Book & Leaf Press Release
10 Park Street
Brandon, Vermont
The Ruth Stone Foundation Writer's Workshop Showcase
Saturday, April 27, 2019 at 2:00PM
Bianca Stone and Ben Pease are celebrating the exciting new voices of poets who have been participating in their Ruth Stone Foundation Writer's Workshop during this last year. The reading will be held at Book & Leaf Bookstore, on Saturday, April 27, at 2 PM.
The reading will feature local emerging poets Nora Swann Croll, Rishi Connelly, Wendy Leeds, Aaron Lovett, Francis Mcgill, Kiev Rattee, Margaret Rogal, Leanne Ruell, Eric Sanborn, and Walter Stone. Bianca Stone and Ben Pease will also read from their own work, and that of Ruth Stone.
The Ruth Stone Foundation Writer's Workshop has been going on for over a year. It initially started in the Brandon Library, then moved to Bianca Stone and Ben Pease's living room, and will move to the Ruth Stone House in the summer. The workshop goes from 6-9pm every Tuesday night.
In the first hour, workshop co-leader Ben Pease presents a packet of poems (usually with a unifying theme) that students read and discuss and will use as inspiration for the work they are expected to bring in for the next week. The final two hours are pure workshop, lead by Bianca Stone and Ben Pease. Each student reads his/her poem and the class discusses it and tries to find ways to make the poem as powerful as possible and express what it means to say fully. The environment is nurturing, supportive, and vigorous. The workshop is an integral part of the Ruth Stone Foundation programming that Bianca Stone and Ben Pease plan to continue for the foreseeable future.
Established in 2013, The Foundation serves to fulfill Ruth Stone's wish that her physical and literary estate would be used for the furthering of poetry and the creative arts. It was created not only to nurture contemporary poetry and art in its many forms, but also to cultivate and celebrate the works and legacy of the poet herself.
The Foundation seeks to provide poets and artists time, space, and opportunities to create new work and share it with a wider audience. This is accomplished through The Foundation's small-press publishing house, the Next Galaxy Poetry Initiative (a writers' retreat and haven, located in Ruth Stone's house in Goshen, Vermont) and other programming in New York City. Compelled by Ruth Stone's life and work, The Foundation seeks to support under-represented artists and stand for a literary community outside the usual institutions.
The Ruth Stone Foundation connects the writers and artists it supports with the community at large, especially to empower women and foster leadership through creativity, writing, and publishing.
Please join us in welcoming Bianca Stone and Ben Pease and the Ruth Stone Foundation Writer's Workshop. Enjoy snacks and drinks, and purchase poetry broadsides and books. Support Vermont talent and keep expanding our community of lovers of the written word!
Bianca Stone is a poet and visual artist. She is the author of the poetry collections Someone Else's Wedding Vows (Tin House/Octopus Books, 2014), Poetry Comics from the Book of Hours (Pleiades Books, 2016), The Möbius Strip Club of Grief (Tin House, 2018) and multiple chapbooks. She is also a contributing artist for a special edition of Anne Carson's Antigonick.
Ben Pease is the Executive Director of the Ruth Stone Foundation, where he oversees everything from the ruthstonefoundation.org website to renovations of the Ruth Stone House in Goshen. He is the author of Chateau Wichman (Big Lucks Books, 2017) and holds degrees from Emerson College and Columbia University.