Lei Isaacs and Georganna Millman Read in Athens, NY on Oct 18

Two highly esteemed Hudson Valley  poets, Lei Isaacs and Georganna Millman, will be featured when Poetry at the Hudson meets at the Athens Cultural Center, 24 Second Street, on Saturday, October 18, 2008 at 2 p.m.  An open mike will be part of the occasion. 

Lei was born in the famed Maverick Arts Colony in Woodstock to parents who were professional writers, and she was entirely home-schooled.  Her mother, Marguerite, was a noted Woodstock artist of the 1950's and 1960's.  Active in local journalism for fifty years, she has been published in such periodicals as The Ulster County Townsman, The Woodstock Press, The Woodstock Journal, the Woodstock Times, the Kingston Times, Home Planet News, and Chronogram. Lei is the founder of the women's poetry collective called 3 Free Women and has given numerous spoken-word performances as a member of that collective and as a solo performer.  Among these are readings at The Day Of The Poet, an event that was held annually in Stone Ridge for several years; at the Voices of the Valley poetry series; and at The Arts Society of Kingston.  She has written a number of novels, and a chapbook of her poetry will soon be published.  Outside her writing activities, Lei is an vigorous advocate for persons with disabilities and animal rights.

Georganna graduated from the Adult Creative Writing & Degree Program at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. She is completing her first full-length book of poetry, titled Formulary, focusing on the landscape and history of the Catskill Mountain region, where she lives with her husband and sons.  Her poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including Blueline, The Margie Review: American Journal of Poetry, Vanguard Voices of the Hudson Valley (sponsored by the Mohonk Mountain Stage Company), and The Literary Gazette.  It has appeared also on Voice-America internet radio for National Poetry Month, April 2008. Georganna has been a featured poet at The Woodstock Poetry Society and at Albany's Poets In The Park. Self-employed as the owner of an independent retail pharmacy, she volunteers as well as a grant-writer for the Woodstock Poetry Society and Festival.

The readings will be hosted by area poet Bob Wright.  There is a suggested donation of $3.  To reach the Cultural Center, proceed on NY 385 into the village of Athens and turn west onto Second Street; it is the second building on the right.  For additional information, call 518-444-4561.

Poetry in Athens in April

Two widely regarded Hudson Valley poets, William Seaton and Susan Sindall, will be the featured poets when Poetry at the Hudson meets at the Athens Cultural Center, 24 Second Street, on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 2 p.m.  An open mike will be part of the occasion.

Seaton, who for 14 years has produced the "Poetry on the Loose" reading/performance series in Middletown and now Warwick, has been active in poetry performance throughout his career, including happenings in the '60s, street readings in the '70s, and a 2006 show in Budapest with a hurdy-gurdy player as the opening act.  He has taught in a wide variety of settings, including the Nigerian bush and a New York State prison, as well as at Long Island University and Adelphi.  His most recent publications are Spoor of Desire: Selected Poems (FootHills Publishing) and Tourist Snapshots (CC Marimbo).  His poetry and translations have appeared in such journals as Chelsea, Wordsmith, Mad Blood, Home Planet News, Copulation, and Heaven Bone, as well as in four anthologies (including the recent Riverine from Codhill Press), and his scholarly studies have appeared in Mystics Quarterly, the Iowa Journal of Literary Studies, and in several volumes of Bruccoli Clark's Dictionary of Literary Biography series.

Sindall, who has been the managing editor of Heliotrope, a journal of poetry, since its inception in 1998, has had roles in both writing and dance.  With a diploma in dance from the Julliard School of Music and an MFA in writing from Warren Wilson College, she has been associated with the 92nd St. YM-YMHA Dance Center, been a Teaching Artist in NewYork City schools for the Lincoln Center Institute, taught movement education at Manhattanville College, and taught poetry for Poets in Public Service and for Poets House, in New York City.  Currently living in Shady, she also teaches a writing workshop in nearby Kingston at the Universalist Unitarian Church of the Catskills.  She has read her poetry at various venues in New York City and the Hudson Valley, been featured in a poetry/music performance at the 92nd St. Y with Peter Schickele, and has read at both the Woodstock Poetry Festival and the Chattaqua Institute.  Sindall's poetry has appeared in such publications as The Kenyon Review, Prairie Schooner, The Seattle Review, Negative Capability, Pivot, Salamander, and the California State Quarterly, and she will be published shortly in the  Hawai'i Pacific Review.

The readings will be hosted by area poet Bob Wright.  There is a suggested donation of $3.  To reach the Cultural Center, proceed on NY 385 into the village of Athens and turn west onto Second Street; it is the second building on the right.  For additional information, call 518-444-4561.