Poet Ravi Shankar Launches Deepening Groove with Joel Allegretti, Susan Frischkorn & Lisa C. Taylor in an Evening of New Poetry at RAW, Hartford, CT

Hartford, CT, August 14, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Real Art Ways’ Writers and Reader Series is pleased to announce an evening of new poetry with acclaimed poet, Ravi Shankar, who will launch his new book “Deepening Groove,” winner of the 2010 National Poetry Review Prize. Three notable authors will join Shankar, each reading from their new works -- Joel Allegretti, Susan Frischkorn and Lisa C. Taylor -- on Thursday, August 25, 2011 at 6 pm, at Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St, Hartford, Connecticut 06106. Connecticut Poet Laureate Dick Allen, who has hailed Shankar as “one of America’s finest younger poets,” will introduce “Deepening Groove.”

“Deepening Groove,” described as “a book of savvy, delicious surprises" by Wyn Cooper, author of "New Calm," is a collection of poems comprised of detailed observations about animals, trees, flowers, fish, the weather, and the human condition. Many of the poems are set in New England where Ravi Shankar lives. Poems from the collection have been featured by the Academy of American Poets and have appeared in such journals as “Blackbird,” “Barrow Street,” “Fulcrum,” “The Mississippi Review” and “Slope.”

Ravi Shankar is founding editor of “Drunken Boat,” an international online journal of the arts, and Co-Director of Creative Writing at Central Connecticut State University. A recipient of a Pushcart Prize, he has published five other books and chapbooks. With Tina Chang and Natalie Handal, he edited W.W. Norton's “Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from Asia, the Middle East & Beyond,” called "a beautiful achievement for world literature" by Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer.

Joel Allegretti is the author of two full-length volumes of poetry from The Poet’s Press: “The Plague Psalms” and “Father Silicon,” selected by “The Kansas City Star” as one of 100 Noteworthy Books of 2006. Poets Wear Prada released his third collection, “Thrum” (2010), a chapbook of prose poems and poetic essays about musical string instruments. Poets Wear Prada will publish his fourth collection, “Europa/Nippon/New York: Poems/Not-Poems,” in 2012.

Suzanne Frischkorn is the author of “Girl On A Bridge” (2010), and “Lit Windowpane” (2008) both from Main Street Rag Publishing. In addition she is the author of five chapbooks, most recently “American Flamingo” (2008). Her honors include the Aldridge Poetry Award for her chapbook “Spring Tide,” selected by Mary Oliver, a 2009 Emerging Writers Fellowship from the Writers Center, an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.

Lisa C. Taylor is the author of three collections of poetry, most recently a collaborative collection with Irish poet and writer Geraldine Mills, “The Other Side of Longing” (Arlen House/Syracuse University Press, 2011). They were both named 2011 Elizabeth Shanley Gerson Readers of Irish Literature at University of Connecticut. She has a new collection due out in 2012.

Writers and Readers is a social gathering for people who love books. Readings will be preceded and followed by an informal discussion providing an opportunity to talk with others interested in reading, writing and thinking. Newly released publications will be available for purchase. Admission is open to the public, free for all Real Art Ways’ members; $5 for non-members.

Real Art Ways (RAW) is an alternative multidisciplinary arts organization, founded in 1975, that presents and supports contemporary artists and their work, facilitates the creation of new work, and creatively engages, builds, and informs audiences and communities. The RAW live arts program has featured poets Allen Ginsberg, Amiri Baraka, Martin Espada and Sonia Sanchez among others. Real Art Ways, 56 Arbor St, Hartford, CT 06106, phone: 860.232.1006, fax: 860.233.6691.

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