All in Poetry & Literature

CavanKerry Press Broadens the Reach of Poetry and the Experiences of a Diverse Group of Authors

CavanKerry Press Broadens the Reach of Poetry and the Experiences of a Diverse Group of Authors

Carolyn M. Brown
Article, Poetry & Literature

Making sensitive or inconvertible topics more palatable to the general public is a big part of the mission of Fort Lee, New Jersey-based CavanKerry Press. As a not-for-profit literary press serving art and the community, CavanKerry is committed to expanding the reach of poetry by publishing works that explore the emotional and psychological landscapes of everyday life and bringing that art to underserved populations.

Along with the late Florenz Eisman, Handler founded CavanKerry in 2000 with the aim to demystify poetry with its first book, “A Day This Lit,” by Howard Levy. Since then, CavanKerry has published more than 100 books.

The 43rd Annual New Jersey Governor’s Awards in Arts Education To Honor Over 100 NJ Students and Educators

The 43rd Annual New Jersey Governor’s Awards in Arts Education To Honor Over 100 NJ Students and Educators

Carolyn M. Brown
Article, Festivals, Dance, Film, Music, Theater, Poetry & Literature, Kids & Family

Over 100 students and arts educators will receive the state’s most prestigious award in arts education at the 43rd Annual New Jersey Governor’s Awards in Arts Education celebration June 2 and will be livestreamed via YouTube, Facebook, and the Governor’s Awards website at www.njgaae.org. This event is free and open to the public.

Over the past four decades, the Governor’s Awards has highlighted New Jersey’s most talented youth. Students of artistic disciplines as varied as dance, music, poetry, visual arts, speech, debate and theater have walked across the awards stage to receive their medal.

This year, the annual Governor’s Awards ceremony will be held as the culminating event of the inaugural Arts Ed NJ Day which will also feature the first-ever Gathering Ground Arts Education Call to Collaboration (C2C), networking opportunities, award-winning performances on various stages, an interactive photo booth, alumni guest speakers, pop-up advocacy activities, Live Red Carpet Countdown to the Awards, and a statewide student visual arts exhibit.

The C2C will bring together over 250 educators, nonprofits leaders, artists, teaching artists, school board members, parents, students, businesspeople and legislators.

Newark Artists and Prominent Actors to Celebrate Literary Legacy of Philip Roth During Weekend-Long Festival

Newark Artists and Prominent Actors to Celebrate Literary Legacy of Philip Roth During Weekend-Long Festival

Carolyn M. Brown
Article, Poetry & Literature, Comedy & Variety, Theater

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in collaboration with the Newark Public Library will present Philip Roth Unbound, a weekend-long festival that celebrates the life, legacy and work of novelist and Newark native. Over the course of three days, beginning Friday, March 17 and concluding Sunday, March 19, 2023, NJPAC will host a series of events, featuring more than 40 prominent writers, actors, artists, journalists and intellectuals in the nation. Designed to appeal to audiences of all backgrounds, the festival will feature star-studded stage readings, panel discussions and a comedy showcase. The program is designed to explore the significance and impact of Roth’s unique literary legacy, using his writings as a springboard to explore broader questions about life in America today.

NJPAC’s Kwanzaa Festival Celebrates Unity and Culture With Arts and New Community Partners

NJPAC’s Kwanzaa Festival Celebrates Unity and Culture With Arts and New Community Partners

Laurie Granieri
Article, Festivals, Dance, Music, Visual Arts, Poetry & Literature

When Newark’s New Jersey Performing Arts Center opens its doors on Dec. 17 for the annual Kwanzaa Festival and Marketplace, the gathering will mark a kind of homecoming.

The free event, at the heart of NJPAC’s community programming for more than a decade, will take place in person for the first time since 2019. This is also the first time that NJPAC will partner with several of its neighbors to present the festival, including The Newark Museum of Art, Newark Arts, Newark Symphony Hall and the Newark Public Library, as well as the City of Newark.

