Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone, I hope you had a safe and happy holiday season. It's been a little rough at my house, but we are hanging in there and will be just fine, I'm sure. My good news is, that I have received a promotion at the library and I am now the Library Outreach Coordinator. I will be providing library materials and services to local child care centers and senior citizen centers and retirement homes. The bad news is, I am not sure if I will be able to continue leading the teen writing group, which leaves us in some limbo right now. I will no longer be working a regularly scheduled weekend, so...I just don't know. Perhaps my replacement in the children's department will take my place with you guys. I'm including some information about Poetry Hickory that is meeting this coming Tuesday at Tasteful Beans Coffee House in downtown (uptown?) Hickory. I encourage you to go if you can. Scott Owens, the coordinator, is a well-known poet from Hickory and teaches at CVCC. I have greatly enjoyed the readings that I have attended, and I think that you will too. In case you think the group is "too old" for you, guess again. There are writers of ALL ages there, and besides, poetry is timeless and ageless, so no excuses! Happy New Year, and I wish you well. I'll keep in touch with you and give you updates about the group as I get them. Tamara

Welcome Back, Teen Writers!

Hi guys! After a long and arduous (and ongoing!) tagging project, I'm back and ready to get excited about writing again. I hope school is going well for all of you, and that you are finding some quiet time during the busy weeks to do some creative writing. As a part time student myself, I understand how hard it is to want to write creatively when you're so busy doing class assignments. I'm trying to keep a small notebook close by me all the time so if inspiration strikes me, I can immediately write out the idea. Otherwise, I'll forget about it before I'm ready to work on it. Our next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, November 22, at 2:30 in the library meeting room. We'll do a creative writing exercise, brainstorm some ideas for the group, and of course share our work together. If you can't wait until November to hear some good poetry, I encourage you to attend a library program featuring Scott Owens, the poet in residence at CVCC and organizer of the monthly Poetry Hickory events at Tastefull Beans Coffee House. The press release is below. See you in November! Tamara Poet Scott Owens to Speak at Catawba Valley Community College and Hickory Public Library Poet Scott Owens will be featured in two public readings in Hickory in October at Hickory Public Library and Catawba Valley Community College. Owens is the 2008 Visiting Writer at CVCC. He is the author of four books, is the co-editor of Wild Goose Poetry Review, and coordinates the Poetry Hickory reading series. Owens will appear in free public programs at Patrick Beaver Memorial Library on Thursday, October 23rd at 7:00 p.m. and at CVCC on Wednesday, October 29th at 11:00 a.m. Owens has had 285 poems published in journals across America, including Beloit Poetry Journal, Kansas Quarterly, Poet & Critic, and Southern Poetry Review. His four books are The Moon His Only Companion (1994, CPR), The Persistence of Faith (1995, Sandstone Press), Deceptively Like a Sound (2008, Dead Mule), The Fractured World (2008, Main Street Rag), and the upcoming Book of Days (Dead Mule, 2009). Born in Greenwood, SC, he is a graduate of the UNCG MFA program and now lives in Hickory. In his book, The Fractured World, Owens’ poetry reflects on the issue of child abuse. Owens was himself a victim of child abuse and lived in a family that moved frequently when money was scarce. North Carolina Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer wrote, "The irony in these often bruising poems is that the winner in this game becomes the lost one, the numbed and empty one who moves through his world either enraged or numbed. Scott Owens has given us a powerful, disturbing look at our contemporary fractured world.” Hickory Public Library and Catawba Valley Community College’s Visiting Writer’s Series partner to bring noted authors to the community. Students at the college have the opportunity to explore a text and meet the voice behind its creation, providing a liberal arts support to the college’s core curriculum. At the same time, the general public is invited to meet and enjoy the live presentations by the authors. For information call the library at 304-0500 ext. 7277 or CVCC at 327-7000 ext. 4382. Patrick Beaver Memorial Library is locateed at 375 3rd Street NE on the SALT Block in Hickory.

Teen writers, you must READ!

