Three authors to read original works at poetry event April 29

It's National Poetry Month, and Western Libraries' Heritage Resources is celebrating April 29 with a reading by local authors Jim Bertolino, Paul Piper and Allen Frost.

The event will take place from 4 to 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, in the Special Collections Research Room on the top floor of Wilson Library.

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, National Poetry Month is now held every April; it's a month in which poetry aficionados throughout the country get together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture.

Three talented writers from WWU and the local community will read selections from their original works:

  • James Bertolino’s poetry has been appearing internationally in books, magazines, and anthologies for over 40 years. He has been recognized nationally by the Book-of-the-Month Club Poetry Fellowship, the Discovery Award, a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, two Quarterly Review of Literature book publication awards, and the Jeanne Lohmann Poetry Prize for Washington State Poets. His 12th volume, Ravenous Bliss: New and Selected Love Poems, is forthcoming in 2014 from MoonPath Press.
  • Paul Piper is currently Special Collections Librarian at Western Washington University. His fiction and poetry have appeared in over 70 literary magazines, journals, and anthologies, and he has six published books of poetry including the most recent, Praises Too, which he co-authored with fellow presenter Allen Frost. One of Paul’s poems, “Dog in Winter,” was recently nominated to appear in Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry column.
  • Allen Frost is a long-time Western Libraries employee who just published his 8th book, Saint Lemonade, which is set here in Bellingham. He is currently at work on a novel.

The poetry reading is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be provided. For more information, please contact paul.piper@wwu.edu or call 360-650-3097.