The festival, running from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., will feature performances by step teams and a marching band, a wide variety of art and craft activities for children and families, storytelling, face painting, Adinkra-stamping, drumming, and dance classes, as well as the traditional lighting of the Kinara, or the candelabra.

Hip Hop Icons Chuck D, Rakim and Speech to Perform With Jazz Great Christian McBride at the 11th Annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival

Hip Hop Icons Chuck D, Rakim and Speech to Perform With Jazz Great Christian McBride at the 11th Annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival

Carolyn M. Brown
Article, Music, Festivals, Poetry & Literature

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) welcomes the 11th Annual TD James Moody Jazz Festival Nov. 8 – 20, 2022. This year’s program offers events combining jazz luminaries with artists known for R&B, poetry, hip hop, tap, and so much more.

Performers include Chuck D (Public Enemy), Rakim (Paid in Full), and Speech (Arrested Development), poets and spoken word artists Nikki Giovanni, Jessica Care Moore, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, and The Last Poets, musicians bassist Christian McBride, saxophonist Javon Jackson, trumpeter John Faddis, and the Maria Schneider Orchestra, singers Fantasia and Jazzmeia Horn, and a joint performance by vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater and tap artist Savion Glover.

Also featured are the future of jazz — young poets from NJPAC’s City Verses program, the New Jersey Music Educators Association (NJMEA) All-State Jazz Band and NJMEA All-State Jazz Choir, and competitors in the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition.

The festival’s namesake, James Moody, was a legendary saxophonist and flutist who was born in Savannah, Georgia, but raised in Newark.

“Jazz is the purest form of expression for an African American musician,” says McBride, NJPAC’s jazz advisor and the festival’s musical director. “The purest thing you can do inside of your culture is to be a jazz musician. With all the educational outreach that has been happening at NJPAC, that legacy is not just being preserved but built upon.”

Princeton’s New Director of Creative Writing Continues the Tradition of Inspiring Generations of Writers

Princeton’s New Director of Creative Writing Continues the Tradition of Inspiring Generations of Writers

Ilene Dube
Article, Poetry & Literature

Writer Yiyun Li knows that the world we live in can be a painful place.

Through her physicist father in Beijing, she learned stoicism, yet her novels and stories are filled with feeling. “I feel more responsible for my characters than for how I feel,” she says.

After receiving her first master’s degree in immunology, she earned a second master’s in creative writing from the acclaimed Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. Li says she creates characters to make sense of her observations of people.

Her first story was published in The New Yorker and her honors, to date, include a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a Windham Campbell Prize, the 2021 Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the PEN/Hemingway Award.

Recently, Li became director of the creative writing program at Princeton University in which she has taught since 2017, and in September, her 10th book will be published.

By creating characters, the "MacArthur Genius" seeks to make sense of it all.

Two Exhibitions Cross the Lines Between Art, Craft and Poetry

Two Exhibitions Cross the Lines Between Art, Craft and Poetry

Ilene Dube
Visual Arts, Article, Poetry & Literature

Two exhibitions at the Hunterdon Art Museum, Rina Banerjee: Blemish, In Deep Pink Everyplace Begins and Maxwell Mustardo: Dish-Oriented, on view through Sept. 4, cross the lines between art, craft and poetry.

The titles of Banerjee’s works, whether paintings or sculptures, read like poems. Mustardo’s works, all vessels, are nonfunctional.

Banerjee’s words talk about the content and perspective of her works of women and women’s identity in post-colonial, urban surroundings.

Mustardo, who has been conducting rigorous material research with plastics and glasses for the past few years, has created works of iridescent colors and textured surfaces that are unique to him.

One will find that the art speaks to the times — at the intersection of craft and fine art.

Monmouth University Presents a True Beatnik Night Of Poetry, Jazz and “Harp” Beats

Monmouth University Presents a True Beatnik Night Of Poetry, Jazz and “Harp” Beats

Gary Wien
Music, Article, Poetry & Literature

Poetry and music go together, but rarely do you have a chance to experience a beatnik night like Monmouth University’s Center for the Arts has planned for July 9 in the Pollak Theatre. The evening’s lineup mixes a local legend, up-and-coming talent, and a hometown guy who has reached the pinnacle of his craft. The theater will be filled with spoken word, vocals, and instrumental and ensemble music ranging from jazz to hip-hop with bluesy beats.

