Sheila Tiarks will be the featured poet at The Performing Arts Studio Second Sunday Poetry Reading May 18.  The reading begins at 2:00 in the Norman Depot, 200 South Jones Avenue.  There is no admission charge.  Light refreshments will be served.

Tiarks, a retired social worker, began writing poetry only seven years ago.  Her first one person extended reading was at PAS Second Sunday Poetry in 2006.  She has since become a prominent personality in the metro poetry scene and is now the host/coordinator of the monthly poetry readings at Full Circle in Oklahoma City. 

“Sheila Tiarks is an accomplished poet in her own right, one whose poetic vision has delighted audiences who have found her warm and perceptive.” says Carl Sennhenn, host of Second Sunday Poetry.  “We look forward to her second reading at the Depot.”

For additional  information on Performing Arts Studio programs call 405-307-9320.  PAS hours are 8:00 am to 3:00 pm Tuesday through Friday and 1:00 to 5:00 Sundays.

Fred Alsberg will be the featured poet at the April 13 Performing Arts Studio Second Sunday Poetry Reading.  There is no admission charge for the reading, which begins at 2:00 pm in the Norman Depot, 200 South Jones Avenue.  Light refreshments will be served.

Alsberg’s work has appeared in Blue Unicorn, Kansas Quarterly, Oregon East, Rhino, Greensboro Review, Sundog, Louisiana Review, Oklahoma Today, Pennine Ink, and elsewhere. He has poems forthcoming in Talking River and has done readings accompanied by acoustic and electric jazz piano.

His most recent book of poetry, Reassembling Dust, was published by Pudding House Publications (2007) and was a finalist this year for the Oklahoma Center for the Book award in Poetry.

Alsberg is an English professor at Southwestern University in Weatherford and, for many years,  was the poetry editor of that university’s literary journal. 

PAS invites all who are interested in poetry to attend this reading.  It promises to be outstanding.

The final Winter Wind Concert of the season featuring singer/songwriter Johnsmith, is scheduled the evening of April 13, beginning at 7:00 pm.  Winter Wind tickets are $10.  Advance ticket purchase is recommended.

For additional information, phone The Performing Arts Studio at 307-9320.

Paperweight

Eight floors down
in a snow-covered parking lot,
a car is sawing itself free.

It leaves a black space its own shape,
then fishtails into the street
where traffic creeps as though underwater.

The whole city is submerged,
and snowflakes filter down
like fishfood in an aquarium,

to where people walk free of their footprints.

Fred Alsberg

Poet and author Sandra Soli will share her poetry at The Performing Arts Studio Second Sunday Poetry Reading on March 9.  There is no admission charge for the reading, which begins at 2:00 in the Norman Depot, 200 South Jones Avenue. 

Soli’s first love, she says, has always been poetry.  Her poetry chapbooks, Silvering the Flute and What Trees Know, were both named finalists for the Oklahoma Book Award.  Her first poems and short fiction were published before she reached the age of 20. 

Soli’s work has appeared widely in national journals, featured on NPR Radio, and has received many literary honors, including UCO's Marilyn Harris undergraduate writing award, LSU's Eyster Prize in Poetry, and Author of the Month for Highlights Magazine for Children.  She has also been a finalist for several national book prizes.

Among her careers, Sandra Soli spent more than a dozen years as a radio broadcaster, hosting both morning and late-night programs in Lawton, OK. She served a stint as Tokyo Rose for the U.S. Army, narrated a Tulsa Chamber of Commerce film about the Port of Catoosa, and was part of more than 50 productions as actor, choreographer, and director in regional and community theaters in the U.S. and Europe. 

Soli holds a B.A. in communications/theater and an honors M.A. in English/creative studies.  After marrying and moving to Oklahoma City, Sandra spent a decade traveling as an Oklahoma poet-in-residence, working with more than 5,000 students statewide.  That was followed by nine years as columnist and poetry editor for ByLine magazine.  She continues to speak and conduct workshops for writers of all ages.

Series host Carl Sennhenn says “I am sure our audience at the Depot will like Sandra’s poetry — and her.”

For additional concert information, contact The Performing Arts Studio at 405-307-9320.  PAS office hours in the Depot are Tuesday through Friday from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm, and Sunday from 1:00 to 5:00.

Dr. Jennifer Kidney

Kidney’s award winning poetry has been published in numerous magazines and journals.  She has been performing her poetry since 1968 when she won the Great Lakes College Association Poetry Contest and did a reading tour of member colleges.

Among numerous other readings, Kidney has read at the SCLMA convention in New Orleans; the opening of the Dallas Museum of Art; for Paperback Books in Mesquite and Dallas, Texas; libraries across the country; and several venues in Norman.  In the spring of 2005, she was one of ten poets invited to give readings for the Sundown Poetry Series, which is part of the prestigious annual Spoleto Festival hosted by the City of Charleston, South Carolina.

Kidney received her B.A. with Highest Honors in English, from Oberlin College and her Master’s and Ph.D. in English from Yale University.  She has more than twenty years of college-level teaching experience.  She has taught creative writing for adults and children, has worked as a poet-in-the-schools for the Oklahoma Arts Council and, since 1988, has been Director of Let’s Talk About it, Oklahoma, a statewide humanities-based reading and discussion project for libraries and other nonprofit organizations.