"Grateful Conversations" Group Reading, October 7, 2018
Grateful Conversations anthology is going places... A college professor in Australia wants to adopt this anthology for her course on gratitude. The anthology made it into the hands of famous poet Dana Gioia..
Maja Trochimczyk with Dana Gioia and Grateful Conversations. Photo by Dawn Jenkins
The very first appearance of this anthology in public was during the "Gathering of California's Poets Laureate" - an event hosted by Dana Gioia, organized by the California Arts Council and held on October 6, 2018 at the McGroarty Arts Center in Tujunga.
Maja Trochimczyk with "Grateful Conversations" and Robin Coste-Lewis, Photo by Dawn Jenkins
Maja Trochimczyk read her poem "In Morning Light" and presented copies of the anthology to Dana Gioia, California Poet Laureate and former chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, Robin Coste Lewis, Los Angeles Poet Laureate, and Anne Bown-Crawford, Executive Director of the California Arts Council. The reading was filmed so hopefully the book will make it into the documentary about Poets Laureate.
Stage and audience at McGroarty Arts Center
McGroarty Arts Center, former home of California Poet Laureate John Steven McGroarty.
The first public presentation of the "Grateful Conversations" anthology was supposed to take place on Sunday, October 7, 2018 at 5 p.m. at the Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse, in La Canada - Flintridge (1010 Foothill Blvd). Now it is the second. The reading was free and books were available to purchase and have autographed by the poets.
Seven poets presented their work (Lois P. Jones, Susan Rogers, Madeleine S. Butcher, Maja Trochimczyk, Kathi Stafford, Ambika Talwar and Sonya Sabanac) but all poets will be represented, as work by Georgia Jones-Davis and the group's founder Millicent Borges Accardi will also be read.
Photo by Lucyna Przasnyski.
You can explore the anthology's poems and find out about the poets on Moonrise Press Blog http://moonrisepress.blogspot.com/2018/06/sample-poems-from-grateful.html
Photo by Lucyna Przasnyski
You can read the introduction with the table of contents on Moonrise Press Blog http://moonrisepress.blogspot.com/2018/05/grateful-conversations-poetry-anthology.html
Photo by Lucyna Przasnyski
The paperback is available from Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/Grateful-Conversations-Anthology-Maja-Trochimczyk/dp/1945938226
Photo by Lucyna Przasnyski
The ebook with color photos is available from kobo.com
https://www.kobo.com/my/en/ebook/grateful-conversations-a-poetry-anthology
The following readings are planned:
1) at the Bolton Hall Museum (Sunday, November 25, 2018, Sunday after Thanksgiving, with Marc Achuff, classical guitar and Krak Poetry Group Celebrating the Centennial of Poland's Regained Independence),
2) at Beyond Baroque (Friday, February 15, 2019 at 8 pm),
3) at the Rapp Saloon in Santa Monica (hosted by Elena Secota, date TBD),
4) in Ventura, hosted by Phil Taggart (4 April 2019).
California poetry journal, Quill and Parchment will post a preview and a review of the book in coming months.
The poets will also appear on Poets' Cafe hosted by Lois P. Jones and other promotional activities are in preparation.