Performances include some PoemJazz by Robert Pinsky, hip-hop poetry with bluesy beats by Kuf Knotz combined with harp and vocals by Christine Elise, The Digba Ogunbiyi Quartet with Nigerian influence, and an opener by local poet laureate of late, Gregory Schwartz.

Imparting the Living Art of Storytelling

Imparting the Living Art of Storytelling

Shen Shellenberger
Article, Poetry & Literature, Theater

Storytelling is not just a descriptive term. It is evocative. It is personal. It is inclusive. It is communal.

Maybe you remember your aunt, the one who always wore a big purple hat, recounting the days when she and your father were young. Or you flash back to a night when you and your friends tried to outdo each other with terrible tales of ghosts and one-legged men. Or you think about your mother creating spur-of-the-moment, silly stories as you two walked to school. And while these experiences may come from various sources, the root is the same.

Storytelling Arts is a non-profit community of storytellers, story writers, and teaching artists who work to protect, promote, and impart the living art of storytelling, and to be a resource for teachers and others who work with young people.

The Words, Wit, and Life of Dorothy Parker Take the Stage at East Lynne Theater

The Words, Wit, and Life of Dorothy Parker Take the Stage at East Lynne Theater

Gary Wien
Theater, Article, Poetry & Literature

“I’m not a writer with a drinking problem, I’m a drinker with a writing problem.”

Dorothy Parker may be best known for the quotes that have long outlived her, but there was far more to the legendary writer than just her wit. Her life is celebrated and her work comes alive in East Lynne Theater Company’s production of “Dorothy Parker: A Certain Woman.” The play runs from June 15 through July 23 at The Cape May Presbyterian Church where the company is in residence.

Dorothy Parker (1893-1967) was a poet, journalist, critic, screenwriter, human rights activist, and philanthropist. She was a member of The Algonquin Round Table, a popular writer for "The New Yorker," won the O. Henry Short Story Award for "The Big Blonde," and received two Oscar nominations — the first for the original "A Star is Born” and the second for “Smash Up: The Story of a Woman.” A collection of her work, "The Portable Dorothy Parker," has never been out of print.

"Renegades: Born in The USA" - Race, Music, and the American Dream

"Renegades: Born in The USA" - Race, Music, and the American Dream

Gary Wien
Music, Article, Poetry & Literature

In early 2021, a podcast series featuring conversations between Bruce Springsteen and Barack Obama began appearing on the internet. The series covered everything from their unlikely friendship to their thoughts on race in the U.S., music, fatherhood, and the American Dream. These conversations have been turned into a beautiful coffee-table book called “RENEGADES: Born in the USA,” and the end result is like a museum exhibit; if you heard the podcasts you’ll learn more, and, if you haven’t, you’re in for a real treat.

Celebrating 40 Years of the New Jersey Governor's Awards in Arts Education

Celebrating 40 Years of the New Jersey Governor's Awards in Arts Education

Christopher Benincasa
Podcast, Film, Dance, Visual Arts, Opera, Music, Festivals, Theater, Poetry & Literature

Last month, the New Jersey Governor’s Awards in Arts Education celebrated its 40th year. The program was created to promote awareness and appreciation for the arts by honoring individual students, and to honor education leaders who have demonstrated excellence in, and dedication to, arts education. Usually held at the historic Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, this year’s awards ceremony, like so many other arts events, moved online.

Art in the Time of COVID: Princeton University Arts Fellows Will Davis and Danez Smith

Art in the Time of COVID: Princeton University Arts Fellows Will Davis and Danez Smith

Brent Johnson
Theater, Article, Poetry & Literature

Even with the arts industry reeling, both Will Davis and Danez Smith have something to look forward to: they’ve won fellowships at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts. The program, designed for emerging artists with notoriety but still in the early part of their careers, offers financial support for developing new work, and fellows must teach a course each semester or undertake a project involving students.

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