-- MELANIE LIEBERMAN
-- VICTORIA NORDLUND
Producer for Channel 3's Better Connecticut is Melissa Dethlefsen.
PREVIEW OF CELEBRATION
MAY 31
@ MARK TWAIN HOUSE & MUSEUM
Facts About The Connecticut Young Writers Trust
* The Trust has given more than $174,000 to Connecticut's best young poets and writers since 1998.
* About 6,000 young poets and writers have competed in the program; more than 580 in 2009.
* Our parties are like sports banquets for young writers, except our food and music are a lot better.
* Keynote speakers for the event, 2007 State Prose Champion Melanie Lieberman of Rockville High School and Victoria Nordlund, head of the Rockville High English Department, will be featured on WFSB TV3's Better Connecticut Show on Friday, March 29. The show airs from 10am-11am.
* The 16 poets and writers invited to Mark Twain House & Museum were honored as County Champions and given $500 checks during regional ceremonies in April at the four CSU System campuses.
* The 2009 State Champions in Prose & Poetry will be announced at the conclusion of festivities May 31. They will receive $1,000 checks and their work will be considered for publication in Connecticut Review, the literary journal of the Connecticut State University System.
These are the 16 County Champions / State Finalists --
The poetry county champions vying for the statewide prize are:
Jhyde Ryals, 18, of Fitch Senior High School of Groton, for her poem, "To Jhyde: From Daddy;"
Yarelis Rivera, 14, of Windham High School, for her poem, "I Said No."
Amanda Ball, 17, of Greenwich Academy, for her poem, "Snapshots Denied;"
Kevin Redmond, 17, of Torrington High School, for his poem, "The Cold Stare Of Infinity;"
Cara Dorris, 15, of Glastonbury High School, for her poem, "hors de Paris;"
Jamie Phillips, 17, of E.O. Smith High School, for her poem, "Longevity;"
Dillon Jones, 16, of Old Saybrook High School, for his poem, "Ode;"
Felicity Sheehy, 16, of Westover School of Middlebury, for her poem, "Evening Conversation."
The prose county champions eligible for the statewide award are:
Hilary Sunderland, 17, of Griswold High School, for her story, "Beauty in the Breakdown;"
Kianne Gaylor, 18, of Woodstock Adademy, for her story, "Illuminating the Shadows."
Emma Lowenberg, 16, of the Lowenberg Home School in Redding, for her story, "Bernard;"
Clarissa Burch, 15, of New Milford High School, for her story, "Missing You;"
Leah Shafer, 16, of Simsbury High School, for her story, "Snap;"
Jessica Ruman, 17, of Rockville High School, for her story, "Photo;"
Evelyn Benvie, 18, of Valley Regional High School of Deep River, for her story, "Once More;" and
Aliza Gans, 16, of Educational Center for the Arts of New Haven, for her story, "The Mile."
* Co-masters of ceremonies for the program are author Rand Richards Cooper, broadcaster Diane Smith, Central Connecticut State University Professor of English Ravi Shankar, and author/columnist Colin McEnroe. Speakers will include Rockville High School senior Melanie Lieberman, the 2007 state prose champion; and her teacher, Victoria Nordlund, chair of Rockville's English department.
* Performance poet and slam coach Elizabeth Thomas, the Connecticut Review Poet in Residence for the Naugatuck public schools, will lead an afternoon workshop for teachers on how to teach performance poetry.
* Last minute reservations can be made by calling 860-690-0211 or writing tntcomm82@cs.com
* However, seating is limited.
* Invitation follows at bottom of this post.
ABOUT THE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Melanie Taryn Lieberman is a senior at Rockville High School in Vernon, CT, where she has lived her entire life and drawn inspiration.
In addition to writing, she takes dance, piano, is in the poetry club, book club, cultural enrichment club, and is the editor of both the RHS Literary Arts magazine as well as the RHS Rampage newspaper.
She plans to attend Emerson College in the fall. She knows without a doubt that she wants to major in creative writing and pursue a future in the exciting world of literature, publishing, and the written word.
In addition to winning IMPAC for prose in 2007, Melanie has also won first place in the 2008 National Drexel Playwriting Competition, as well as been published in the CT Review, the CT Student Writer, the RHS Literary Magazine, and co-written the Vernon Bicentennial Play. She hopes that her writing can have the same poignant effect on someone that the writers she loves have had on her.
She also won the Scholastic national silver medal for her poetry collection. Melanie will be reading her work at Bryant Park in New York City and will be honored at Carnegie Hall on June 4. In the fall, she will be published in The Apprentice Writer journal.
--
Victoria Nordlund is the department head of English at Rockville High School in Vernon, CT where she has been teaching English for 19 years. She received her BS in Education from the University of Connecticutin 1990, and in 1999 received her MALS from Wesleyan University.
She currently advises the Rockville High School Poetry Club and Book Club. She has organized many poetry coffeehouses and poetry slams. In addition,Victoria has developed the creative writing program at RHS. Many of her students have won prestigious national and state poetry and prose competitions. They have inspired her to continue her own craft.
She was named a finalist in the 2008 NEATE New England Poet of the Year contest.
INVITATION
Seating Limited
You are cordially invited to attend the
12TH Annual IMPAC-CSU System Young Writers
Statewide Ceremony &Celebration
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Mark Twain House &Museum, 351 Farmington, Ave., Hartford
* 2 p.m. Tour & Programs For Young Writers
4:30 p.m. Workshops For Young Writers &Teachers (CEUs granted)
5:30-6:45 p.m. Reception Catered By Frank Rosa's La Cupola Ristorante &Inn
7 p.m. Awards Ceremony
Reception Entertainment
Jen Allen Big Band
Co-Masters of Ceremonies
Rand Richards Cooper, Author
Diane Smith, Author &Positively CT TV Host
Ravi Shankar, Poet in Residence, English Professor, CCSU
Colin McEnroe, Author &Columnist, Hartford Courant
Special Guests
Melanie Lieberman, 2007 State Prose Champion
Victoria Nordlund, poet & English teacher
Elizabeth Thomas, Teacher Workshop Leader / Performance Poetry
Reception Donation*
$50 per person (teacher workshop add $25)
RSVP by May 21, 2009
ANDY THIBAULT
IMPAC-CSU System Young Writers Trust
231 Beach St.
Litchfield, CT 06759
800-814-6931 or 860-690-0211
tntcomm82@cs.com
www.ctyoungwriters.org
The IMPAC-Connecticut State University System Young Writers Trust is a non-profit foundation classified by the IRS as a 501 C (3) Public Charity.
Federal Tax ID: 31-1635811
* FRANK ROSA WILL OPEN THE cash BAR @ 2PM
AND
Begin Serving Some Food
at that time ....
MORE INFO @
and
ALSO,
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