cahill, James Frase-White, and Jim Barrett. Rachel Hadas and Shalom Gorewitz will participate from New York City.

This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome to attend online. Please see the related event page in the adult events listings at the Athenæum website to register for the Zoom meeting. To participate in the reading, please contact Brooke Quillen (brookequillen@yahoo.com or 802.751.5432) to see if any slots may have opened up.

The Athenaeum hosts a number of artistic, cultural, and educational events for the public throughout the year.

CONTACT:

Adele West-Fisher

Phone: 802-745-1392

E-mail: awestfisher@stjathenaeum.org

Northeast Storytellers Host Fifth-Annual “Remembering Robert Frost” April 9 @ St. Johnsbury House

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

2019 NATIONAL POETRY MONTH EVENTS IN NORTHEAST KINGDOM

St. Johnsbury, VT - March 17, 2019 — For the fifth year running the Northeast Storytellers host a Robert Frost remembrance on Tuesday, April 9th from 2-3:30 pm in place of the regular monthly Poetry Tea Party. The “Remembering Robert Frost” special gathering will be dedicated to the memory, poetic works, and legacy of the famed longtime Vermont resident and poet laureate.

The memorial event will take place at the St. Johnsbury House located at 1207 Main Street in St. Johnsbury as part of a Good Living Senior Center program. Members of the public, residents of the St. Johnsbury House, and Northeast Storytellers will share readings, reflections, history, anecdotes, and experiences they’ve had with Robert Frost, his works, and his legacy. Everyone is invited to participate. The event is hosted by the Northeast Storytellers, and refreshments will be served.

One of the most popular and critically acclaimed American poets of the twentieth century, Robert Lee Frost – who was born March 26, 1874, and died January 29, 1963 – received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. And he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 for his poetic works. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life in New England in the early twentieth century. Frost never graduated from a university, but he received 44 honorary degrees during his lifetime.

Robert Frost was named poet laureate of Vermont in 1961 after living, writing, and teaching in the Green Mountain State for many years. The Robert Frost Farm in Ripton, where he lived and wrote in the summer and fall months from 1939 until his death, is a National Historic Landmark. He wrote "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", one of his most popular poems, in June 1922 at his home in Shaftsbury — which now operates as the Robert Frost Stone House Museum. The poet was laid to rest in the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington. His gravestone carries the inscription: "I HAD A LOVER'S QUARREL WITH THE WORLD."

Other noted works by Robert Frost include “The Death of a Hired Man", "Mending Wall", and "The Road Not Taken". At 87 he recited his poem “The Gift Outright” from memory at the 1961 inauguration of John F. Kennedy, when faint ink from his typewriter made the poem he'd written for the occasion unreadable.

The Northeast Storytellers — a group of writers, readers, and appreciators of prose and verse — meet regularly the second Tuesday of every month from 2-3:30 pm for a Poetry Tea Party at the St. Johnsbury House as a part of programs offered through the Good Living Senior Center. The public is welcome to attend if only to listen, and new members are always encouraged to join. The group organizes events during National Poetry Month every April, participating in other activities throughout the year.

National Poetry Month was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996 and is held every April throughout the country. It is the largest literary celebration in the world — with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry’s vital role in our lives.

Formerly a noted hotel, the elegantly refurbished St. Johnsbury House is now a residential facility for those 55 and over — conveniently located on Main Street close to the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum and Fairbanks Museum. The Good Living Senior Center programs and activities, managed by Vanna Guldenschuh, enrich the lives of folks over 50 from around the Northeast Kingdom. They offer public lunches Monday through Friday in the former hotel dining room.

All Northeast Storyteller events are free and open to the public. Everybody is welcome to attend and participation is strongly encouraged. For more information, please email brookequillen@yahoo.com or call 802.751.5432.

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Contact: Brooke Quillen
Phone: 802-751-5432
E-mail: brookequillen@yahoo.com

SEE ALSO:
http://www.robertfrostsociety.org/ The Robert Frost Society
http://www.poets.org/national-poetry-month/home National Poetry Month
http://www.stjgoodliving.org/ Good Living Senior Center

RELEASE: Annual Valentine's Reading at St. Johnsbury Athenaeum 2.10.18 @ 1pm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

A VALENTINE POETRY READING AT ST. JOHNSBURY ATHENÆUM

Love-Themed Event to be Held February 10, 2018 in Art Gallery @ 1pm

St. Johnsbury, VT — For the fourth year running Northeast Storytellers host a special event in honor of the patron saint for lovers in St. Johnsbury, Vermont on Saturday,  February 10, 2018 — from 1-2:30pm — in association with the St. Johnsbury Athenæum. Group members and guests will appear in the world-famous Gallery sharing their love-themed readings. An award for the best love poem reading will be presented.

Valentine's Day falls on the following Wednesday this year. Also called Saint Valentine's Day, this annual celebration honoring Love began in the 14th century — when the tradition of courtly love flourished. The day evolved in 18th-century Victorian England into an occasion to express love with flowers, chocolate, or greeting cards known as "Valentines".

