HCTC Hosts Poetry Reading:
199 people attend 15th annual Evening with Poets
"It's truly an amazing thing, "reveals Jim Webb, Hazard native and local raconteur and poet, who serves as emcee of the event, "I have been to poetry readings in New York and California and nothing rivals the crowds here in the City of Lights."
Evening with Poets, a poetry reading where the latest issue of the school's literary magazine, Kudzu, is unveiled, was held on Thursday the 17th. A crowd of 199 people converged on the Stephens Library to hear people read from Kudzu and to listen as the featured poet, Diane Gilliam Fisher, read her work.
"Whenever I'm going to be with readers and writers, I know I'm going home to be with my tribe," Fisher explains, "One of the most important things we can do for each other and for the world is to tell our stories, and to receive and let ourselves be affected by other people's stories. And that's exactly what happened in Hazard."
Jeaninne Dowan, an online student through HCTC, was published in this year's magazine and read her work at Evening with Poets. She flew in from Calgary, Canada for the event, "I've walked away a stronger writer (and public speaker) and made a couple of life long friendships. All in all it was an amazing experience and I'd do it all again in a heart beat—even the 8 hour plane ride just to get there!"
Next year's event is scheduled for April 30th and will be held in the Stephens Library.