Past Events
MARCH 25, 2011 -- Second Annual Poetry in the Park (PIP). For details, see the press release which also includes information concerning the Redrock Writers Guild 2011 seminar.
LaVerna Johnson, UTSPS President,
provided the following on this PIP workshop:
Cherokee poet, essayist, author, playwright, film producer Diane Glancy is our PIP poetry
headliner this year, and we are in for a great learning experience! See
www.dianeglancy.com.
UTSPS members receive a 20% discount and pay just $48 for the full day program when we register
by calling Michael Plyler @ 435-772-3264. Mail $48 with your registration
form, indicating UTSPS membership.
Make checks to ZNHA, and mail to: Michael Plyler, Poetry In the Park, ZCFI, Zion National Park,
Springdale, UT 84767. Non-members can register online at
www.zionpark.org/product_66.html.
For a registration brochure: check our website (not yet available
but hope to have it soon),
or contact LaVerna at poetaken@gmail.com. Any profits are shared equally with UTSPS for the benefit of your society. With
your support, I believe this may be the start of something big!
UTSPS 2010 Book Concert
The 2010 Book Concert will be held Saturday evening, Oct 16, from 6:30 pm at the Salt Lake City Main Library (SLC downtown location: 210 East 400 South). At 7 pm, Rosalyn Whitaker Ostler will read selections from her winning book: Walking the Earth Barefoot.
UTSPS 2010/11 Workshops
March 12, 2011 with Marilyn Bushman-Carlton
Marilyn is a UTSPS Poet of the Year, 1999. Her latest poetic offering,
Her Side of It, was published by Signature Books in 2010. This
workshop will be held at the Bountiful Arts Center. For those planning on attending,
Marilyn
requests that each of us bring one favorite poem by a poet other than ourselves.
February 12, 2011 Workshop with Chris Yates
Chris has an M.A. in creative writing and was mentored by Leslie Norris.
This workshop will also be held at the Springville Museum of Art. The Museum is located at 126 E 400 S in
Springville, the town immediately south of Provo. Take I-15 to exit 260
which is the south Springville exit. Drive east into town 1 mile,
staying on the exit road which is 400 South. The Museum is on the right,
parking on the east side of the building. Our workshop will be held
downstairs. There is an elevator to the left as you enter the building.
We will allow some time for browsing the art collection before leaving
for lunch after the session. Board meeting will follow the workshop.
January 8, 2011 Workshop with Brenda Burr
Start the new year with a great poetry workshop in an exciting new location. We will meet in the
Springville Museum of Art on Saturday, January 8, 2011 from 10 am to noon. Our speaker will be Brenda
Burr on the subjects of creativity and how to read poetry for meaning and impact (see Brenda’s bio below).
All workshops are open to the public and are sponsored by the Utah State Poetry Society, the Utah Arts
Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Brenda Burr graduated from the
University of Oklahoma with a BA in English Education and Brigham Young University with an M. Ed in
Educational Leadership. She taught high school English including AP Literature, AP Language, and
Creative Writing for 15 years. She currently is the assistant principal of a brand new high school and
teaches as an adjunct faculty member for BYU. She is a published author and has been a presenter for
several professional organizations including the Utah Council of Teachers of English. During the summer
months, she teaches workshops in continuing education for BYU. She has been married to Dr. Kevin Burr
for 33 years. They have four children and three grandchildren.
November 13, 2010 Workshop with Lara Candland
Lara is a poet, librettist, and teacher. She presented on the subject: from prose to the lyric poem. The workshop
was held at the Bountiful Art Center, 745 So Main.
UTSPS 2010 Spring Festival
The society's Diamond Jubilee Convention was held April 23 & 24. For the competition results, see the winners list and the judges' comments. For the manuscript award, see the Pearle M. Olsen Book Award Winners.
Poetry in the Park, March 12, 2010 ...more...
UTSPS 2009/10 Workshops
March 6, 2010 with
Marianne Klekacz
Take Down the Scaffolding
In “Take Down the Scaffolding,” Marianne Klekacz helped workshop participants explore ways to create
new material and then extract the art from what they’ve generated. Although Klekacz is primarily a poet,
she says the techniques work for both poetry and prose.
The workshop was designed for writers at all levels of their craft, even those who
were just thinking about writing.
Participants learned some techniques for finding new material and then explored how to extract the real creation
from a rough draft.
Together, participants explored the evolution of original writing from the first rough draft through finished copy.
The workshop includee practice of these techniques.
Marianne Klekacz says she is an “accidental poet” who came to the craft entirely by chance. She lives and writes
off the grid in the Big Elk valley west of Mary’s Peak at Salado, Oregon. She earned a B.A. in English and Writing
from Marylhurst University and an M.F.A. in Writing from Pacific University. Her first chapbook,
Life Science, won
the Edna Meudt Memorial Award in 2003. Her first full-length collection,
When Words Fail, was published by
Dancing Moon Press in June, 2009.
February 13, 2010 with
Rob Carney
Rob Carney is the author of two books—Weather
Report (Somondoco Press, 2006) and
Boasts, Toasts, and Ghosts (Pinyon Press, 2003), winner of
the Pinyon Press National Poetry Book Award—and two chapbooks, New
Fables, Old Songs (Dream Horse Press, 2003) and
This Is One Sexy Planet (Frank Cat Press, 2005). His work
has appeared in Mid-American Review, Quarterly West, and dozens of other
journals, as well as Flash Fiction Forward, a W.W. Norton collection of
the 80 best flash fiction pieces published between 1996 and 2006. He is
a two-time winner of the Utah Book Award for Poetry, as well as a former
Utah Arts Council Individual Artist Grant Recipient for Poetry. He is a
Professor of English and Literature at Utah Valley University and lives
in Salt Lake City.
January 9, 2010, with Barbara Murdock
Barbara Murdock taught creative writing for twenty-seven years at Salt Lake
City’s East High School, where she was adviser for Pencilings and Take Five. In
1997, she was named Distinguished Teacher by the White House Commission on
Presidential Scholars and the United States Office of Education. She has served on
the boards of Writers @ Work, City Art, and the Utah Humanities Council. She
conducts writing workshops for children and adults and is a private editor and
consultant. Having enjoyed two years of writing and traveling during a brief
retirement, she has now returned part time to East High working with students
who struggle with English.
November 14, 2009 Workshop with Joyce Ellen Davis
Joyce Ellen Davis is a grandmother of eight. She is also a writer from Salt Lake City, Utah,
where she resides with one husband, two dogs, and a lovebird. Her novel, CHRYSALIS, received
a $5,000 publication grant from the Utah Arts Council, and was nominated for the
American Book Award. Her poetry book, IN WILLY'S HOUSE, won her a UTSPS Laureate Award.
She co-authored a poetry textbook, ON EXTENDED WINGS. Pindrop Press is publishing her poetry
collection, PEPEK THE ASSASSIN, in 2010. Her blog
(thelittlegod.blogspot.com)
is a miscellany of opinions, pictures, and poems. The welcome mat is always out.
