Featuring readings from:
Pam O'Brien
Nancy James
Don Krieger
Chris Michaels
Arlene Weiner
Rosaly Roffman
Randy Minnich
Shirley Stevens
Nancy Esther James' poems have appeared in various journals and literary magazines including Christianity and Literature, Time of Singing, and Poet Lore, as well as in publications such as Friends Journal and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Her poem "To a Friend," originally appearing in Christianity and Literature, was reprinted in the 2003 Poet's Market. Published collections of her poetry include No Time to Hurry (Dawn Valley Press, 1979), Avenues Toward Light (Dawn Valley Press, 2019), and Resilient Spirit, Poems for Lorraine (Finishing Line Press, 2013). She has taught poetry workshops at the St. Davids Christian Writers Conference and other writers' gatherings.
Don Krieger is a biomedical researcher whose focus is the electric activity within the brain. He is author of the hybrid collection, Discovery, and is a 2020 Creative Nonfiction Foundation Science-as-Story Fellow. His work has appeared in American Journal of Nursing, Beltway Quarterly, Neurology, Seneca Review, The Asahi Shimbun, The Blue Nib, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Vox Populi, and others, and has appeared in several anthologies in both English and Farsi.
Christine Doreian Michaels came from England in 1971 and is a retired psychologist living in Regent Square . She was an invited reader at the James Wright Poetry Festival, and is published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Exchange, Taproots, Songs For The Living, Signatures 2001, 2003, 2006, and the international anthologies, No Choice But To Trust and Only the Sea Keeps: Poetry of the Tsunami. She won first poetry prize in The Labyrinth Society's annual contest 2007 and has a poem in Along These Rivers, an anthology celebrating Pittsburgh 's 250th anniversary.
Randy Minnich is a retired chemist, now focusing on writing, t’ai chi, and grandchildren. A member of the Squirrel Hill Poetry Workshop, he has published two books, Wildness in a Small Place and Pavlov’s Cats. His work has also appeared in Main Street Rag , U.S. 1 Worksheets, Rune, Uppagus, and other publications.
Pam O’Brien began writing poetry at Allegheny College with a response to the Beatles’ song “Strawberry Fields Forever,” something we probably shouldn’t try to respond to. A former resident of Buffalo, Erie and Pittsburgh, she worked in the fields of grant writing, teaching Spanish and English and finally teaching Professional Writing at the University of Pittsburgh for 19 years. Two years ago, she retired to Florida , where she continues to read and write and volunteer. She has three chapbooks and a full-length poetry collection and has been frequently published in poetry magazines and journals.
Rosaly DeMaios Roffman, a native New Yorker, taught creative writing, Classical Literature, World Mythology, and founded a Myth/Folklore Studies Center at IUP. She has read her poems in Ireland, Greece, Mexico, Israel, Spain, and Bratislava and has collaborated on 23 pieces with composers and other artists. Her work has been published in journals, magazines, and anthologies. She has received grants from the National Endowment and the Witter Bynner Foundations and was awarded the Distinguished Faculty Award in the Arts at IUP. She is the facilitator of Pittsburgh 's Squirrel Hill Poetry Workshop. In 2012 Tebot Bach published her latest book of poems, I Want to Thank My Eyes.
Shirley Stevens is a member of the Pittsburgh Poetry Society and the Squirrel Hill Poetry, and St. David’s workshops. She serves as a mentor for the Writing Academy and a poetry workshop leader for Passavant Retirement Village and The First Word. Her poems most recently appeared in The Potter’s Wheel, Honing the Poem, and A Time of Singing, as well as Poet Lore, Along These Rivers, Fission of Form, The CommonWealth: Pennsylvania Poets on Pennsylvania Subjects, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Squirrel Hill Magazine. She is the author of Pronouncing What We Want to Keep.
Arlene Weiner's poems have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, including Paterson Literary Review, Pleiades, and Poet Lore, and have been heard on The Writer’s Almanac. Ragged Sky Press published two collections of her poems, Escape Velocity (2006) and City Bird (2016). Arlene was awarded a residence at MacDowell. She also writes plays. Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater produced her play Findings.