Write Now Series Write Now Series

“I have things I want to say. I have things I need to write about. I have my ghosts sitting next to me saying don’t forget this, don’t forget this.”

We’re back with Valerie Bacharach for our third installment of the Write Now Series. It’s an episode you don’t want to miss as she doles out writing experiences and life lessons on transforming grief into something meaningful. We’ll touch on the difference between healing and accepting, the importance of the literary community, and how the pen truly is mightier than the sword.

Grab a drink and spend the evening with essayist, poet, and former director of Anhinga Press, Rick Campbell.We had a blast talking about the inner-workings of poetry, publishing, Americana, lizards, murder mysteries, and a love of highways. Love hanging out? Check out his reading with us back here on Friday!

It is our first installment of the Write Now Series: Writing Residency, and we couldn’t be luckier. Tune in tonight at 7PM to find a wonderful conversation and reading done by our friend, poet, and all-around extraordinary human, Chuck Joy. Listen and let him show you--as he has shown me so many times--how to find wonderment, fun, and “Joy” through poetry, even in our hard times.

For the Poet Laureate of Erie, PA, Dr. Chuck Joy, there is nothing poetry cannot touch. It nestles into his love for his community, his profession in child psychiatry as a co-chair of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) Art Committee, his belief in the many small businesses he’s performed in, and facilitates a sibling relationship between poets and musicians.

Chuck has authored several collections of poetry, his most recent Percussive (Turning Point), noted for its narrative quality. He elucidates the use of the line with Theme of Line (Red giant Books), and plays with location in Said the Growling Dog (Nihara Publications). He’s produced numerous chapbooks: Fun Poetry (Lulu.com), Key West Quartet (Edinboro Book Arts Collective), Every Tiger Wants to Sing (Poet’s Hall Press), All Smooth (Destitute Press), with The Opposite of Gifts (Heyman! Productions) released in 2018.

He has appeared on the page in Great Lakes Review, Ampersand Review, Crisis Chronicles, Liliput Review, Chiron Review, Tobeco, JAMA, Intentional Walk Review, Cotyledon, Rattapallax, Tempus, Mediphors, 2 Bridges, Foundlings, and others, as well as anthologies edited by Jack Coulehan, John Graham-Pole, Berwyn Moore, and Sean Thomas Dougherty.

He has appeared on the stage at Poe’s Cafe, Cuppacino’s, 1000 French, Poet’s Hall, the Woodland Diner, Dog Ears Bookstore, Every Snoetry, The Confluence, Blue Cat Stew, The Hessler Street Fair, Karma Koffee, Mac’s Backs, Baybreeze Lounge, Authors Books, Poetry In The Park, Poetry Park, Marshall’s 20 Lanes, The Saturn Series, Cornelia Street Cafe, and the Orange Bear. His 1999 appearance with Robert Dunn on Poet to Poet is available on Youtube

Currently, he hosts Poetry Night, the weekly poetry event on Tuesdays at Calaman’s in Erie, PA. Always an open mic, and often a featured poet. You can find out more at http://www.chuckjoy.com