In 2020, we launched a virtual Speaker Series to provide a way to connect with a community of writers inspired by Roethke’s work and dive deeply into Roethke’s poetry.

Last year, hundreds of you joined us over twelve events spanning topics that covered place and landscape, health and wellness, and the power of language. We were so encouraged by your participation that we decided to renew the series with new guest speakers and topics for 2023. 

This year, we are relying on donations to fund the events. All events will require a donation of either $1, $5, or $10 depending on your financial capabilities. If you are unable to afford a donation, please reach out to us at info@friendsofroethke.org.

Here’s a sneak peak at the first few events for 2023:

FEBRUARY 7, 7pm EST
Colleen Anderson – Sighs and Songs, Sadness and Silliness
As a sometimes-poet, sometimes-songwriter, Colleen’s way into songs often travels that pathway between sighing and singing. During this event, she’ll share her process for creating melodies, discuss the differences she finds between poetry and songs, and share a sample of her work.

Register here for the February 7 event.

FEBRUARY 14, 7 p.m est
Julia McConnell – Landlocked
Whether at work or at play, the speakers in Landlocked live in the space between longing and belonging, wanderlust and homesickness, and explore the intersection of place and identity. Like much of Roethke’s work, the poems in Landlocked ask “How does a place shape you and what changes when you choose to leave?”. During this event, Julia will share how she made sense of her “sighs” of longing, frustration, and joy by turning them into song. 

Register here for the February 14 event.

FEBRUARY 28, 7 p.m. EST
Jeanine Hathaway – When the Muses Refuses
In France, 1981, Jeanine studied at the Centre Jeanne d’Arc with a goal of writing a series of poems about Joan. But after 40 years, she wonders how often she can change her tune and tempo. During this event, Jeanine will share how her writing has transformed over the course of her project to capture Joan of Arc through poems. 

Register here for the February 28 event.

MARCH 14, 7 p.m. EST
Anita Skeen & Laura DeLind – To Romp and Sing: The Music of Collaboration

Artist Laura DeLind and poet Anita Skeen will read and show images from their latest collaborative book, Even the Least of These, and explain how the physical and emotional isolation of the COVID period resulted in their individual artistic “sighs.”   Those sighs lengthened into the song that ultimately became their book, full of linocuts and lines which “romp and sing/within the reach of my imagining” as Theodore Roethke writes in his poem, “Renewal.”

Register here for the March 14 event.

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