Rensselaerville Library’s 2014 Festival of Writers is presenting a special event on Sunday Afternoon, August 17 at 2 p.m. at Conkling Hall, Rensselaerville featuring readings by the winners and finalists of our Regional Writers Contest, as well as by invited local authors.
WINNERS & FINALISTS OF THE REGIONAL COMPETITION
FIRST PLACE WINNERS:
Norman Cohen is a Delmar resident, who wrote a column “Family Matters” for the Spotlight Newspapers in the 1980’s, which published a paperback collection of his columns under the same title. John Worth Gordon “Jack”, enlisted at age nineteen in the Canadian armed forces in 1940. Later, serving in India with the United States Air Force, he joined the 27th Troop Carrier Squadron in Assam. Returning to the Capital Region in 1945, he attended Cornell University and bought the farm in Livingstonville where he still lives, works, and writes. Howard J. Kogan is a psychotherapist and poet living in the Taconic Mountains. His poems have appeared in Naugatuck River Review, Still Crazy, and many other publications. His latest book of poems, Indian Summer, is available from Amazon.
FINALISTS:
Diane Kavanaugh-Black, in addition to writing, leads Kripalu yoga classes, hikes with a passion, and teaches healthy cooking classes. Her work appears along with original photographs at OfTheEssenceBlog.com. Mary Armao McCarthy of Albany, is a past president of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild and has published in various anthologies and periodicals. Irene Mitchell, a longtime teacher of writing, is the author of A Study of Extremes in Six Suites and Sea Wind on the White Pillow, and is former poetry editor of the Hudson River Art Journal. Barbara Louise Ungar has published three full-length collections of poetry. The Origin of the Milky Way won the Gival Press Poetry award, a silver “IPPY” from the Independent Publishers organization, and a Hoffer award. Her work has appeared in a variety of journals. Ms. Ungar is a professor of English at the College of St. Rose and director of the MFA program there.
INVITED LOCAL GUEST WRITERS:
Peter Boudreaux, local handyman and musician who has traded his shingle to join the large diversity of writers in our area. Marion Menna, a retired special ed teacher originally from Long Island who has had poems published in a variety of journals as well as two chapbooks. Claire North, a writer in several genres, moderates a Poetry Writing and Reading Group in VT, has been a Minister of Spiritual Science for 22 years, and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College. Maryann Ronconi former director of Minds – On Workshops at The Rensselaerville Institute for almost 20 years. A homesteading life on an old Helderberg farm and frequent travel have offered her unlimited grist for fiction, poetry and essays.
More information on this reading and the whole Festival of Writers can be found on the website, www.festivalofwriters.org.
