5/7 Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series – Week 1

8PM TUESDAY…

The 2019 Hemingway’s Summer Poetry Series
Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. May-July
Hemingway’s Cafe, 3911 Forbes Avenue, Oakland
Founded by Jimmy Cvetic.
Co-hosted by Joan E. Bauer & Kristofer Collins
Open mic after featured readings as time permits.
Listen in: www.hemingwayspoetryseries.blogspot.com

Tuesday, May 7 – Madwomen in the Attic: Introduction by Jan Beatty.
Valerie Bacharach, Doralee Brooks, Daniela Buccilli, Kara Knickerbocker, Jamilla Rice, Bernadette Ulsamer & Sarah Williams-Devereux

Valerie Bacharach’s poetry has appeared in several publications including Pittsburgh Quarterly, US 1 Worksheets, The Tishman Review, Topology Magazine, Poetica, The Ekphrastic Review, and Voices from the Attic. She is a member of Carlow University’s Madwomen in the Attic workshops and conducts weekly poetry workshops at CeCe’s Place, a halfway house for women in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Her first chapbook, Fireweed, was published in August 2018 by Main Street Rag.

Doralee Brooks, a Writing Project Fellow (1995), teaches at the Community College of Allegheny County where she chairs the developmental studies department. Her poems have appeared in Uppagus, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Voices from the Attic, and The Paterson Review. Her chapbook, When Damballah Laughs, was a finalist for the 2016 Coal Hill Review Chapbook Prize. In 2017, her poem, “Trending This Fall,” was published in the anthology Nasty Women and Bad Hombres edited by Deena November and Nina Padolf. She writes with the Madwomen in the Attic poetry workshop.

Daniela Buccilli’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in publications that include Paterson Literary Review, Cimarron Review, Cider Press Review, US 1 Worksheets, and an anthology. She is completing her second MFA, this time in poetry. She has taught at public high schools for 25 years. Her poetry chapbook How Much It Takes To Carry will be published in 2019 by Main Street Rag. She is also working as an editor for Show Us Your Papers: A Poetry Anthology.

Kara Knickerbocker is a writer and world traveler from Saegertown, Pennsylvania and the author of the chapbooks The Shedding Before the Swell and Next to Everything that is Breakable. She is currently earning her MFA at Carlow University/Trinity College Dublin. Her most recent poetry and essays appeared in or are forthcoming from: Longridge Review, Moledro Magazine, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, One Sentence Poems, Uppagus, and the anthology Voices from the Attic, Vol. XXII, among others. Knickerbocker lives in Pittsburgh, where she works at Carnegie Mellon University, writes with the Madwomen in the Attic, and co-curates the MadFridays Reading Series.

Jamilla Rice dreams of when she can own her days and write. Until then, she squeezes out the time between being an athlete, educator, speaker, aunt, gardener, book nerd, baker, and British detective drama junkie. She’s been published in Voices from the Attic, among other anthologies and periodicals. You may have heard her read at Penguin Bookshop, White Whale Books, Delanie’s Coffee House, on WESA’s Prosody, or that random open mic in Toronto.

Bernadette Ulsamer earned an MFA from Carlow University where she is a member of Madwomen in the Attic. She is the author of the chapbook “Trestling” published by Flutter Press. Her poetry has appeared in Pittsburgh City Paper, The Main Street Rag, Cossack Literary Journal, Roar Magazine, The Broken Plate, Meat For Tea: The Valley Review, and has been anthologized in Voices from the Attic, and Along These Rivers.

Sarah Williams-Devereux is a poet and teacher of writing. Her poetry has appeared in Snapdragon: A Journal of Art & Healing, Sampsonia Way Magazine, Pittsburgh City Paper; the anthologies Pittsburgh Love Stories and Nasty Women & Bad Hombres; and WESA-FM’s Prosody. She leads poetry workshops for the Madwomen in the Attic. She is certified in writing group leadership from Amherst Writers & Artists and volunteers for the Transformative Language Arts Network. She is pursuing her MA in teaching writing from Johns Hopkins University.

