On Thursday, the winners of Bright Hill's 13th annual Share the Words High School Poetry Competition and their teacher-coaches will read from their winning works at Word Thursdays at Bright Hill Literary Center. Reatured writers Betty Aberlin of Walton and William B. Patrick of Troy will follow. There will also be a brief open mike and intermission, with refreshments. Bright Hill is at 94 Church St. in Treadwell, one block north of Barlow's General Store on County Highway 14. There is an admission fee of $3 for adults, or free for ages 18 and younger.
Poetry contest winners Katy Clayon, Bess Slicer and Amanda Irwin of Jefferson Central School; Lane deCordova, Josette Felicies and Jeff Wilkinson of Norwich city schools; Maggie Millner of Cherry-Valley-Springfield Central School; and Julia Brennan of Milford Central School will read with teachers Joan Clayton, Richard Bernstein and Lisa Alicino.
Aberlin, a native New Yorker, studied creative writing at Bennington College with Bernard Malamud and Howard Nemerov. She made her stage debut at 10 in the folk opera, "Sandhog," was a co-founder of radio station WYEP FM in Pittsburgh, and played Lady Aberlin on PBS's Mister Rogers' Neighborhood for 33 years. She was a regular on the final Smothers Brothers Show and has had cameos in two Kevin Smith movies, "Dogma" and "Jersey Girl."
Patrick writes creative nonfiction, fiction, screenwriting, poetry and drama. "Saving Troy," his chronicle of a year spent living and riding with professional firefighters and paramedics, was published in 2005. His memoir in poetry, "We Didn't Come Here for This," was published by BOA Editions in 1999. He is a visiting writer at the College of Saint Rose and has taught fiction, nonfiction, screenplay and poetry writing at the State University at Albany, Old Dominion University, Salem State College and Onondaga Community College.
Word Thursdays Bright Hill Press's 2009 programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, the A. Lindsay and Olive B. O'Connor Foundation, the Otis A. Thompson Foundation, the Dewar Foundation, the A. C. Molinari Foundation, Stewart's Shops, the Delaware National Bank of Delhi and other businesses, members and supporters. For more information, call 829-5055 or e-mail wordthur@stny.rr.com.