This event is free and open to the public. All are welcome to attend and participate, and delectable refreshments will be served. To participate in the reading, please show up a little before the event for sign-up. For more information please contact Brooke Quillen via brookequillen@yahoo.com or 802.751.5432.

The Northeast Storytellers — a group of writers, readers, and appreciators of prose and verse — meet regularly the second Tuesday of every month from 2-3:30pm for a Poetry Tea Party at the Good Living Senior Center in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The public is welcome to attend, if only to listen, and new members are always encouraged to join. The group organizes events during National Poetry Month every April — ranging from workshops to commemorations to open houses — and it participates in other activities throughout the year.

The St. Johnsbury Athenæum is a non-profit public library and art gallery located at 1171 Main Street in St. Johnsbury. It was founded as a culture center by the Fairbanks family whose scale manufacturing company contributed to the growth of the town. The Athenaeum hosts a number of artistic, cultural, and educational events.

Constructed in the French Second Empire style in 1871, the Athenæum was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996. A small art gallery was added in 1873, and the collection of paintings and sculptures now numbers over one hundred. Most are originals with some copies of masterpieces by Old Master artists such as Van Dyck, Raphael, Rembrandt, and Fra Angelico. Dominating the gallery is the magnificent "Domes of the Yosemite" framed oil painting by Albert Bierstadt (currently out for refurbishment).

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CONTACTS:

Brooke Quillen
Phone: 802-751-5432
E-mail: brookequillen@yahoo.com

Shara McCaffrey
Phone: 802.748.8291
E-mail: smccaffrey@stjathenaeum.org

SEE ALSO:
http://www.stjathenaeum.org/ St. Johnsbury Athenaeum
http://www.stjgoodliving.org/ Good Living Senior Center
http://www.poetrysocietyofvermont.org/ Poetry Society of Vermont
https://www.poets.org/national-poetry-month/home National Poetry Month

RELEASE: Northeast Storytellers Host “Remembering Robert Frost” on April 11

A young Robert Frost at work

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

2017 NATIONAL POETRY MONTH EVENTS

Northeast Storytellers Host “Remembering Robert Frost” April 11

St. Johnsbury, VT - March 15, 2017 — For the third year running, the Northeast Storytellers host a Robert Frost remembrance on Tuesday, April 11th from 2-3:30 pm in place of the regular monthly Poetry Tea Party. The “Remembering Robert Frost” special gathering will be dedicated to the memory, poetic works, and legacy of the longtime Vermont resident and poet laureate.

The memorial event will take place at the St. Johnsbury House located at 1207 Main Street in St. Johnsbury as part of a Good Living Senior Center program. Members of the public, residents of the St. Johnsbury House, and Northeast Storytellers and will share readings, reflections, history, anecdotes, and experiences they’ve had with Robert Frost, his works, and his legacy. The event is hosted by the Northeast Storytellers and emceed by group founder Brooke Cullen.

One of the most popular and critically acclaimed American poets of the twentieth century, Robert Lee Frost (1874 – 1963) received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry and was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 for his poetic works. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, and using such settings to examine complex social and philosophical themes. Though Frost never graduated from a university, he received 44 honorary degrees during his lifetime.

Robert Frost was named poet laureate of Vermont in 1961 after living, writing, and teaching in the Green Mountain State for many years. The Robert Frost Farm in Ripton, where he lived and wrote in the summer and fall months from 1939 until his death, is a National Historic Landmark. He wrote one of his most popular poems, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", in June 1922 at his home in Shaftsbury — which now operates as the Robert Frost Museum. The poet was laid to rest in the Old Bennington Cemetery in Bennington. His gravestone carries the inscription: "I HAD A LOVER'S QUARREL WITH THE WORLD."

Other noted works by Robert Frost include “The Death of a Hired Man", "Mending Wall", and "The Road Not Taken". At 87 he recited his poem “The Gift Outright” from memory at the 1961 inauguration of John F. Kennedy, when faint ink from his typewriter made the poem he'd written for the occasion unreadable.

The Northeast Storytellers — a group of writers, readers, and appreciators of prose and verse — meet regularly the second Tuesday of every month from 2-3:30pm for a Poetry Tea Party at the Good Living Senior Center in St. Johnsbury. The public is welcome to attend, if only to listen, and new members are always encouraged to join. The group organizes events during National Poetry Month every April — ranging from workshops to commemorations to open houses — as well as participating in other activities throughout the year.

National Poetry Month was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996 and is held every April throughout the country. It is the largest literary celebration in the world — with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry’s vital role in our lives.

Formerly a noted hotel, the St. Johnsbury House is now a residential facility for those 55 and over. It offers public lunches Monday through Friday in the former hotel dining room. Conveniently located in the elegantly refurbished St. Johnsbury House on Main Street, close to the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum and Fairbanks Museum, The Good Living Senior Center programs and activities, are managed by Vanna Guldenschuh, enrich the lives of folks over 50 from around the Northeast Kingdom.

