The Guilford Poets Guild is delighted to kick off our Spring Second Thursday Series with two Guilford Poets Guilders sharing their poetry! On March 13th from 6:30pm – 8pm, we’ll enjoy an Open Mic followed by the poems of Sharon Austin Bloom and Kate Summerlin.
Join us in the Historical Room at the Guilford Free Library for a wonderful night of words.
Sharon Austin Bloom Bio: Sharon went from predicting corn crop production in Illinois to inspecting chicken farms in Alabama to hedging commodity futures on the Chicago Board of Trade. From there she launched a successful career as a marketing executive in the food industry, while raising her children. A move to Connecticut brought a life changing shift to teach yoga to all ages. And after years of writing ad copy, sales presentations and marketing plans, she finally pursued her dream to become a writer and earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Fairfield University. She is honored to be apart of the Guilford Poetry Society and on the Board of Dudley Farm Museum. She believes poetry should create bridges to the sensual, emotional and spiritual world
Kate Summerlin, a lover of all things in the garden, the written word, the spoken word and the comforts of an old farmhouse, is a late bloomer. After 17 years as the library media specialist at A.W. Cox School she recently discovered the language of poetry and has just finished a memoir of essays and poems called Observations of an Ordinary life, musings of her 40 years in Guilford and beyond. It was a master’s degree in Oral Traditions that opened her to the power of storytelling and introduced her to the world of writing, especially for children. Her children’s picture book, A New Kinda Blue was a finalist in the Tassy Walden Award, New Voices in Children’s Literature. She has also written about the Amish for Threads magazine. Through volunteer work with the ABC Program, The Guilford Free Library, North Madison Congregational Church, St. Martin de Porres school and the Connecticut Storytelling Center she stays deeply rooted to organizations that provide support for those who value the power of words to enlighten and educate.