For Immediate Release

Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival as part of the Woodstock Arts Consortium is sponsoring the following poetry event as part of the Woodstock "Second Saturdays" Art Events. For a full listing of "Second Saturday" events, see: www.artsinwoodstock.org

Poet LisaAnn LoBasso, Marnie Andrews and Raphael Kosek will be the featured readers when the Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival meets at the Woodstock Town Hall, 76 Tinker Street, on Saturday, July 11th at 2pm. Note: WPS&F meetings are held the 2nd Saturday of every month.

The readings will be hosted by Woodstock area poet Phillip Levine. All meetings are free, open to the public, and include an open mike.

Bios:

LisaAnn LoBasso - .Dubbed a poetry minstrel by Las Vegas City Life Weekly; LisaAnn’s readings have been branded provocative on the East and West coasts. LisaAnn has performed as a featured poet throughout the nation. In special events she has been paired to read with award winning poet Lee McCarthy and California Poet Laureate Al Young.

A few venues where she has been featured include: the Redondo Coffee Cartel (CA), Brown College (MN), Cantab Lounge (MA), Fishtown Artspace (MA), Saturn Series, The Back Fence and A Gathering of the Tribes (NYC), The Five Spot (PA), the Iowa Café (NV), the University of California, Riverside Writers’ Week that brings acclaimed authors from throughout the nation, The Wednesday Night Poetry Series in Bethel (longest running series in Connecticut State), the Central Park Arts Festival in NY and the first annual week-long Beat Poetry festival in CT.

Some of LisaAnn’s Awards and Honors include: nomination for California Poet Laureate 2008, several Pushcart Prize nominations; Editor’s Choice Award: Local Poet of the Year, The Cell; People’s Choice Award: Best Writer of the Year, The Blackboard; The Empty Awards: Best Exhibit of the Year, The Empty Space; First/only Literary Artist selected as Professional Artist-In-Residence, Arts Council of Kern. LisaAnn’s poems, stories and articles have been published in numerous literary journals. Books in print include In the Swollen a poetry collection (2003), and Oleander Milkshake, (2008).

LisaAnn produces a variety of readings and numerous collaborative arts events, including the Up Close, Let Loose Traveling Poets’ Reading Series that brings nationally and internationally acclaimed authors to the stage in Bakersfield, CA. Some poets that have graced the stage include Paterson Award Winner Indran Amirthanayagam, ‘rock star’ poet Jack McCarthy, and Gluck Award winning author and scholar Frances Ruhlen McConnel. LisAnn created Operation Soapbox, a forum for poets to perform their own work publicly at street fairs on a soapbox. She organized Bakersfield’s Dialogue Among Civilizations Through Poetry in conjunction with the United Nations and 180 different cities worldwide. She travels in California and on the East Coast reading and promoting literary poetry. After several years at the University of California, Berkeley, LisaAnn studied with the University of California, Riverside’s Creative Writing Program where she worked under the direction of mentor McConnel, as well as authors such as National Book Award finalist, critically acclaimed author Susan Straight, and Pulitzer Prize nominee Maurya Simon..

Marnie Andrews - Marnie Andrews has worked over thirty years as an actor, writer, and director. She has performed her poetry in venues from Sag Harbor to Los Angeles. Her one woman show, "Singer" was selected for the first LA Women's Theatre Festival, and awarded the Berilla Kerr Playwrights Grant. As an actor, she has starred in world premieres of new plays on both coasts, and guest starred in various TV shows, "ER", "Murder One," and "Reasonable Doubts," among them. She directed a modern adaptation of "Trojan Women" for the Getty Museum in Los Angeles.

Published primarily as a journalist, Marnie has written for Natural History, Modern Maturity, CR and Amica, and Marie Claire-Italy magazines. She has several collections of poetry subjects. Hot Times on Shaky Ground covers a time in LA when floods, fires, riots, and earthquakes occurred. The Henry Poems combined poetry with Jeff Jacobson’s photography celebrating the birthdays of their son. View From the Hudson was written on a grant from the Geraldine Dodge Foundation after witnessing the World Trade collapse from her home in Jersey City. "Welcome to Wonderland" is her current project.

Raphael Kosek - Raphael Kosek, a Hudson Valley native, teaches English at Marist College and Dutchess Community College. Her poems have appeared in Margie: Journal of American Poetry, Kalliope, Water-Stone Review and many other journals and anthologies. She began writing poetry at age twelve, and after graduating Vassar College, teaching English, and raising two children, she returned to it. Her first published book—a chapbook, Letting Go, has received praise from writers such as Eamon Grennan and Nancy Willard. She is currently working on another book of poems, many of which are inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings. She is a Recipient of a Dutchess County Arts Council 2008-2009 Individual Artist’s Fellowship Award.

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