Arts & Entertainment
Three Florissant Women to Be Honored for Outstanding Poetry Tonight
Antoinette Crayton, Elona S. Johnson, Madeline Jean Jackson, all from the City of Florissant, were among the ten Poetry in Motion contest winners selected out of more than 100 entries.
Three Florissant women are among ten poets to be honored among the 2013 Poetry in Motion Contest. They, along with seven other winning poets, will be acknowledged tonight, Thursday evening, Nov. 29, at The Studio of the Regional Arts Commission in University City.
Antoinette Crayton, Elona S. Johnson, Madeline Jean Jackson, all from the City of Florissant, were among the ten contest winners. Each winner lives within a 50-mile radius of St. Louis, and each has been invited to read their poems during the event.
The winners were selected out of more than 100 entries.
Find out what's happening in Florissantwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“Their eleven poems out of 115 submitted were selected by a panel of literary professionals for publication,” said David Allen, Metro Arts in Transit Director. “The poems will be displayed on MetroLink trains and MetroBus vehicles for up to one year starting after the first of the year. We will also publish their poems on the Arts in Transit website, www.artsintransit.org, in the near future.”
Doors open at 5 p.m. with acoustical guitar music by Haitian-American Mario Pascal and the program begins at 5:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
Find out what's happening in Florissantwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Other winning poets include Sandra A. Cannida from St. Louis, Linda O’Connell from St. Louis, Heather Farrar from St. Charles, Frank Kras from St. Louis who had two poems selected for publication, Grady Manus from Defiance, Patt Hollinger Pickett from St. Louis, and Aaron Williams from St. Louis. Poets will be presented $50 for each winning poem.
According to a press release from Metro Arts & Transit:
The master of ceremonies for the evening is Amy Milton, a comedian from Indiana who is currently pursuing a Master’s in Creative Writing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
The featured poet of the evening will be Jane Ellen Ibur. For nearly 30 years, Ibur has taught poetry and creative writing in non-traditional settings to an age range that stretches from kindergarten to 93-year-olds, from private school students to pregnant, homeless teens, to county jail inmates, treatment center patients, to Alzheimer’s patients.
Excerpts from one of Ibur’s poems were displayed on MetroBus vehicles and MetroLink trains as part of the first Poetry in Motion contest. Her poetry has regularly appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies since 1972. Later this month, she will receive the 2012 Warrior Poet Award and she is a past recipient of the Grand Center’s Visionary Award for Outstanding Arts Educator.