The Third Thursday Poetry Night will celebrate 20 years of continuous monthly poetry readings and open mics on Thursday, December 21, 7:30PM at its regular open mic at the Social Justice Center, with featured poet Nancy Dunlop and the usual community poetry open mic.
The Third Thursday Poetry Night began at the former Cafe Web on Madison Ave. on December 18, 1997 with featured poet Tedi Toca. Since then the event has featured over 200 poets and countless open mic readers at Cafe Web, Changing Spaces Gallery, the Lark St. Bookshop, and, since July 2006, at the Social Justice Center, 33 Central Ave., Albany, NY. The evening will also include the annual traditional Holiday visit from “Sanity Clause,” with a gift of poetry for all who read in the open mic.
The featured reader on December 21, Nancy Dunlop, taught poetry and writing at the University at Albany for over 20 years. A finalist in the AWP Intro Journal Awards, she has been published in The Little Magazine, Writing on the Edge, 13th Moon, Cowbird, Truck, and Writers Resist. Her work has also been heard on NPR.
A reading by a local or regional poet is held each Third Thursday at the Social Justice Center. The event includes an open mic for audience members to read. Sign-up starts at 7:00 p.m., with the reading beginning at 7:30. The host of the readings is Albany poet and photographer Dan Wilcox. The suggested donation is $3.00, which helps support this and other poetry programs of the Poetry Motel Foundation, and the work of the Social Justice Center. For more information about this event contact Dan Wilcox, 518-482-0262; e-mail:dwlcx@earthlink.net.
The Social Justice Center, founded in 1981, is a non-profit organization working for progressive social change through education, community building, and collective action. The center advances the struggles against racism and for peace and justice. For further information about the SJC call 518-434-4037.