To write well, a writer must read. And read. And read some more. Read everything you can get your hands on. Read fiction, read biographies, read nonfiction, read newspapers, magazines, and yes, even web pages. Read the backs of cereal boxes and shampoo bottles. And if you sign up to participate in "Metamorphosis," the Teen Read summer reading program, you can rack up some cool stuff while you read. Teen Read members must come to the library to register for the program. Give us your name, email address, school, and telephone number, and we will send you an invitation to join the Teen Read blog. Once you reply to the invitation email and follow the instructions, you will be signed up for the blog. Read any books from the library that are 100 pages or more, write a book review of at least one paragraph, post it to the blog, and you will get a free paperback to keep forever and ever. Two reviews will earn you two Crawdad baseball tickets, four reviews will earn you two more tickets, and every review earns you a chance to win cool prizes at the end of the program. Every review posted also earns you a free book, as long as supplies last. The prize books are mostly samples and galley proofs that we receive from the publishers, so there is a wide selection, but you are responsible for choosing your own books. We haven't read them, so we can't give you an opinion one way or the other. Where else can you earn as many free books as you read? Come to the library into the children's room, and we will get you fixed up for the summer. Happy Reading! Your friendly neighborhood Book-woman, Tamara

Last TWG meeting until fall

For most of us, this is a happy time of the year. School is almost out, graduation is near, and we have the long, hot summer stretched out before us. Before we go our separate ways for a couple of months, we have one more writing group meeting in June. It's on Saturday, June 7, at 2:30 in the library meeting room. Since it's our last meeting until the fall, we will celebrate our success with pizza! Mr. Rice will bring a copy of the Hickory High School literary magazine for us to peruse and "oooo" and "aaaahh" over. Remember to either send me your poems that you have read meetings via email, or bring them typed to the meeting. I am keeping a file of them for future projects. Take care, Tamara

Poetry Hickory on June 10

Hey guys! Poetry Hickory is coming up again in June, so here is the press release I received from Scott Owens. Note the autobiographical piece below the release-its style and form--to see how you do not have to stay "in the box" with your writing. PERFORMANCE POET AND MAGAZINE EDITOR TO READ AT POETRY HICKORYThe Poetry Hickory reading series will continue into the summer at 7:00 P.M. on Tuesday, June 10 at Taste Full Beans Coffeehouse in downtown Hickory with the visit of poets Ted Pope and Jonathan K. Rice.Originally from Indiana, Rice is the influential editor of Iodine Poetry Journal and presently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. He authored his first chapbook, Shooting Pool With A Cellist, in 2003. His latest book, Ukulele and Other Poems, (Main Street Rag, 2006) is a full-length collection. His poetry has appeared in many periodicals, including The Aurorean, Cold Mountain Review, Comstock Review, Main Street Rag, Pedestal, Sacred Journey, Slipstream, Sundog: A Southeast Review, and work forthcoming in Blue Unicorn, Gargoyle and HazMat Review. He has also been a longtime host of poetry readings in Charlotte.Pope is an acclaimed performance poet and musician and author of the book, rEdlipSticK. Originally from southwest Oklahoma, Pope now lives in Morganton.Poetry Hickory is coordinated by Hickory poet, Scott Owens. For further information, contact him at 234-4266 or asowens1@yahoo.com. Details are also listed online at www.poetryhickory.com "i go shoot baskets run full court and practice poems even write poems out loud. maybe that is the thing to say. does anyone care that i was born on an airbase in sw oklahoma? 20 minutes from the texas panhandle. the wind blew the same direction so much that the treebranches all grew the same direction. the first time i remember a good rain w/out hail, lightening or a tornado was afew days after moving to NC so my dad could go to semenary and be a so babtist preacher. i have been in every little church from texas to nc... i have got the holy ghost listening to jimmy swaggart met pat robertson, been to PTL...heard Billy Graham. I spent a summer as a kid constantly talking to myself to make sure i was in control and hadn't been posessed by a demon. now i read science books and the world seems a more awesome place. this morning i brought home a bird feather and a piece of bark because i could not help myself they looked beautiful. i spent sum time drawing in a journal w magical markers and then contructed and photographed a tiny scene including sum deer-moss and the figure of a woman in a white dress made to go w those model train sets she was damn near microscopic. i enjoy taking photos of insides of seashells and things so close you can't tell what it is...the small world. i like taking pics of flowers and of toys in strange settings... toy buffalo herd w/ herd of real snails... i made a film about shadows, seashells and telephones for a school project. i am the author of the book and: rEdLipSticK and its companion cd an audiobook but also a rock and roll concept album...my 2112. (the book and are available at amazon.com and target.com etc) i just read a book on creativity by david lynch. i agree. i am reading A BRIEF HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING by bill bryson. i just read a graphic novel based on Fritz (Metropolis) Lang's 1931 film: M it starred Peter Lorre as a child murderer in Berlin. i like the painter Francis Bacon. i am still amazed at how unkind or just plain evil people can be...so i am broken...can't be fixed. ya just eat it and go on...swallowing it doesn't make the world right...it means you can survive in it maybe... i like birds, flowers and rivers...rocks, clouds, the sun is pretty amazing i like the sun. i want to write children's books about slaves of famous people. i was working on Ony Judge...a slave of Martha W. who escaped from the Capital when it was at Philly went up north and married a sailor and raised her kids...the letters the surviving letters and journals are amazing..martha W. seems to have really felt her slave should have been more dutiful and returned...hell the Washingtons tried to have her kidnapped at the countrys expense...which was against the law....anyway someone beat me to this last July at least on Ony Judge...but there are plenty more slave stories...unfortunately there is an abundance. I am Woody Guthrie's flying saucer trapped out here NOW in the orbit of mars like a hound-dog or maybe the Owl the little inner buddah is building me a canoe that will take these poems from my head and heart to you."

