Members of the community are invited to attend an annual poetry series in Athens. The summer poetry series, “A Seat in the Shade” kicks off its sixth season Wednesday evening at Hendershots. The series is hosted Melissa Cahnmann-Taylor, a professor of language and literacy in UGA’s College of Education.
"We have a lineup of fantastic Georgia writers, Georgia poets, who are going to read to us from their verse,” according to Cahnmann-Taylor. “What makes this unique is that they also spend time afterwards talking about the craft of writing, what it means to the public to be writing poetry in this time and place and we engage in a discussion with the audience.”
Poets include Georgia’s poet laureate Dave Bottoms and well as Chess and Community founder and author Lemuel “Life the Griot” LaRoche.
Cahnmann-Taylor says the series is a way to get people to think outside the box about writing. It also allows her to share literary citizenship, an idea from her mentor American poet Robin Becker.
“This is my contribution to literary citizenship, to bring poets who I know, sometimes poets I don’t know, to try and find funding. This is the first year when we’re funded and the writers will be paid, which is very exciting.”
She says it’s also a welcome addition to entertainment options this time of year.
“To produce something in an otherwise sleepy time of year in Athens and certainly to raise and elevate this status of literature in our town.”
This year's A Seat in the Shade series is supported by grants from the Athens Cultural Affairs Commission's Arts In Community program as well as a Literary Events Grant from the Georgia Writers Association.
“A Seat in the Shade” begins Wednesday, July 11th from 5 to 7 pm at Hendershots. Additional readings take place on the 18th, and 25th.
The series concludes with a July 26 performance led by Cahnmann-Taylor.
For details, visit coe.uga.edu/a-seat-in-the-shade.