Eileen Spinelli coming to Poetry from Daily Life

Hi everyone,

Tomorrow is a travel day so I’ll tell you today that my guest on Poetry from Daily Life this week will be EILEEN SPINELLI, a dear friend and colleague. We met in 2013 when we co-led (with REBECCA DOTLICH) a poetry workshop in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. Here’s a little more about this talented author and poet.

Eileen Spinelli lives with her husband JERRY SPINELLI in
 Media, Pennsylvania. She tries to write most mornings. When Eileen isn't
 writing you might find her watching old movies with Jerry,
 hanging out with the grandkids, browsing thrift shops, knitting scarves or
 watching hummingbirds at the feeders in the back yard. Two books she
 especially had fun writing are Birdie and Another Day As Emily--both
 novels in verse. One unique fact about Eileen is that she and Jerry have
 40 grand- and great-grandchildren, including four adopted from Ukraine.

You're going to love Eileen. Everyone does!

For the 3,519th time…

Hi everyone,

Today is my 3,519th post on this blog spot that Kathy Temean created for me in 2009. Bill Johnson at Highlight and others had urged me to get a website so I looked around for designers. The first note I sent to friends for recommendations was Ralph Fletcher. He, Ruth Culham, Rebecca Dotlich, Eileen Spinelli, and others gave me names and tips, and I eventually wound up going with Kathy. When Kathy completed my website, she said I needed a blog. I fought against it, lost, and here I sit, 3,519 posts later, saying for the 3,519th time, “Hi everyone.”

Today I look forward to a Zoom meeting with Kathleen O’Dell (Public Relations Director) and Stephanie Smallwood (acting Director of Children’s Services) at Springfield-Greene County Public Libraries to discuss what I’d like to do for a summer reading project with the district. I hope to do one or more videos providing tips about reading and writing poetry for the summer reading program. Perhaps I can use the videos for other programs elsewhere. I’m eager for the visit.

Yesterday, thanks to the expert direction of Marjorie Bicknell, Philadelphia Regional Rep for Dramatists Guild of America, Sandy Asher and I presenting our reading of JESSE AND GRACE. It was the first time a children’s work has been presented in the Footlights series. We drew a record number of registrations, for which we were grateful. For those of you who watched the performance, thank you! The event was recorded so before long we’ll be able to share it with teachers, librarians, and others who might be interested. More about that soon.

Poetry workshop

Hi everyone,

I’m sitting out this year so there’s only one poetry workshop currently on record hosted by Highlights Foundation at the Barn near Honesdale, Pennsylvania.

Rebecca Dotlich will lead it (April 19-21) and if you’d like more information about that one, here’s a link. http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/3897/one-poets-story .

 
For those who sign up for Larry Dane Brimner’s workshop, “Capturing the Spotlight: Getting the Gigs 2015” (April 26-29), I’ll be one of Larry’s Skype guests. I accepted his invitation to “spend an hour talking about blogging, blogging without a huge investment of time/effort, and what you perceive as the benefits vis a vis developing a following and getting speaking engagements.” Here’s Larry’s link. http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/workshops/getting-the-gigs-2015/

Julie Hedlund interview and Renee LaTulippe’s Poet-a-Palooza

BULLETIN: For fans of POETRY FRIDAY ANTHOLOGY FOR MIDDLE SCHOOL, you’re in for some fun at Renee LaTulippe’s No Water River today. With her usual mastery of the form, Renee has put together a thoroughly entertaining presentation that includes an interview with Mary Skelly, a wonderful teacher who is passionate about teaching poetry to her fourth graders PLUS new videos by some of the poets in the book: George Ella Lyon, Joy Acey, Heidi Bee Roemer, Heidi Mordhorst, and me (playing my trombone — sort of). Click here to visit Poet-a-Palooza (Part I). http://www.nowaterriver.com/national-poetry-month-the-poetry-friday-anthology-for-middle-school-poet-a-palooza-part-1/#comments-wrap

REMINDER: In case anyone missed it yesterday, the word for April is FRAGRANCE. Let the sweet smelling poetry begin!

Hi everyone,

Today it’s my privilege to be interviewed by Julie Hedlund who, hardly two hours after posting her effort, left the country for Italy. She called the other day on Skype and we had a pleasant talk. Later she divided our discussion into segments according to theme. If you care to check the interview on her site, I hope you’ll find something to enjoy.  Here’s how.

http://www.juliehedlund.com/julies-blog

Available Now! A TROOP IS A GROUP OF MONKEYS
Creator, Template for Storybook Apps
Founder, 12 x 12 in 2012 PB Writing Challenge
Leader, Writer’s Renaissance Retreat in Florence, Italy

Many of you know Julie and follow her site. She also attended the poetry workshop last year that was co-led by Eileen Spinelli, Rebecca Dotlich, and me. Julie, many thanks. I had a good time visiting with you and hope you enjoy Florence.

David

An open question about poetry

BULLETIN: Check out our new 3rd grade poets, Brooke and Eliza! Thanks to Nancye Flinn for introducing them to us. Welcome, girls. We wish you a wonderful summer filled with good times, good books, and good writing.

Hi everyone,

Poet Christi Diamond attended the poetry workshop in Honesdale that I co-led with Rebecca Dotlich and Eileen Spinelli. For Christi this was another step along the way to learning more about the craft of writing poetry. She has asked about other conferences or workshops that focus on poetry for children and I need help in responding.

If you know of other opportunities that you can recommend, please help Christi and anyone else who would like to know more about what’s available. Thanks!

David