All Northeast Storyteller events are free and open to the public. Everybody is welcome to attend. For more information, or to participate, please email brookequillen@yahoo.com or call 802.751.5432.

###

Contact: Brooke Quillen

Phone: 802-751-5432

E-mail: brookequillen@yahoo.com

SEE ALSO:

http://www.robertfrostsociety.org/ The Robert Frost Society

http://www.poets.org/national-poetry-month/home National Poetry Month

http://www.stjgoodliving.org/ Good Living Senior Center

LATEST: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dsIgKRp4P0RJXniM8r61MNfv9HhDiC7RET7387kF9YE/edit?usp=sharing

Northeast Storytellers Events for National Poetry Month: April 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

2015 NATIONAL POETRY MONTH EVENTS: ST. JOHNSBURY, VERMONT
Northeast Storytellers Host Open House and Other Writing Events

St. Johnsbury, VT - March 16, 2015—Northeast Storytellers host an open house with brief presentations and mini-workshops (April 4), a haiku workshop (April 12), a Robert Frost remembrance (April 14), and a reading of maple-related verse and prose (April 25) as part of National Poetry Month activities in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

Group Open House: On Saturday, April 4 from noon to 1:30pm at Catamount Arts the Northeast Storytellers regular monthly meeting will be converted to a group open house. Brief instructional presentations on poetry-writing by group members will be followed by mini-breakout sessions to apply them. Members of the group will layout various forms and techniques of writing poetry, sharing aspects of their individual knowledge and expertise. Following a break, mini-workshops will offer hands-on learning of the topics presented. Free refreshments will be served. All are welcome to stop in to learn something about poetry, practice writing it, and meet fellow area writers.

Haiku Workshop: On Sunday, April 12 from 2 to 4pm, the Northeast Storytellers will host a workshop on writing the Japanese style of poetry known as haiku—designed to take participants from a study of classic haiku, and its underlying structural dynamics, to writing their own originals. Workshop leader Judy Hishikawa, Northeast Storytellers’ haiku poet, lived and taught language in Japan. Her chapbooks will be available. The workshop will be held in the Burke Community Center located at 212 School Street in West Burke, Vermont.

“Remembering Robert Frost”: On Tuesday, April 14 from 2 to 3pm the regular Poetry Tea Party will be a special gathering dedicated to the memory and poetic works of longtime Vermont poet laureate Robert Frost. Residents of the Good Living Senior Center, members of the public, and members of the Northeast Storytellers will share readings, biographical sketches, anecdotes, scrapbook items, and experiences they’ve had learning from this great poet. This gathering will take place at the Good Living Senior Center (formerly St. Johnsbury House) located at 1207 Main Street in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

Maple Poems and Stories: On Saturday April 25 from 1:30 to 3:00pm, during the 2015 St. Johnsbury World Maple Festival, readings of maple-related prose and verse will be hosted by the Northeast Storytellers and emceed by group founder Brooke Cullen. Those who wish to read at this event should contact her by March 23rd via brookequillen@yahoo.com or on 802.751.5432. This event will take place at the Boxcar & Caboose Bookshop Cafe at 394 Railroad Street in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

All events are free and open to the public and all are welcome to attend. Individual flyers for each event will be posted at host sites and circulated prior to. For more information, or to participate, please email brookequillen@yahoo.com or call 802.751.5432.

National Poetry Month events hosted by Northeast Storytellers are meant to complement those organized by the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce in coordination with Catamount Arts and the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum. Northeast Storytellers and its individual members have regularly—and enthusiastically—participated in past events organized by these art support groups.

National Poetry Month was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996 and is held every April throughout the country. It is the largest literary celebration in the world—with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry’s vital role in our lives. Poetry events taking place nationwide may be followed on Twitter at @POETSorg or through hashtag #npm15.

The Northeast Storytellers—a group of writers, readers, and appreciators of prose and verse—meet regularly the first Saturday of every month from 11:30am to 2:00pm at Catamount Arts in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. The public is welcome to attend and new members are always encouraged to join.

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Contact: Brooke Quillen
Phone: 802-751-5432
E-mail: brookequillen@yahoo.com

SEE ALSO:
https://www.facebook.com/StJohnsburyChamber St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce
http://www.catamountarts.org/ Catamount Film & Arts Center
http://www.stjathenaeum.org/ St. Johnsbury Athenaeum
http://www.stjgoodliving.org/ Good Living Senior Center
http://boxcarandcaboose.com/ Boxcar & Caboose Bookshop Cafe
http://www.poets.org/national-poetry-month/home National Poetry Month
http://www.burkevermont.org/ Town of Burke, Vermont
http://www.worldmaplefestival.org/ 2015 St. Johnsbury World Maple Festival