University of Southern Maine

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Maine Poets Laureate to Read in Portland

April 13, 2006

Contact: Robin Talbot
(207) 780-4428
rtalbot@usm.maine.edu

The University of Southern Maine Stonecoast M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Acoustic Coffee are presenting readings by Maine Poet Laureate Betsy Sholl and former Maine Poet Laureate Baron Wormser at 7 p.m., Tuesday, April 25, at Acoustic Coffee, 32 Danforth St., Portland.

This event marks a celebratory passing of the poetic torch, as former Maine Poet Laureate Baron Wormser and newly appointed Maine Poet Laureate Betsy Sholl read from their poetry. The joint reading is in celebration of Baron Wormser’s contributions as Maine Poet Laureate since 2000 and Betsy Sholl’s appointment as Maine Poet Laureate by Governor John Baldacci at a Blaine House ceremony on April 19.  This will be Sholl’s first official reading as Maine’s Poet Laureate.

Sholl, a USM lecturer in English is the author of five books including "Late Psalm," "The Red Line," winner of the 1991 Associated Writing Programs Award for Poetry, and "Don't Explain," winner of the 1997 Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry. She is a founding member of Alice James Books, the poetry-publishing house located on the University at Maine at Farmington. Sholl, who has been referred to as a jazz poet, received an artist fellowship in 1994 from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Wormser, a faculty member in USM’s Stonecoast M.F.A. in Creative Writing Program, is the author of seven books of poetry including “The White Words” and “Good Trembling.”  He is also the co-author of two books about teaching poetry, “Teaching the Art of Poetry: The Moves” and “A Surge of Language: Teaching Poetry Day by Day.” He received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

For more information, please contact Robin Talbot, associate director of Stonecoast M.F.A. in  Creative Writing, at (207) 780-4428 or rtalbot@usm.maine.edu.

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