2/7 Poetry & Music Night to Benefit HIAS @ Irma Freeman Center

7PM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7…

Please bring a donation, suggested $10 – $20.

Join us as we voice our support for HIAS and for refugees, our friends. The event will be filled with the words and songs of 11 poets and musicians Avi Diamond and Angela Autumn – all local to Pittsburgh. The evening will start with a brief introduction by hosts Laura, Valerie, and Deena, as well as by director Leslie Aizenman and volunteer coordinator Andrew Van Treeck of JFCS Immigrant & Refugee Services.

Poets: Celeste Gainey, Phil Terman, Bob Walicki, Ava Anne C. Cipri, Angele Ellis, Marina Lopez, Deena November, and Valerie Bacharach.

Galleries: “Impressions & Found Work” by Irma Freeman (Upper Gallery) and “neshama – paintings & installation” by Laura Rosner (Lower Gallery)

On October 27th, 2018, the tragic mass shooting at Tree of Life *Or L’Simcha Congregation occurred, and 11 precious lives were lost during Shabbat morning services. The perpetrator was in part motivated by the congregation’s philanthropic work to benefit the Hebrew International Aid Society (HIAS), an American-Jewish organization established in 1881 to assist Jewish refugees. HIAS has since expanded its outreach to non-Jewish refugees fleeing conflicts in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Hungary, Iran, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Tunisia, Vietnam, and the successor states to the former Soviet Union. The organization’s goal is to help refugees escape persecution and to resettle in safety.

Lots of love, and hope to share this night with you.

10/11 Poetry Matters @ Shaler North Hills Library

7PM THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11…

Art and Inspiration is excited to be hosting Poetry Matters, a reading by local poets featuring: Robert Walicki, Valerie Bacharach, Daniela Buccilli, and Elisabeth Crago.

Valerie Bacharach’s poetry has appeared in several publications including Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Pittsburgh City Paper, Pittsburgh Quarterly, US 1 Worksheets, The Tishman Review, Topology Magazine, Poetica, VerseWrights, and Voices from the Attic.She is a member of Carlow University’s Madwomen in the Attic workshops and conducts weekly poetry workshops for the women at Power House and CeCe’s Place, halfway houses for women in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Her first chapbook, Fireweed, will be published in 2018 by Main Street Rag. She lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Daniela Buccilli’s poetry has appeared in Paterson Literary Review, Cimarron Review, Cider Press Review, and several other publications, and one anthology. Her degrees include an MFA in fiction and one that she is working on in poetry. She has taught at public high schools for 25 years. Her poetry chapbook How Much It Takes To Carry will be published in 2019 by Main Street Rag.

Elisabeth Crago is a graduate of the MFA program at Carlow University where she studied poetry and completed a creative non-fiction manuscript. Her work has been published in Voices from the Attic, vols 21 and 22 and in Eye to the Telescope. A graduate of Lehman College, CUNY and the University of Michigan, she has undergraduate degrees in English and Nursing and a master’s degree in Nursing. Crago directed the Breast Program at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, PA. She then spent 12 years in New Zealand involved in farming and aquaculture where she also served on the board of a retreat center with a primary focus on women’s spirituality. After relocating to Pittsburgh in 2014, she became a Madwoman. Crago is also a volunteer at the Women in Transition program of the Center for Women and at City of Asylum.

Robert Walicki’s work has appeared in a number of publications including The City Paper, Fourth River, Signal Mountain Review, Red River Review, and others. A Pushcart and a Best of The Net nominee, Robert currently has two chapbooks published: A Room Full of Trees (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2014) and The Almost Sound of Snow Falling (Night Ballet Press), and his next collection, Black Angels is forthcoming from Six Gallery Press.A longtime volunteer at City of Asylum and The Animal Rescue League, Walicki also works as a plumber and lives in Pittsburgh.