Monday, March 6, 2017

The Altadena Library Hosts the Annual ‘Poetry and Cookies’ Event

Five of the six Pushcart Nominees from Altadena Poetry Review 2016 are shown at the awards celebration held February 3 at Altadena Library. (L-R: Alice Pero, GT Foster, Karineh Mahdesian, Jack Bowman, Sharon Rizk. Teresa Mei Chuc could not attend). The Pushcart nominees are selected from small presses across the country. It is an honor to be nominated.

It’s Poetry & Cookies Time at Altadena Library!

Saturday, April 29 is the big day! Mark your calendars for 1:00 p.m. when the Poetry and Cookies event returns to Altadena Library. As Library Director Mindy Kittay puts it, “This program is a much beloved by the community and another example of how libraries change lives by providing the tools, access and experiences that help each and every one of us reach our full potential.”

This year’s event will be one of the largest gathering of poets in our community for a major reading and will include many of the over 100 poets who were recently published in the brand-new Altadena Poetry Review: Anthology 2017, which will be formally released to the public that day. The poets include 6 poet laureates, authors of a combined over 160 published books, over 14 Pushcart Prize Nominees, many national and international literary award winners, plus exciting new emerging poets. Free to the Public with Free Refreshments, Cookies, mingling with the poets, books to browse and buy, photo ops, etc.

Founded by Principal Librarian Pauli Dutton in 2003, the purpose of the original Poetry and Cookies Anthology and reading event was to provide new poets from Altadena and the surrounding communities an opportunity to have their work published and read their poetry in public.

Elline Lipkin, Poet Laureate for the Altadena Library, 2016 – 2018, spearheads this year’s edition. Eight volunteer poets, including Dutton, have helped with the selection of these poems. Of the hundreds of poets who submitted their work, one hundred were chosen. The poets are multi-culturally diverse, and the 160 poems in the book represent a broad variety of styles: traditional, unrhymed, short, long, humorous, poignant, political, inspirational, experimental, and, “everything in between.”

From the beginning, the Friends of the Altadena Library have provided seed money to publish the anthology and to supply cookies and encouragement at the public reading event in which the published poets read their work. This year the organization has made a significant donation to help defray the cost of publishing the anthology which will enable the publication to continue.

You don’t have to be a poetry lover to find joy and inspiration on April 30 at Altadena Main Library. Just sit back and enjoy. Everyone is welcome!

Altadena Library is located at 600 East Mariposa St., Altadena.

For more information, call (626) 798-0833 or visit the library online at www.AltadenaLibrary.org.