Fresh Voices Winners Announced

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And the winners are…

  • COLE ADAMS – Kingswood-Oxford
  • AVERY CHRISTENSEN – Rockville High School
  • KHADIJA HUSSAIN – Wilber Cross High School
  • JOSCELYN NORRIS – Westover
  • KALEIGH PERKINS – Rockville High School 

Fresh Voices finalists read their poetry for a panel of judges on Friday in Hill-Stead’s Makeshift Theater, in front of 60 family members, friends, and supporters.  At the conclusion of the readings, the judges deliberated for some time and revealed the five winners.  “This year’s Fresh Voices submissions were some of the best this competition has seen,” said Executive Director and CEO, and Fresh Voices Judge Susan Ballek. “Congratulations to the Fresh Voices Finalists and Winners and thank you to all the students who participated, and to the teachers and parents who support them.” The Fresh Voices Poetry Competition provides Connecticut high school poets the experience of a lifetime, while offering students the opportunity to write and prepare poems suitable for presentation and publication.

The five winners will participate in a performance workshop with professional poets on May 31st, and their poetry will be published in a chapbook by Antrim House Press.  Winners will also share the podium with Nationally-Recognized Poets Natalie Diaz and Aja Monet on August 19th, reading their own work before a large, receptive audience in the breathtaking Sunken Garden at Hill-Stead Museum!  For more information see CT Young Poet’s Day.

An Eve of Poetry in the Libraries

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Hill-Stead Museum recently hosted Eve of Poetry in the Libraries to kick off the 2015 Live Poets Society appeal, which benefits our beloved Sunken Garden Poetry Festival. This was the very first time Hill-Stead held a benefit event in the historic libraries. About forty lucky guests enjoyed an hour of live jazz, wine, and hors d’oeuvres as they mingled with new and old friends, and toured the museum at their leisure.

Then a very special reading of Hill-Stead’s own poetry collection commenced. The delicate books were handled with care by members of our Poetry Advisory Committee, who served as opening poets for the event.

  • Ciaran Berry, delivered a gentle rendition of Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats.
  • John Stanizzi read from Fir-Flower Tablets (an English translation of Asian poetry) by Amy Lowell (1921).
  • Rennie McQuilkin shared selections from Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Second April (1921).
  • The star of the evening was Sue Ellen Thompson, who shared an intimate reading from her most recent bookThey. The audience was moved to laughter and tears by her personal family stories. Ms. Thompson treated those in attendance to a book signing over coffee and desserts following her reading.

Join Live Poets Society

To join Live Poets Society and to enjoy its many benefits, see our Support the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival Page, or contact Lisa Lappe, Sunken Garden Poetry Festival Manager at lappel@hillstead.org or 860-677-4787 x111; or Susan Orred, Director of Development at orreds@hillstead.org or 860-677-4787 x131.

Thank you Deborah Key Mundair, Morrow Jones, and John Stanizzi for donating their photography and videography services to Eve of Poetry in the Libraries.

CONGRATULATIONS to the Fresh Voices finalists

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CONGRATULATIONS FINALISTS!

Hill-Stead Museum’s Sunken Garden Poetry Festival is thrilled to announce the 2015 Fresh Voices Student Poetry Competition FINALISTS!

  • Cole Adams
  • Kelly Boggan
  • Owen Elphick
  • Michaela Godding
  • Khadija Hussain
  • Avery Christensen
  • Katherine Farnam
  • Rachel Kaufman
  • Courtney Lavalee
  • Ellie Luisi
  • Joscie Norris
  • Kaleigh Perkins
  • Emmy Roday
  • Priya Swyden

THANK YOU to all the students who participated in the competition, and to the teachers and parents who support them.

The Fresh Voices Poetry Competition provides Connecticut high school poets the experience of a lifetime, while offering students the opportunity to write and prepare poems suitable for presentation and publication.

Fresh Voices finalists will read their poetry for a panel of judges on April 24th at 6:00 pm. At the conclusion of the readings, 4 to 6 winners will be announced.

The winners will participate in a performance workshop with professional poets on May 31st, and their poetry will be published in a chapbook by Antrim House Press. Winners will share the podium with nationally-recognized poets Natalie Diaz and Aja Monet on August 19th, reading their own work before a large, receptive audience in the breathtaking Sunken Garden at Hill-Stead Museum!

