Please join us for a poetry reading with local features to celebrate the kick off of this year’s Easton Book Festival. LVPC continues to partner with the festival on programming so please check out the festival website (link) and social media during October 2022 for the latest on over a hundred virtual and in person programs spanning two weeks!
Lehigh Valley Poetry Collective is a loose network of poets in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding areas who work together to promote local poetry events, workshops, micropresses, arts nonprofits, publications, and more including monthly open mic events. In partnership with the festival, there will be a group poetry reading hosted by local poet E. Lynn Alexander to kick off the festival in downtown Easton’s Centre Square putside of Book and Puppet featuring Burton Stehly, Rebecca Migdal, Damian Rucci, Jon Lawrence, Chloe Cole, Andrew Vuono, Sara Bowman, Misty Prostko, Darrell Parry, Cleveland Wall, and more! The Big Easy Easton Brass will be joining the festivities starting at 7:00 outside of Book and Puppet and the poetry will start at 7:30.
E. Lynn Alexander (event host): Lynn is a local poet, small press publisher, and organizer on the board of the Easton Book Festival since 2020. She also organizes poetry events and workshops with the Lehigh Valley Poetry Collective, including open mic events and performances in the area since 2014. (LVP Salon with Darrell Parry, Words in the Ward, Tuesday Muse with Cleveland Wall, and more) She cofounded Collapse Press in 2021 after a break from previous presses and sponsors The Friday Collapse monthly reading series, now on on year two.
Rebecca Migdal: Rebecca is a performer, artist and author, and founder of Yippee Skippy Puppet Theater (Easton, PA.) She teaches design at East Stroudsburg University. A contributing editor at World War 3 Illustrated, the New York based, collectively-published yearly anthology of activist sequential art, she is currently a doctoral candidate in Jungian Studies at Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Burton Stehly: Burton began writing when someone asked him what some lyrics meant, to a song he had written. That led to the book “Beauty Among Thorns.” Upon opening the book, song lyrics are on one side and poems are on the other side with the stories behind them. Through it all is the story of a member of a touring band and the people along the way. Later, things evolved into a set of releases called “Random Milestones,” featuring a spoken word CD and a book. They contain different compilations of his stories and musings from story slams, improv shows and stand-up comedy.
Jon Lawrence: Jon Lawrence currently teaches high school English and Creative Writing at Liberty High School. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing at Wilkes University. His poetry reviews and poetry have been published or are forthcoming from Newfound, Tofu Ink Arts Press and American Writers Review. Chat with him about poems or The Grateful Dead on Twitter @JonLawrence1116
Damian Rucci: Damian Rucci is a poet and organizer of the NJ Poetry Renaissance. He is the author of seven books of poetry most recently Corrupt the Youth & Poets Ruin Everything. Host of Puff Puff Poems & seven other poetry shows, Damian is the official poet laureate of every 711 in New Jersey.
Misty Prostko: Misty is an 18 year old poet from Bethlehem, PA. They started getting involved with the local poetry scene in 2019, and has loved it ever since. They don’t have any public works out right now, but it’s something they would love to do in the future! They’ve also been a featured performer with 610poetry, and had gone to many open mics in the area.
Chloe Cole-Wilson: Chloe is the project coordinator at VYH’s Project Silk, which provides a safe space for LGBTQ+ youth offering health services and support. She is also the founder and creative director of Basement Poetry and a local activist who has made her mark in the community through arts and advocacy.
Sara Bowman: Compulsive writer and impulsive human, Sara has been writing and making trouble since she got her first ink pen. While the troublemaking has somewhat subsided, this mother of three and upstanding member of the proletariat still plays with words, exploring the battlegrounds of heart & soul, society and self. She is currently working on her forthcoming collection of poems, “Heart Atlas”.
Andrew Vuono: Andrew Vuono is a forklift certified art school drop out punk rock poet from Bethlehem, PA. Founder and organizer of 610poetry, he believes poetry belongs to everyone especially the marginalized, disenfranchised and working class. He has a new chapbook “Under a Bridge of Dreams” out, published by Between Shadows Press.
Cleveland Wall: Cleveland Wall is a poet, teaching artist, and librarian in Bethlehem, PA. She performs with interactive poetry troupe No River Twice and with musical combo The Starry Eyes. She is the author of Let X=X (Kelsay Books, 2019) and many small, hand-made chapbooks. Current obsessions include dream life, embodied poetics, ephemeral art, and the power of persistent, incremental change.
Darrell Parry: An enthusiastic proponent of open mics, indie presses and indie bookstores, Darrell Parry has haunted the Pennsylvania reading scene for decades. His book, Twists: Gathered Ephemera was released from Parisian Phoenix Publishing January 2022. He currently cohosts the Lehigh Valley Poetry Virtual Salon with E. Lynn Alexander on zoom the first Monday of every month. He also edits Stick Figure Quarterly.
