Upcoming events

Writers & Books hosts National Poetry Month Readings George Drew & M.J. Iuppa Thurs., April 9 7:00 pm In the Verb Café at W&B Free and open to the public GEORGE DREW was born in Mississippi and grew up there and in New York State , where he currently lives. Toads in a Poisoned Tank , his first book, was published in 1986. The chapbook, So Many Bones (Poems of Russia ) , was published in a bilingual edition by a Russian press in 1997. A second collection, The Horse's Name Was Physics , appeared in 2006 from Word Tech Communications, under their Turning Point imprint. One of George's poems received an Honorable Mention in the Robert Frost Foundation's poetry competition, 2002, and another in the W.B. Yeats Society of NY's competition, the same year. He was awarded a residency at the Vermont Studio Center in 2004, and that summer he was a Guest Poet at The Frost Place in Franconia , NH . He was the winner of the 2003 Paumanok Poetry Award. Most recently George won the 2008 South Carolina Review's 40th Anniversary Poetry Contest, which will be announced in the fall 2008 issue. George has published in such literary journals as Antioch Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Connecticut Review, Hollins Critic, Mississippi Review, Poetry East,Quarterly West, Salmagundi, Southern Poetry Review, Sou'Wester, and The Texas Review. M. J. Iuppa: Since 1986, local poet and writer, M. J. Iuppa has been successfully teaching poetry and creative writing workshops to students ages 8-89 throughout New York State. In 1996, she was the recipient of the Writing In Rochester Award, honoring a teacher of writing for adult students who has impacted the creation and appreciation of literature in Rochester; and, at St. John Fisher College, she has received the Part-Time Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence, May 2000; The Father Dorsey Award, 2000-2001 and 2002-2003, and a Certification of Recognition from The Monroe County Legislature, April 2003. Over 200 of her poems have appeared in small press, university, and national publications, including Poetry, Yankee, Press, and New Letters. Her chapbooks, Sometimes Simply,(Foreseeable Future Press, 1996), and Temptations (Foothill Publishing, 2001) and Greatest Hits 1986-2001, (Pudding House, 2002); and her first full-length poetry collection Night Traveler (Foothills Publishing)November, 2003. Her creative nonfiction is included in the collection: In Brief, edited by Judith Kitchen and Mary Paumier Jones, ( Norton) and in Chelsea 67. Presently, she is the Writer-in-Residence at St. John Fisher College, and also teaches creative writing and poetry workshops at Writers & Books, Young Audiences, Project U.N.I.Q.U.E., Rochester City School District, Genesee Valley BOCES ,Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES and BOCES 2. Since 1990, she has been the curator of the Genesee Reading Series at Writers & Books Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Award 1998, 2001, 2002; and in June 1998, her play This Heat was selected as one of the seven plays read in the American Voices Regional Playwrights' Festival sponsored by GeVa Theatre and Writers & Books.