Please call Kate Ebner at 860.677.4787 x142 for more information.

 

 

An Eve of Poetry in the Libraries

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Eve of PoetryLogoOn April 10 from 5:30-7:30 pm. Hill-Stead Museum’s Live Poets Society will presents an Eve of Poetry in the Libraries, to benefit the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival.  Light food, wine, and a reading and book signing by Sue Ellen Thompson.  $100/person.

For tickets and information, contact LIsa Lappe, lappel@hillstead.org or 860-677-4787, x111 or see Eve of Poetry in our calendar.

Announcing Poets for 2015 Sunken Garden Poetry Festival

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Hill-Stead Museum is thrilled to announce the 2015 line up for its renowned and highly-anticipated Sunken Garden Poetry Festival:

  • Wednesday, June 24 – Ted Kooser, United States Poet Laureate (2004-2006) and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
  • Sunday, July 12 – Marie Howe, 2012-2014 Poet Laureate of New York State
  • Wednesday, July 22 – Vijay Seshadri, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
  • Sunday, August 9 – Li-Young Lee & Tina Chang
  • Wednesday, August 19 – CT Young Poet’s Day – Natalie Diaz & Aja Monet

Schedule 

  • Wednesday: Gates open at 4:30 pm; prelude conversation with headlining poet at 5 pm; opening poet at 6:00 pm; music begins at 6:30 pm; headlining poet begins at 7:15 pm
  • Sunday: Gates open at 2:30 pm; prelude conversation with headlining poet at 3 pm; opening poet at 4:00 pm; music begins at 4:30 pm; headlining poet begins at 5:15 pm

Admission

$12 advanced on-line purchase, $15 at the gate, ages 18 and under free. Parking is free.

Seating

Bring a lawn chair or blanket for seating in and around the garden, or join Hill-Stead’s Live Poets Society to receive premier reserved seating.  To join Live Poets Society, contact Kirsten Fuchs at 860-677-4787, x181, or visit www.hillstead.org.

Food

Al fresco dining is allowed on the grounds.  Festival attendees are welcome to bring their own picnic suppers or purchase food/beverages on site from gourmet food vendors.

Hill-Stead Awarded $50K Grant For Sunken Garden Poetry Festival

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We are thrilled to report that Connecticut Humanities awarded a $50,000 grant to Hill-Stead Museum due to the humanities-rich content of the proposed 2015 Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, which will include poetry writing workshops, interactive Prelude interviews with headlining poets, and opportunities to better-engage the community in poetry and language arts.  Especially of interest to CT Humanities was a shift in dates to allow for increased Festival attendance – a later start-date on June 24, and two weekend performances during the summer.  Connecticut Humanities, a nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, supports cultural and historic organizations that tell the state’s stories, build community and enrich lives.

Inspired to Write!

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student5Thanks to the SBM Charitable Foundation, students from Rockville High School and their Creative Writing Teacher Vicky Nordlund recently toured Hill-Stead Museum while “free-writing” about art with museum educators. After the tour, students gathered in the Makeshift Theater and used their writing to create poems inspired by the museum and its collection.

Hill-Stead Museum’s Maureen O’Brien, who is also a published poet/author and teacher at the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, worked with the students and facilitated group discussions on the art of poetry writing. Ms. O’Brien will visit their school next week, as an outreach to help students finalize their poems.

We look forward to posting some of their poetry and hope that these students will submit their poems to the Fresh Voices Poetry Competition!

Attention High School Students and Teachers

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The deadline for submissions to the Fresh Voices Poetry Competition is fast approaching– Friday, March 27, 2015.   Fresh Voices is an outstanding program that offers high school students and their teachers a chance to work together writing, revising, and preparing poems suitable for publication.

The Fresh Voices Poetry Competition provides Connecticut high school poets the experience of a lifetime; the winners will be invited to participate in a performance workshop with professional poets from the region.  They will also have their work published in a chapbook, and they will share the podium with a great American poet, reading their own work before a large, receptive audience in the breathtaking Sunken Garden at Hill-Stead Museum!

Please call Kate Ebner at 860.677.4787 ext. 142 for entry requirements and more information.