Literary Lectures Series on Celtic Poetry, Sacramento

October 8 – Jeanine Stevens – The Early Bards and Celtic Symbolism
October 15 – Tony Kendrew – Three Welsh Thomases
October 22 – Michael Gorman – Poetry, Druids and the Celtic Bardic Tradition
October 29 – Maureen Hurley – Axe-Heads and Blind Poets: Anthony
Rafery, The End of A Bardic Literary Tradition

All lectures begin at 7 p.m. at the
Sacramento Poetry Center, 25th and R Streets, Sacramento. Free.
Sponsored by Poets and Writers, Inc., with funding from the James
Irvine Foundation.

Jeanine Stevens studied poetry at U.C. Davis and has a M.A. in
Anthropology. Winner of the MacGuffin Poet Hunt, and one of two
finalists for the William Stafford Award, she is the author of Sailing
on Milkweed (Cherry Grove Collections), and has three Pushcart
Nominations. Her latest chapbook is Needle in the Sea (Tiger’s Eye
Press). Work has appeared in Poet Lore, Cider Press Review, Evansville
Review, Forge, PMS-Poem, Memoir, Story, Ekphrasis, Squaw Valley Review
and Rosebud, as well as Dragonheart and Sentinel (UK). She has taken
numerous trips to England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Thinking about
early poetry, she is intrigued by Celtic symbolism and looks for
motifs and influences in Celtic poetry as well as contemporary British
works. With others, she read Celtic themed poems at various venues
around Sacramento, Placerville and Grass Valley California. Besides
writing, Jeanine enjoys Romanian folk dance, Tai Chi and collage. Some
collage pieces have been exhibited and others included in her
chapbooks. She divides her time between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.

Tony Kendrew lives and writes in Trinity County of Northern
California, where he produced a CD of a collection of his poems called
Beasts and Beloveds. His first printed collection, Feathers Scattered
in the Wind, was published by Iconau in the UK in 2014. A second
collection, Turning, was submitted as his dissertation for the
Creative Writing MA at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. It
focuses on the urge to migrate and explore, and how this urge relates
to a sense of place and belonging. While at the University of Wales he
had a poem published in the collection Poetry from Strata Florida, and
was invited to present his poems at the Dylan Thomas Centre in
Swansea. Tony is co-editor of the online literary journal, The
Lampeter Review. Further information can be found at
www.feathersscatteredinthewind.com.

Michael Gorman is a Lambda Literary Award Winning Author of, “The
Empress Is A Man” (Harrington Park Press) and a Poetry Chapbook,
“Poems from the Greenwood” with a recorded version released in 2015.
He has been published in: Mom Guess What magazine, Green Egg Magazine,
The Latest Issue Newpaper, Genre Magazine. He was a participant in the
Sacramento 24/7 Jave Cafe Poetry Marathon and its 10th anniversary
marathon; He was named “Poet Laureate of Lavender Heights” in 1998. He
has been a featured reader at: Luna’s Cafe (multiple times), The
Sacramento Poetry Center, Sacramento Thursday Night Market, the
Sacramento Second Saturday Art Walk. He is the Founder of the Annual
Northern California Honored Bard Poetry Contest and Founder of the
Riverside Poetry Society. He is the Creator of A Seanache’s Tour of
Ireland in 2004;. He was a High School Creative Writing Teacher for 10
years, and a Community College Writing Instructor for 15 years. He has
a B.A. and M.A. and is Founder of The Sacramento Five Rivers Bardic
Arts Collective and Director of The Five Rivers Players. Michael is a
sculptor, civil rights activist, and a Celtic mystic.

Storyteller, Celtic scholar, artist and award-winning poet, Maureen
Hurley grew up in the wilds of West Marin, on her grandparents’ farm,
Comb an nOr, or, the Hill of Gold. Her grandmother’s abiding interest
in all things Celtic, led Maureen on a circuitous route to folklore
and poetry. From the moment she could hold a pencil or brush, she has
created art. Maureen holds an MA/MFA in Creative Writing
(poetry/playwriting) from San Francisco State University. As a
graduate exchange student at UC Berkeley’s Celtic Studies Department,
she studied Celtic anthropology, folklore and literature with
professors Dundes, Tracy and Melia, she translated Celtic Medieval
Irish and Welsh manuscripts with professors Hollander and Klar. She
holds a BA in Art Studio (Expressive Arts minor) from Sonoma State
University & an AA in Art Studio (Theater minor) from College of
Marin.