Come to the meeting this Saturday!

Hello everyone! I want to remind you that our next teen writing group meeting is this Saturday, May 10, at 2:30, in the Patrick Beaver Library Meeting Room. Remember also that we have a homework assignment! Mr. Rice asked us to write a piece about a happy or a sad memory and bring it to share at the May meeting. We will continue to try using these guided writing exercises to increase our writing skills and stimulate creativity. Don't forget! See you Saturday! Tamara

Next TWG Meeting Is Coming Up!

The next meeting of the PBML Teen Writing Group is Saturday, May 10, at 2:30 in the library meeting room. Remember that Mr. Rice gave us a homework assignment! We are supposed to write a poem about a happy or sad memory. I guess you could also write an essay or a short story if you wanted, if you're not into writing poetry. Bring your writing to the meeting and be ready to share it with us. I want to start collecting copies of your poems, stories, etc. that you share in hopes that someday we can publish a chapbook or other collection of our work. If you are willing to allow me to do this, either bring an extra copy for me to the meetings or I can make copies of it for you. I can't promise right away that we will be able to publish, but it is something to think about. Don't forget! Saturday, May 10, 2:30, library meeting room. Friends. Writing. Food. Be there. -Tamara

Teen Poetry Slam Debriefing

Hi everybody, just wanted to update you on the teen poetry slam I went to last night. There were about 30 kids people there, maybe a few more, and a lot of them were talented teenagers. I was impressed. The slam was produced by the Catawba County Council on Adolescence. They plan on having another one next month, and I'll let you know when it will be. I still didn't get to buy any coffee, though! Drat. -T.

YES WE ARE MEETING ON APRIL 12!!!

Thanks to my super boss Hannah, I will be able to have a Teen Writing meeting on Saturday, April, at 2:30. We will still plan to attend the Jon Scieszka reading, which is OUTSIDE at 1:00 (not 12 as I thought, sorry), at the Shaw Plaza at LRC. No, I have no idea where the Shaw Plaza is, but I imagine you can follow the crowds. That's what I'm going to do. In fact, if you come to the reading, look for me. I'm going to take my lunch at 12:00 and go early so I can get a good seat and eat out in the sun, hopefully. The reading is from 1 to 2, and we will meet at 2:30. So bring some coffee or if you want to bring your lunch to the meeting, that's fine with me. We will have the usual junky food. See you there! P.S. Chris will be out of town with his family, so you will have to put up with me!