After 20 years of Literary Picnics in a Poet’s Backyard, Roethke House has gone Virtual
Twenty years of literary picnics in year 2020 sounded like a special season, but because of Covid-19 restrictions, we needed to reinvent ourselves and try something new by offering a safer, virtual experience with speakers and registration online. Thank you to everyone who attended our first virtual event on August 4, a talk from Fred Reif about his book, Tell ‘em ‘bout the blues.
Even though our format is changed and limited, Roethke’s Summer Speaker Series 2020 is special and continues its quality offerings with upcoming August talks from Ken Meisel (Our Common Souls: New & Selected Poems of Detroit) and Jeff Vande Zande (The Neighborhood Division) for a dual presentation on August 11th; and Sherrin Frances (Libraries Amid Protest) on August 18th. All will begin on August Tuesdays at 7:00 online.
On Tuesday, September 8 with Michael Kolleth, Executive Director of the Temple Theatre and Saginaw Art Museum will present a talk on Roethke’s Written Word consisting of rare books and manuscripts related to the poet and zoomed from the Saginaw Art Museum.
Simone Vaughn, Miss Saginaw County, will also speak in September on children’s self confidence and mental health with an introduction by Wardene Talley, Director of Saginaw County Community Mental Health Authority. Date and Time TBA
Please register for each event beforehand. Registration for the August 11 event is now open. A $5 donation to FOTR is requested, as we continue to raise money to save the Stone House. However, we recognize that finances are tight these days for many reasons, so the donation is not required.
If you do not have a Paypal account, or if the $5 is a hardship right now, please email us directly, infor@friendsofroethke.org, and we will manually register you. A Zoom link will be provided to all registrants before the start of the event.
We are grateful for emergency grant funding assistance for operational costs and contracted seasonal presenters funded in part by a H.O.P.E. grant, through the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and funded in part through the C.A.R.E.S. ACT by the Michigan Council of Arts and Cultural Affairs, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Both grants enable Roethke House to add to the quality of life in the Saginaw community during the Corona virus outbreak 2020.
We are grateful for funding from Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, MIHumanities, NEH and NEA.
