Thursday, April 21, 2016
Two poets from the Mahoning Valley will return this weekend to share their work about their hometown.
Allison Davis and Rochelle Hurt will be at Soap Gallery, 117 S. Champion St., downtown Youngstown, at 2 p.m. Sunday, where they will read poems they’ve written about the city. The event is sponsored by Lit Youngstown and is part of the writers group’s celebration of National Poetry Month.
Davis and Hurt will each read for about 20 minutes. Both women had their work included in “Car Bombs to Cookie Tables: A Youngstown Anthology,” a collection of poems, prose and essays published last year (Belt Publishing).
A fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Mass., Davis is a Boardman High graduate who holds a master’s degree from Ohio State University and fellowships from Stanford University’s Wallace Stegner program and the Severinghaus Beck Fund for Study at Vilnius Yiddish Institute.
She is the author of “Poppy Seeds” (KSU Press, 2013), winner of the Wick Poetry Chapbook Prize. Her next collection of poems, “Line Study of a Motel Clerk,” will be published by Baobab Press in late 2017. It is based on Davis’ experiences working in the small businesses opened by her grandparents in the Mahoning Valley, and it also explores how Youngstown has changed over the four generations that her family has lived here.
She also will have her worked published in “Best American Poetry 2016” and in the journal Crazyhorse.
Davis has nothing but love and respect for Lit Youngstown. “There are so many wonderful writers in Youngstown, and I’m really excited to be home with them,” she said.
Hurt grew up on Youngstown’s West Side and went to Ursuline High School. She holds a master’s degree in poetry from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and is a doctorate candidate in English at the University of Cincinnati.
Hurt has had two of her poetry collections published: “In Which I Play the Runaway” (to be published in the fall), selected by Richard Blanco as the winner of the Barrow Street Book Prize; and “The Rusted City,” a novel of poems published in White Pine Press’ Marie Alexander Series (2014). Her work has been included in “Best New Poets 2013” and in Crazyhorse, Black Warrior Review and The Southeast Review.
“I’m happy to be reading with Allison, whose work I admire, and who has been very supportive of my own work,” said Hurt. “She wrote a wonderful review of my first book, ‘The Rusted City,’ specifically from the perspective of a Youngstown resident.
Hurt also expressed her deep appreciation for Lit Youngstown.
She last read in the city in 2015, at the launch party for “Youngstown Anthology” and at Youngstown State University. “It’s always great to read in my hometown,” she said.
LAUNCH NEARS FOR INTERNET RADIO STATION FOR LOCAL MUSIC
It’s almost here.
The Summit radio station (90.7 FM), which has been bringing quality rock to the Youngstown and Akron areas for years, will launch an online station Friday that will play nothing but local music.
The330.net, a streaming Internet station, will go live about 3:30 p.m.
“We are dubbing songs into our computer system like crazy,” said Brad Savage, the station’s director of programming. “New stuff, old stuff, nice cool old archives. ... It is going to be a fun launch, and it will be growing as we grow, and as we amass more of a collection of local songs from the past, present and future, to broadcast on the station.”
KENT-TRUMBULL THEATER WILL MARK A MILESTONE
Kent State University-Trumbull Theater will mark its 50th year this week.
A few hundred people are expected to attend an invitation-only celebration of the milestone Saturday evening at the campus.
During the presentation, Kent-Trumbull Theater pioneer Jack L. Brizzi Sr. will be recognized with an award for his vision, passion and dedication to the university and community theater.
Scheduled speakers include Lance Grahn, dean and chief administrative officer for Kent-Trumbull campus; Eric Kildow, assistant professor and theater director at the branch campus; and Prof. Jim Canacci.