George Wallace and Walt Whitman Birthplace proudly present season three of POETS BUILDING BRIDGES: A TRIANGULATION PROJECT, inaugurated in March 2022 with the purpose of enhancing dialogue between communities of writers across the US and internationally. Based on a shared small-group experience, these Saturday zoom sessions engage three distinct and well defined communities of poets with each other to share work and foster further interaction. In Season Three, POETS BUILDING BRIDGES will build on that experience, triangulating national and international groups based not only on location but additionally offering key small press publications an opportunity to form a participating group.
Live on zoom. archived on Youtube. For Season 2 visit our YouTube Channel >>
Oklahoma: Ben Myers | Julie Chappell | Roxana Caszan | Paul Austin
Ben Myers is a former poet laureate of Oklahoma and is the author of four books of poetry, including The Family Book of Martyrs (Lamar University Literary Press, 2023). His poems have appeared in Image, The Yale Review, Rattle, Nimrod, and many other journals. He teaches at Oklahoma Baptist University, where he directs the great books honors program.”
Roxana Cazan is the author of two poetry books, The Accident of Birth (Main Street Rag, 2017) and Tethered to the Unexpected (Alien Buddha Press, 2022). She co-edited Voices on the Move: An Anthology by and about Refugees (Solis Press, 2020) and Voices in the Pandemic (Solis Press, 2023). Roxana is a first-generation Romanian American poet.
Julie Chappell published six books of scholarship and a collection of her original poetry, Faultlines: One Woman’s Shifting Boundaries (Village Books Press, 2013). , in her former life as a professor of medieval and early modern English literature and creative writing, Since retiring, she has had two more collections of poetry and two collections of short stories published—Mad Habits of a Life (Lamar University Literary Press, 2019), As I Pirouette Away (Turning Plow Press, 2021), Homecoming and Other Mythic Tales (Fine Dog Press, 2021), and Contrary Qualities of Elements (Fine Dog Press, 2023).
Paul Austin’s book Spontaneous Behavior, the Art and Craft of Acting, was published by Turning Plow Press, in October, 2022. his collection of poetry “Notes on Hard Times” was published by Village Books Press. His poems have been included in Speak Your Mind, the 2019 anthology of Woody Guthrie Poets Bull Buffalo and Indian Paintbrush, an anthology of Oklahoma poetry, Behind the mask: Haiku in the Time of Covid-19, Jerry Jazz Musician, and LEVEL Land: poems for and about the I-35 corridor. Late Night Conspiracies, a collection of his writings was performed with jazz ensemble at New York’s Ensemble Studio Theatre.
St. Augustine FL: Chris Bodor | Ben Atkinson | Cheyenne Leahy | Rob Waldner
Chris Bodor is a first generation American. He was born in Connecticut to an English mother and a Hungarian father. During the past three decades, his poems have appeared in many independent, small, and micro-press publications, such as the Lummox Journal, Live Nude Poems, and New Generation Beats-2022 Anthology. He is currently serving a two-year term as the Florida State Beat Poem Laureate (2023-2025). Bodor is the Editor-In-Chief of the international literary journal A.C. PAPA, which stands for Ancient City Poets, Authors, Photographers, and Artists.
Ben Atkinson is an assistant professor of natural sciences at Flagler College. He has been a featured reader for the JaxByJax Literary Arts Festival, Sing Out Loud Festival, and Southeast Sister Cities Reading Tour. Ben’s debut poetry collection, Spider Lightning was published by Hidden Owl in 2019.
Cheyenne B. Koth is a writer, public historian, and artist. She was born and raised in the South Carolina Lowcountry. She is a graduate of Flagler College, and has been lucky enough to braid her passion for storytelling into her work in the History field through writing and interpretation.
Rob Waldner has been a dedicated poet and writer since childhood. His life experiences have largely shaped his literary works. Robert has been an active member of Ancient City Poets since 2013 and has led many of the monthly open mics. For the past seven years he has actively written articles for multiple Northeast Florida publications. You can also find his poetry and essays in various literary anthologies.
Swiss Poets: Lucilla Trapazzo | Andrea Grieder | Bes Camaj | Ali Al-Shalah
Lucilla Trapazzo (Switzerland/Italy) is a multi-awarded poet, translator, artist, performer. Author of six books of poetry. After years spent abroad (Germany, Brussels, NYC, Washington DC) she now lives in Zurich. Supporter of human rights and Earth, her feminine point of view is reflected in many of her works.
Ali Al-Shalah was born in Babylon, Iraq, educated at University of Baghdad, Yarmouk University, Jordan, 1996 and University of Bern, Switzerland. He has published five poetry collections and five books on criticism, and is the Founder and President of many cultural institutions, events and festivals including the Swiss Arab Cultural Center in 1995, the Al-Mutanabbi International Cultural Festival / Switzerland and the Babylon Festival for International Cultures and Arts. In 2010 he was Chairman of the Culture and Media Committee in the Iraqi Parliament 2010, and served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees and President of the Iraqi Media Network 2014-2018.
Bes Camaj was born in Peja, Kosove, studied at University of Prishtina, as well as in Zagreb, and Lausanne Switzerland, where he has lived since 1989. He is founder of Association of Albanian Writers in Switzerland. Author of five volumes of poetry, he began writing poetry at the age of 12.
Andrea Grieder is a poet and social anthropologist. She is the founder of Transpoesis, an organization based in Rwanda with the aim to empower through poetry. Originally from Switzerland, she has a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich and Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris. Andrea is currently Director of in Artes, an art therapy institute in Zurich.
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POETS BUILDING BRIDGES is produced by Poetrybay Productions for the Walt Whitman Birthplace.
