Library to Host Poet Laureates

Tompkins County Public Library Media Release
Date: April 7, 2008
Contact: Carrie Wheeler at (607) 272-4557 extension 248


LIBRARY TO HOST POET LAUREATES

ITHACA—Join the Tompkins County Public Library as we celebrate National Poetry Month with a reading by County Poet Laureates past and present Michelle Courtney Berry and Paul Hamill, Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 6:30 PM in the Ezra Cornell Reading Room.

Hamill, director of academic funding and sponsored programs at Ithaca College, was named Tompkins County Poet Laureate in 2007. His published works include long poems, meditations, monologues, multi-page narratives, three chapbooks: Sainte Ariadne, Last Things and Night and Winter Ming and a collection entitled The Year of Blue Snow.

Hamill served as the first board chair of the Community Arts Partnership and is a founding board member of the Ithaca City of Asylum.

Berry served as Tompkins County Poet Laureate from 2004 through 2006. She is a nationally-recognized speaker. She has opened with original poetry and song for His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Maya Angelou, Howard Zinn, Nikki Giovanni and Gayle Danley. Her sold-out, one-woman shows at the Kitchen Theatre, The Month of Not Speaking (2003) and Labor (2006)—explore the overlapping themes of identity, work, silence, oppression and love. Over the past decade, she has been a featured performer at venues throughout the nation. She owns two businesses Reiki Goddess (www.reikigoddess.org) and Courtney Consulting.

This Library program is free and open to the public and will be held in the Ezra Cornell Reading Room.

For more information, contact Carrie Wheeler at (607) 272-4557 extension 248.
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