Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon Celebrates One Year

Congratulations Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon, Juliet P. Howard and Shelia M. Slaughter Co-Founders!

On Saturday April 14, 2012 Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon (WWBPS) celebrated their one year anniversary. This event took place at the lovely home of Pamela L. Laskin. She was a gracious and welcoming host. The event focused on a panel discussion. The panelists were E.J. Antonio, Regina Jamison, Pamela L. Laskin and Gladys E. Perez-Bashier. The topic writing while balancing ones work and personal life.  The moderator for the panel discussion was Co-Founder of Women Writers in Bloom Juliet P. Howard.

The program included a spoken word performance by Charan P. Morris and a vocal performance by Helese Smauldon.

E.J. Antonio shared that it is okay to self publish. It is okay to invest in yourself. “I produced my own music”.  “A  large record company was not going to knock on my door and say we want to produce you”. She spoke of being able to write at work without compromising her work responsiblities and it was okay and understood by her employers. Ms. Antonio has been the recipient of awards from The New York Foundation for the Arts, the Hurston/Wright Foundation and the Cave-Canem Foundations. She is published online and in various journals and magazines. Her debut jazzoetry CD, Rituals in the marrow: Recipe for a jam session was released in the Fall of 2010. http://www.ejantonio.net/

Regina Jamison spoke of  awakening 4:00Am and closing her bedroom door, after her family was settled in for the night in order to write. Regina  Jamison  is a MFA student  in the Creative Writing  Program at City College in New York City, and works full-time while raising a family. Her work appears in such publications as Clamour, Off the Rocks Vol. 14 & 15, and Promethean eZine.  Her erotic short stories appear in Zane’s Purple Panties and Girls Who Bite. http://www.examiner.com/book-in-newyork/regina-jamison

Pamela L. Laskin (our host) spoke of writing  during her Summer vacation from her job as a lecturer in the English Department at CCNY, where she directs the Poetry Outreach Center. She spoke of  her children interrupting her during the process of writing when they were younger. Now, they are adults and supportive. Her poems, short stories and chapbooks include Grand Central Station, Remembering Fireflies Secrets Of Sheets, Ghosts Goblins, Gods and Geodes.  She edited two collections The Heroic Young Woman and Life On The Moon: My Best Friends Secrets. http://sites.google.cm/site/iraandpam/other-books-by-pam

Charan P. Morris finds time to write when not working with her students and youth on various community projects.  Charan is a poet, performer and educator. She teaches Race, Class & Politics through literature in the New York City public schools. She has performed with  Climbing Poetree, The Last Poets, Staceyann Chin, Lemon Anderson, Toni Blackman, Ishle Park and others at various venues on both the East Coast and Midwest. Charan P. Morris’ poetry, lectures and performances address the destructive nature of colorism, homophobia and the effects of war. Her poems can be found in such publications as The Gallatin Review and Brownstone Magazine. Ms. Morris is a LAMBDA Literary Foundation 2011 Emerging LGBT Voices Fellow. http://www.charanp.com/

Gladys E. Perez-Bashier  is a founding member of Clinque Calm Books Inc./Foundation (an independent multiculural small press). She is the author of HEAL: Between the Pages of These Folks We Seek a Panacea, a culturally diverse anthology of poems, shortstories, chapters of novels, and songs. She  is a graduate of The City College of New York’s Graduate Creative Writing Program. She is currently teaching in New York City and working on another novel. http://www.cliquecalm.com/

Helese Smauldon is a creative and energic force of nature beautifully wrapped in a staturesque  frame. She is authentic and brings a vibrancy and joy to her singing. Her vocals and the poetic nature of her delivery is soul stirring, delicious and raw. She has a laugh that reaches down into the depths of her belly and has a smile like  liquid sunshine.  Ms. Smauldon’s rendition of the classic “Body and Soul” would make Billie Holiday “Lady Day”, Ella Fritzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Carmen Macrae, Sarah Vaugh, Betty Carter and Dinah Washington among a few of the greats  ladies of Jazz (African Classical Music) proud. The weaving of her original compositions in and out of the classic “Body and Soul” will surely be spoken of as a classic.

Ms. Smauldon is a composer and poet. She hails from South Carolina arriving in New York City ten years ago. Begining from the underground scene of New York City, performing at various venues. Creating  the popular Helese Talks in 2007. Starting as a local Brooklyn television show, it expanded into a YouTube channel and blog. She is a popular blogger, blogging about life in both, personal and public. Ms. Smauldon also models. www.helesetalks.wordpress.com

On completion of the panel discussion the audience was invited to ask the panelist members questions.

Panelist Regina Jamison read a few selections from her literary works. She teased the audience with her selections, and of course we wanted more.  This was followed by a powerful spoken word performance by Charan P. Morris. Both authors were well received.

The program ended with an open mic.  Some of the members of the audience who shared their poetry were Monica A. Hand author of Me and Nina, Louis Dowd poet and owner of NYC Style Safari and member  of WWBPS, Nzingha Tyehemba, poet and member of WWBPS, and Lorraine Currelley poet/playwright/ author, Founder Poets Network & Exchange and The Currelley Literary Journal at http://lcurrelley.wordpress.com and member of WWBPS.

To learn more about Women Writers in Bloom Poetry Salon: http://womenwritersinbloompoetrysalon.blogspot.com/

Email: womenwritersinbloom@gmail.com

©Lorraine Currelley and The Currelley Literary Journal 2011. Unauthorized duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

 

Category : Reviews