WESTFIELD — The Westfield Memorial Library, located at 550 East Broad Street, has announced the upcoming appearance of two local poets and a game night for senior citizens.
On Tuesday, May 14, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., Fanwood poets Tom Plante and Adele Kenny will each read a selection of poems from their books, along with various newer works.
The author of 25 books, Ms. Kenny has had her poems and nonfiction works published in numerous journals in the United States and abroad. Her poems have appeared in books and anthologies published by Crown, Tuttle, Shambhala and McGraw-Hill. She is the recipient of various awards, including two poetry fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a first-place Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award, and Kean University’s Distinguished Alumni Award.
Her book “ALightness, AThirst, or Nothing At All” was a Paterson Poetry Prize finalist. Poet Laureate of Fanwood, Ms. Kenny is a former creative-writing professor, founding director of the Carriage House Poetry Series, co-director with Mr. Plante of the Fanwood Arts Council, poetry editor of Tiferet Journal, and has twice been a featured reader at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival.
Mr. Plante lives in Fanwood, where he publishes Exit 13 Magazine: The Crossroads of Poetry Since 1988. He studied geography at the University of California, Berkeley and was a writer/editor for several newspapers. Mr. Plante was awarded first prize for editorial writing in 1996 by the New Jersey Press Association. He has participated in readings at the Carriage House Poetry Series, Union County Teen Arts Festival, the Long Branch Poetry Festival, and the Celebration of New Jersey Literary Journals.
His poems and essays appeared in Journal of New Jersey Poets, Lips, Tiferet Journal, Ireland of the Welcomes, Edison Literary Review, “US1 Worksheets,” Verse Virtual, Irish Echo, The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times, Courier News and “Meta-Land: Poets of the Palisades,” and are collected in Atlas Apothecary (Finishing Line Press). On Wednesday, May 15, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., the library will host Tamaques Elementary School’s Girl Scout Troop 40295, which is partnering with Lifelong Westfield to host a Senior Game Night. The fifth grade troop, which has been together for five years, has collected donations of new or gently-used classic board games and puzzles for the event.
“The purpose of the event is to provide a relaxed environment where seniors can have a good time and make friends,” said Jennifer Schulze, head of adult services at the library. Ms. Schulze, a former Girl Scout herself, oversees event logistics.
The troop is run by leaders Amy Perna and Sarah Kallok and has made the game night its service project for the Bronze Award. The accolade is given to troops who make a positive impact on the community and is the highest award Girl Scout Juniors can receive. It requires 20 hours of community volunteering as well as the service project.
To register for the poetry event, sign up for a library card or learn more about the library’s resources, visit the library’s website at https:// wmlnj.org/. Registration is not required for Senior Game Night.
Library hours are Monday through Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. The library will be closed this Sunday, May 12, for Mother’s Day, and May 25 to 27 for Memorial Day weekend.
