New Jersey Poetry Out Loud

The Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Competition is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. The competition begins at the classroom level, with winners advancing to schoolwide, and then regional and statewide contests. The New Jersey winner will recite three poems at the national finals in Washington, D.C., in April and May, where substantial scholarships and school prizes will be awarded. Our residencies in NJ high schools are part of a statewide effort administered by Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey. Any New Jersey public or private high school can participate in Poetry Out Loud. To find out more about the NJ program, visit the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Poetry Out Loud pages on Discover Jersey Arts. For more information on the national program, see the Poetry Out Loud web site, at http://www.poetryoutloud.org/.

Between us, we worked with students and teachers at four schools: Madison High School (Penny), Piscataway High School (Bill), Absegami High School (Penny and Bill), and Teaneck High School (Bill and Penny). Students from these and more than two dozen other New Jersey high schools will compete in one of three regional New Jersey POL contests, and regional winners will compete in the New Jersey State Poetry Out Loud Contest (in date order):

Region II POL Contest (Monmouth, Mercer, Middlesex, and Ocean Counties, 10 schools)

February 21st, Strand Theatre, Lakewood, NJ, where Penny will be one of the judges.

Region III POL Contest (Bergen, Hudson, Union, Essex, Morris, and Sussex Counties, 15 schools)

February 26th, Bickford Theatre at The Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ.

Region I POL Contest (Atlantic, Gloucester, Cumberland, and Camden Counties, 9 schools)

March 1st, Dante Hall, Atlantic City, NJ.

New Jersey State Poetry Out Loud Contest—featuring finalists from the regional contests

March 22nd, New Jersey Network Studios, Trenton, NJ.

For more information, contact Robin Middleman of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, at 609-984-6815.

Friday, April 20, 2007
Yonkers High School, Yonkers, New York

International Baccalaureate Programme Presents
"Bashô and The Narrow Road"
Interactive Talk and Workshop with
William J. Higginson & Penny Harter

Bill will lead students in the International Baccalaureate Programme in a discussion of Japan's foremost poet, Matsuo Bashô (1644–1694), and the poetics of his masterwork, The Narrow Road to the Interior. The presentation will conclude with a writing workshop led by Bill and Penny, with students creating their own haibun, or brief personal essays with haiku. The event is coordinated by Elaine Dash.

The Library
Sussex County Community College
One College Hill Road
Newton, NJ

Click here for directions to the college. On campus, park in the upper lot. The library is the circular building slightly down the hill with a walkway extending from the parking lot to the building. The reading is downstairs, on the 2nd floor. (Note: The picture above shows the building from the other side.)

Friday, February 16, 2007, 7:00–9:00 pm
Betty June Silconas Poetry Center
Sussex County Community College, Newton

Idiom Reading Series Presents
Penny Harter, William J. Higginson, and John Chorazy

Penny will be reading from her recent chapbook, Along River Road, and from her forthcoming collection, The Night Marsh, as well as selections from her books Lizard Light and Buried in the Sky. (See sample poems from Penny's Along River Road on this web site. Bill will read from his latest collection of translations from Japanese—the electronic book Butterfly Dreams—and from his new chapbook, Surfing on Magma. John's most recent book, Walking Through My Father's Garden, won the 2006 Chapbook Competition of the English Department of the William Paterson University, and is listed here.)

The Idiom Reading Series is coordinated by Priscilla Orr.

Sunday, March 4th, 2-4 p.m.
Princeton University Store
36 University Place, Princeton

U.S. 1 Worksheets Publication Party
Featuring Penny Harter, William J. Higginson, and Cast of Thousands

Poets included in Volume 52 of U.S 1 Worksheets will be reading the poems which appear in this issue. Copies of the journal will be available for sale. Refreshments. Free.

Enjoy the view of the campus from the third floor for the last time. The UStore has plans to turn the space into offices.

Click here for the Princeton Poets' Cooperative and U.S. 1 Worksheets web site.

Want to join the crowd? Get directions to Espresso Joe's. Click on the image above to go to Espresso Joe's web site.

Sunday, March 25, 2007, 3:00 p.m.
Espresso Joe's, 50 West Front St., Keyport, NJ
No Cover Charge

Traveling Poets Society features
Penny Harter and William J. Higginson, and Music by Sheli Arden and Michael Brett

Come enjoy a cappuccino, latte, or other beverages and hear Penny and Bill read from their works, along with music and song by Sheli Arden and Michael Brett. Also, a number of our books will be available for purchase. Reading coordinated by Reena Heenan.

Saturday, April 28, 2007, 1-2 p.m.
Annual Cherry Blossom Festival, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens

Haiku Reading by Members of the Haiku Society of America, including William J. Higginson, Penny Harter, Cor van den Heuvel, Carl Patrick, and Bruce Kennedy at the Alfred T. White Memorial

A hundred or more people came to the White Memorial on Saturday to enjoy haiku poets from the New York metropolitan area read their works, emceed by Bill and Penny on behalf of the Haiku Society of America. (Note: A similar reading on Sunday was hosted by Pamela Miller Ness and Stanford Forrester, with other members of the HSA reading.) Books by the poets were available for sale after the readings.