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Winning High School Poets at Farmington Valley Arts Center
The youngest poets to perform in the famed Sunken Garden Poetry Festival at Farmington's Hill-Stead Museum will begin a summer of readings and poetic activity on Tuesday, June 4 at 7 p.m. at the Farmington Valley Arts Center in Avon. These seven talented Connecticut high school students are winners in the festival's tenth annual Young Poets Competition. They will present their award-winning verse among the beautiful objects exhibited in the Art Center's recently renovated Fisher Gallery. This reading is free and open to the public; for more info call 860-678-1867, ext 105.
The winners in this year's competition hail from all around the state. They are Catherine Adams-Besancon of Tarriffville, Yiyin Erin Chen of Simsbury, Hannah Goldfield of New Haven, Johanna Klotz of Newington, Laurel Mandelberg of Simsbury, Cindy Martinez of Hartford, and Jennifer Steele of Middletown. They will spend a summer writing, editing and presenting their work and then will participate in "Night of Fresh Voices" on Wednesday, August 7. This culminating performance is one of six Sunken Garden poetry-and-music presentations. The talented seven also will enjoy a summer of mentoring with professional poets, be profiled in Northeast magazine on August 4, and publish in a special edition anthology chapbook.
For the second year running, the Young Musicians Competition, companion to the Young Poets Competition, has produced two high school winners. This summer, violinist Kathleen Mary Kan of West Hartford and pianist Yiyin Erin Chen of West Simsbury will join their peers in Hill-Stead's Sunken Garden for "Night of Fresh Voices." The Community Division of The Hartt School, University of Hartford, and Hill-Stead Museum co-sponsor the competition, which is open to all Connecticut music students who study privately. The two young musicians will take advantage of master classes, receive cash awards, and perform alongside the Young Poets on Thursday, June 6 at Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford.
Now in its eleventh year, the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival is a nationally acclaimed summer event that brings renowned and emerging poets together with cultural enthusiasts numbering in the thousands. This summer's kick-off reading on Wednesday, June 12 will feature Pulitzer Prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa and award-winning blues man Guy Davis. For more info on the Young Poets program, the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival or Hill-Stead Museum, call 860-677-4787.
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