Award Winning Writers to Showcase Their Work at Series of Readings at The Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences

By: Robert Diamond Oct. 08, 2013

Playwrights Theatre is partnering with the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for a series of readings by Literary Artist Fellowship recipients in a Showcase on Long Beach Island. Readings will begin at 7:30pm, on October 18, 2013, at The Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, 120 Long Beach Boulevard, Loveladies, NJ 08008. Readings are free with a suggested donation of $10. All tickets will be available at the door on the evening of the readings.

"This will be a wonderful evening of poetry and prose, and a great mix of young and veteran writers," said John Pietrowski, Artistic Director of Playwrights Theatre. "Spoken word fans will be familiar with Peter Murphy from his readings in South Jersey, but also from his nationally-renowned writing workshops, particularly his Winter Getaway in Galloway. Kathleen Graber, a resident of Wildwood, was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Award in Poetry, and prose writer Vanni Thach, who was born in Viet Nam and raised in Camden, will be reading a beautiful story entitled I Heard Ma Swimming through the Mekong.

The readings will be held in the main gallery at LBIF. "The great part about this," added Pietrowski, "is that the Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences is hosting an exhibition of works from the NJSCA Visual Arts Fellowship winners in the gallery until November 1. So the prose and poetry fellows will be reading in the same room as the visual arts fellows."

Kathleen Graber (poet) will read a selection of her poems.

Peter Murphy (poet) will read poems from his new manuscript, Anonymous Fever, including several in the voice of "John Doe," a man lost in time and space, disconnected from others and increasingly, from himself.

Vanni Thach (prose writer) will be reading an excerpt from her book I Heard Ma Swimming Through The Mekong.

Individual biographies of the writers can be viewed at http://www.ptnj.org/pages/literary-artist-fellowship. Visitors to the site will also find interviews with the writers as well as a list of their favorite and most influential books.

The Literary Artist Fellowship Showcase began in 2001, with subsequent showcases in 2002, 2004, 2006 2008, and 2012. The State Arts Council and Playwrights Theatre cosponsor the series of readings by the poets, playwrights and prose writers that received Council Fellowships. The Fellowships, which may be used to support the professional development of the artist, are highly competitive. The awards are granted to New Jersey artists in 12 different arts disciplines (offered on a three-year rotation) and are awarded solely on the basis of an anonymous independent peer panel review of artistic quality. The program is carried out in partnership with the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation.

In the fall of 2001, as part of its overall mission to provide presentation and performance opportunities for Fellowship recipients, as well as other New Jersey artists, the Council partnered with Playwrights Theatre to present the works of the literary fellows.

For the poetry readings, authors will present their own work, for prose writing, authors are given the option of reading their own stories or having them read by a professional actor. Playwrights are provided with staged readings of their scripts, always presented with professional actors and a professional director, with a preference given to the wealth of professional actors and theatre artists living in the Garden State.

This program is made possible with by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State.

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