Apr
6
Ray McNiece
Huron, Ohio – Nationally-known performance poets Sara Holbrook, Ray McNiece, and Michael Salinger will conduct workshops and perform at Bowling Green State University Firelands College on Wed., April 20, as part of the college’s Performance Poetry Series during National Poetry Month.
“Performance poetry differs from traditional poetry in that it is specifically written for a live audience,” said Larry Smith, professor emeritus of Humanities at BGSU Firelands and the director of the Firelands Writing Center. “These poets need to appeal to the audience on a level that goes well beyond the written word. We’re offering some training in performance for area poets, young and old.”
Sara Holbrook
Holbrook is the author of 11 poetry books for children, teens and adults and her book Walking on the Boundaries of Change won a national Parent Choice Award. Her work has appeared in many anthologies including Slam and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry and she appeared in the documentary SlamNation.
McNiece has been presenting his shows, writings, and performance workshops for students in kindergarten through college for more than 25 years. The author of seven books of poetry, he works for both the Ohio Arts Council Arts in Education residency artist program as well as doing presentations and workshops for Young Audiences of Northeast Ohio. In 1994, McNiece also founded Page to Stage Productions.
Michael Salinger
Salinger has been writing and performing poetry for 20 years, appearing and teaching in more than 140 cities in 26 countries. His work has appeared in dozens of magazines and books and he is an eight-time captain and coach of the Cleveland Slam team at the National Poetry Slams.
Salinger and Holbrook have also co-authored a professional book titled Outspoken: How to Improve Writing and Speaking Skills Through Performance Poetry.
The programs is supported through a grant from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Erie County and sponsored by the BGSU Firelands Speech Activities Organization-Theatre and BGSU Firelands Writing Center.
“This is a truly exciting poetry event and we are pleased to help bring this to the Firelands campus,” said John Allton, spokesman for the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Erie County.
Free and open to the public, there will be two programs offered at the college on Wed., April 20. An early-day workshop presented by the three performance poets will begin at 11:30 a.m. in the college’s Cedar Point Center. The evening program begins at 7 p.m. and features the three poets with the music of the Tounge-n-Groove band, also in the Cedar Point Center. For additional detail see the website at http://www.firelands.bgsu.edu/downloads/file94205.pdf
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