October 29, 2010
Friday Dinner – An Evening of Poetry – 5:30 to 9:00 pm
BREAKING NEWS: Poetry Contest Deadline is extended to September 18th!
Click here for more contest information.
Evening Keynote: Cheryl Dumesnil
“I Triple-Dog Dare You: a Celebration of High-Risk Poetry”
Cheryl Dumesnil
Suspicious that politeness is suffocating contemporary American poetry, Cheryl Dumesnil challenges writers to break taboos, subvert censorship, and explore forbidden territory.
Winner of the 2008 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, Cheryl Dumesnil is the author of In Praise of Falling, editor of Hitched! Wedding Stories from San Francisco City Hall, and co-editor, with Kim Addonizio, of Dorothy Parker’s Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos. Her poems have appeared in Nimrod, Indiana Review, Calyx, and Many Mountains Moving, among other literary magazines. For over fifteen years she has taught Creative Writing in the San Francisco Bay Area where she lives with her wife and their two sons. Visit her website for more.
Penelope La Montagne
Emcee – Penelope La Montagne
Penelope lives on the banks of the Russian River near Healdsburg and has learned most of what she knows from watching the river, not pushing, not holding back. For six years, she was the producer of Morning Haiku for KRCB Radio in Sonoma County. She is a California Poet in the Schools, a local realtor, and author of the chapbook River Shoes by Running Wolf Press and co-author of Fruit of Life, Poems of Passion and Politics, published by d-press. Her full length manuscript, When Nature Chooses You Back will be published later this year. Penelope La Montagne is poet laureate emerita of Healdsburg, CA. (2004-2006)
Gwynne O'Gara
Special Guest – Gwynne O’Gara, Sonoma County 2010 – 2011 Poet Laureate
Gwynn O’Gara, Sonoma County Poet Laureate for 2010-2011, is the author of three poetry collections, Snake Woman Poems from Beatitude Press, Fixer-Upper from d-press, and Winter at Green Haven, published by WordTemple Press. She teaches creative writing through The Sitting Room and has been a poet-teacher with California Poets in the Schools for twenty years. Her poems have appeared in CALYX, The Evansville Review, descant, and the Beatitude Golden Anniversary Edition.
Host: Marlene Cullen
Marlene Cullen
Marlene Cullen is a cheerleader for writers, published author,
writing workshop facilitator and founder of Writers Forum.
Visit her website at www.thewritespot.us
Recognition – Winners of the Poetry Contest
Marlene will award the winners of the Poetry Contest who will read their winning poems.
Comments from last year’s attendees:
You folks did a bang-up job. I had a wonderful time and enjoyed so many of the presenters. I had such a good time talking and laughing with so many friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in a long time.
WOW–what a beautiful night. People were so turned on by the program, the speakers, how on-time and organized everything was, and by everyone’s welcoming smiles.
The evening of poetry at the Flamingo was like a homecoming. It was like being at a family reunion I wasn’t born into, but with whom I felt most at home.
