CARRBORO DAY TO FEATURE DISTINGUISHED LOCAL POETS

Continuing a tradition that began in 1995, the Carrboro Day celebration on Sunday, May 4th, will feature several distinguished local poets.

The poetry readings will begin at 4 PM in the Town Hall Board Room and last until about 5:30.

This year, the poets will gather in a circle, along with the audience. Each poet will read for about three minutes. Once everyone has read one time, the circle of readings will continue. The idea of reading a few short poems at a time is good for poems that form clusters or that would get lost if you read just one at a time. There will be at least three rounds, and more if everyone is having fun!

This year's poetry reading will also feature a special ceremony recognizing the voices of Carrboro's youngest notable poets, the winners of the Carrboro Youth Poetry Contest. Of the roughly 50 poems received, 5 winners were chosen from elementary, middle, and high school levels. During the poetry session, the young poets will be invited to read. The winning poems will be published in an upcoming edition of The Carrboro Citizen.

The poets will include:

A New Jersey native, Neal McTighe has been writing poetry for 15 years. Neal recently received his Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures at UNC-CH, with a dissertation on the sixteenth-century Italian philosopher and poet, Giordano Bruno. In addition to a few scholarly publications, Neal has contributed poems to the local online journal, Evolutions Magazine, and to The Carrboro Citizen's arts supplement, The Mill. Before settling in Carrboro, Neal studied and lived in Italy for a combined three years. He has taught Italian at UVA, Clifton High School, and UNC-CH, and now works in academic publishing. Neal is writing his first novel, a work of historical fiction set in seventeenth-century Naples. As Poet Laureate, he has written poems on Carrboro's history and has promoted poetry amongst our youth--inaugurating the town's very own Youth Poetry Contest.

Donna Spring Gulick has written poetry since the age of ten and has participated in and won awards in oral poetry contests and poetry slams. She is also a teacher, mentor and counselor in practical spirituality. She and her husband Dave have two published children's books to their credit, as well. She can be reached at www.DonnaSpringGulick.com

Published in Ashland Poetry Review, Borderlands, Cider Press Review, The Lyric, Mankato Poetry Review, Sycamore Review, and many other journals and anthologies, Nancy Kenney Connolly also took first prize at the Austin International Poetry Festival, the Houston Poetry Fest, and her chapbook, I Take This World, won the Main Street Rag contest.

Grey Brown is the author of Staying In, winner of the Harper Prints Poetry Chapbook award. She has published in journals including Blue Pitcher and Greensboro Review and has poems forthcoming in The Journal of the American Medical Association and Kakalak. Her second collection of poetry, What It Takes, features poems about raising a daughter with high-functioning autism and will be published with Turning Point Press in 2010. Grey is the director of the Literary Arts Program of the Health Arts Network at Duke.

Catherine DeVine finds poetry most everywhere, especially in coincidences. She writes poetry very rarely and has published none. She specializes in the essay form and its reliable geometry. Her very small business, DeVine Write, has served corporate, medical, and non-profit clients since 1985.

Maura High has lived in Carrboro for 18 years, and many of her poems take local scenes and occurrences as their starting point. Her work has been published in various print and online media, and, as a member of the Black Socks Poets, she has contributed to chapbooks and readings in the area. She earns a living as a freelance copy editor and volunteers for The Nature Conservancy's prescribed burn program.

William Stott has resided in Carrboro for 18 years. He serves on the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Carolina Institute for the Environment. His scholarship has focused on American nature writing and "ecocriticism"; a grant from NC Sea Grant initiated ongoing ethnographic research in NC commercial fishing communities. He has published several poems, in Petroglyph, Wild Mountain Times, and, most notably, the Weaver Street Market Newsletter. His first volume of poetry, "Loomings," will be published one of these days by Horse & Buggy Press in Durham, hopefully some time soon. He teaches courses in Nature Writing and various topics in Literature and Environment, including representation of wetlands landscapes, the literature of place, and the representation of commercial fishing in folklore, literature, and contemporary science. He has received three teaching awards at Chapel Hill, including the Tanner Award. Dr. Stott's hobbies include birdwatching, amateur botanizing, camping, and taking long walks on barrier islands and ancient mountains.

Ricky Garni of Carrboro is a Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Bicyclist. He is the author of 102 publications and has received 3 Pushcart Nominations. Quote: "In Cuba, they say hello to my little friend, love, en una manera distinguida y vieja. That means: be polite with love, walk with a brisk, distinguished step, as though you know your way."

For more information:

Jay Bryan , Poetry Reading Organizer

Maura High, Poetry reading facilitator and reader

Catherine DeVine , Carrboro Day Committee Chair