The Norwalk Art Festival

My friend and fellow writer and editor at Bewildering Stories, Edward Ahern, contacted me recently because he was doing a poetry reading at The Norwalk Art Festival and they were still looking for local poets to participate.

For those of you unfamiliar with the festival, it's located in Mathews Park in Norwalk, and it ran from June 24-25.  There were over 100 artists, both local and from farther afield.  There were kids crafts and all types of art, from photography to sculpture.

Jerry T. Johnson

​Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a white-knuckled speaker.  But I'm also trying to overcome my shyness, so if an opportunity presents itself to get up and read my work... well, I'll take it.

The Poetry Corner, which took place on Saturday at the festival, was organized by a very nice guy and amazing poet, Jerry T. Johnson.  Of course, Ed was there, and had a variety of poems to read - he really is a prolific writer, and I was glad to hear his new work. 

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Edward Ahern

Shanna T. Melton

The Poet Laureate of Norwalk, Laurel Peterson, also did a reading (although I'm sorry to say I missed it, since I was corralling kids and ended up being a bit later to the reading than I'd hoped to be). The final poet for Saturday afternoon was the very talented Shanna T. Melton.

The event went really well.  The weather was perfect, there was a large assortment of local poets who had created a body of work in a wide variety of styles.  The audience members were lovely and seemed to enjoy it.  It was great to meet so many local poets, and hopefully I'll be seeing them again at more events in the future.

If you missed the festival and are looking to add some art to your summer, don't worry - there are several others coming up in the area.  You can find a list here.

​Happy reading and happy writing to everyone!

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From left to right: Edward Ahern (hiding behind Jerry), Jerry T. Johnson, Neddy Smith, Christopher Madden, Rona Schenkerman, Laurel Peterson, Mark Saba, me (with my three-girl entourage, LOL), and Shanna T. Melton.