November Monthly Poetry Group
Welcome Poets! Join us for an evening of poetry and discussion on Thu evening, Nov 9th at 6:00pm (lasts to 7:00pm). We're thrilled to have Marie Kane reading from her latest poetry collection, Switchgrass, at the Newtown Bookshop on November 9, 6:00 pm! We hope you'll join us in celebrating Marie's new collection. Questions and discussion are always welcome and encouraged.
MEETING WILL TAKE PLACE IN NEW STORE - see below for exact address.
About Marie Kane
Marie Kane’s poetry has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize and has appeared in
the Bellevue Literary Review, U. S. 1 Worksheets, Wordgathering, The Schuylkill Valley Journal,
The Delaware Valley Poets Anthology, The Poet’s Touchstone, The Meadowland Review, the
Boston Literary Magazine, Adanna Journal, River Heron Review, and many others. Her work
has been anthologized, most notably in Poems for the Writing: Prompts for Poets, (Texture
Press, 2013, 2019) edited by Valerie Fox and Lynn Levin, and The Liberal Media Made Me Do
It, poetic responses to NPR and PBS stories, edited by Robbie Nester, and Touching MS: Poetic
Expressions: an anthology by Jennifer M. Evans.
Her poetry has won prizes in many competitions, including the Poetry Society of New
Hampshire, Inglis House, and the Robert Frasier contest. She has read her work at many
locations, including Musehouse in Philadelphia, the Manayunk Arts Center, the International
House in Philadelphia, the Princeton NJ Library, Bucks County Community College, the
University of New Hampshire, Arcadia University, the Michener Art Museum, and numerous
bookstores and libraries. She is honored to be the 2006 Bucks County Poet Laureate.
Diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 1991, she is now living with secondary
progressive MS. She has published four poetry collections, a chapbook, Survivors in the Garden
(Big Table Publishing, 2012), which largely concerns living with multiple sclerosis, a full-length
collection, Beauty, You Drive a Hard Bargain (Kelsay Books, 2017), and another chapbook,
Persephone’s Truth (2018), which includes art by her husband, Stephen Millner. Her fourth
collection featured this evening, Switchgrass, (AuthorHouse, 2023) addresses a marriage
affected by disabling illness and the healing power of love and nature.
Kane retired from Central Bucks School District (PA) after twenty-eight years of teaching 10 th -
12 th grade English and Creative Writing. She received a recognition award from the National
Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts, and a gold award for her teaching of young writers
from The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. She continues to be involved in scholastic poetry.
She is on the board and a judge for the Bucks County (PA) Main Street Voices poetry contest,
grades K-12, and adult, and since 2009, has been the final judge for the national Sarah Mook
poetry contest, grades K-12. She and her husband live in Yardley, PA, with their rescue cat,
Emma Peel.
About the Poetry Group
Feel free to invite friends to join us. We are an intimate, informal group that enjoys sharing poetry with others in our surrounding communities. Hope to see you there!
The first half of the monthly meeting is devoted to a reading by a featured poet from the group or by a published poet. The second half hour allows open mike time for group members to share a few poems they've written, or they may choose to read poems written by their favorite poets. In the future, we may include poetry workshops to the group's activities. If you are interested in sharing a collection of poems, please email Lynn at lynn.fanok@gmail.com .
The poetry group meeting is facilitated by Lynn Fanok who has written a book of poems, Bread and Fumes (Kelsay Books), about her experiences as the daughter of a WWII labor camp survivor, examining her family, memory, and history. Her poetry has appeared in Painted Bride Quarterly, Schuylkill Valley Journal, Red Wolf Press, Tiny Seed Journal, tiny wren lit, and the poetry anthology, Carry Us to the Next Well. Lynn holds degrees in English from The Pennsylvania State University and Arcadia University. Visit lynnfanok.weebly.com .
All are invited and welcome to join us!
When: 2nd Thursday of each month