Author Archives: beth

Saturday, April 5, 2pm at the Richmondtown Branch Library, 200 Clarke Ave, SINY 10306

Staten Island OutLOUD kicks off National Poetry month with What Women Carry, a slide show of innovative collages by Island artist Everet, accompanied by readings of global poetry.  Together, Everet’s collages and our poetry selections will explore women’s work in the world, to invite reflection and conversation.

Here are Everet’s comments on her collages,  composed of found objects and images, textiles and paper, that will be featured in OutLOUD’s event:  “Women carrying things on their heads… strong women whose balance, posture and stamina are impressive…  vendors and shoppers selling and buying … laborers and servants hauling, harvesting and gleaning … immigrants, refugees and nomads moving and transporting… fruits, vegetables, spices, bread, sugarcane, gain, tea, water, milk, wine, livestock, fish, flowers, birds …. beds, clothes, pots, pans, cups, bowls, platters, baskets, buckets, trays, cages, boxes, barrels, bags and coffins…. cement, stones, mud, bricks, sand, wood, dung… by way of riverbeds, hills, fields, highways, paths and streets of sand, gravel, clay, dirt, asphalt, cobblestone… throughout history, throughout the world.”

Everet is a self-taught artist/designer based on Staten Island; her work is included in public and private collections in many countries.  Her current work as a textile artist represents her commitment to use remnants and recycled materials as often as possible.  She utilizes an appliquéd fabric technique that she calls “Lamina” to produce nature-themed wall hangings; she also includes the patterns of the layered fabrics themselves in her designs of clothing and sculpture.

“Women Carrying Things on Their Heads” is a theme that Everet has used in a variety of media for the past thirty years.  The collages in her visual presentation portray strong women around the world and throughout history, whose balance, posture and stamina are impressive.  

Global poetry selections will be curated by Island writer Victoria Hallerman (www.victoriahallerman.com).

Ms. Hallerman has published several chapbooks of poetry and a collection, The Aerialist, which won the Bright Hill Prize in 2005. For over 20 years, she worked as a poet and literacy teacher in classrooms throughout NYC, including 27 schools on Staten Island.  Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Poetry, The Nation and The Pushcart Prize.

As a prose writer, Ms. Hallerman wrote and published How We Survived Prostate Cancer: What we did and what we should have done (William Morrow, an imprint of Harper Collins, 2009).  Ms. Hallerman recently completed the manuscript of Starts Wednesday: Coming of Age In a Movie Palace, a memoir of how she and her husband struggled to save Staten Island’s St. George Theatre in 1976.

Free & family-friendly. Best for ages 8 & up.

For directions via public transportation, please visit www.hopstop.com

Friday, March 28, 7pm: Every Thing Goes Book Cafe, 208 Bay St, SINY 10301

A community gathering to celebrate the short story, comparing a marvelous story by Alice Munro – “master of the contemporary short story” and recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, together with a short story by Island writer Avi Gvili, Staten Island teacher and author of Life & Love & the Like: Stories from the Everyday.

The two short stories examine how men & women communicate (or not), what they seek from one another, and what they may find.

This event is the first in an occasional Staten Island OutLOUD series on the short story, contrasting global classics with works by emerging writers.

For directions via public transportation, visit www.hopstop.com

Saturday, March 1 at 2pm:  Todt Hill-Westerleigh Branch Library, 2550 Victory Blvd (near Willowbrook Rd), SINY 10314

Staten Island OutLOUD hosts a reading/conversation on I Am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai.  This special event is presented in honor of Women In History Month.  Co-hosted by Joan Harmon.

Malala Yousafzai is a teenage educational activist who grew up in the Swat district of Pakistan’s Kyber Pass area.  In 2012, she was shot in the face by a Taliban gunman in an assassination attempt, because she and her father were staunch supporters of education for girls.  But Malala would not be defeated.  After recovering from her wounds, she redoubled her work, and the world’s support has rallied attention to her cause.  As a result of her efforts, Pakistan ratified its first Right to Education Bill, and the United Nations launched a petition in favor of universal education for all children around the world

. Malala addressed the UN in 2013 to urge universal education. She was the first winner of Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize, and has also been awarded the Sakharov Prize, and the Simone de Beauvoir Prize. Malala is the youngest person (and the first girl) ever to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.  Malala now lives with her family in Birmingham, England. 

Monday, Feb 10, 6pm at Mariners Harbor Branch Library, 206 South St, SINY 10303

Staten Island OutLOUD’s special events for Black History Month continue with this program at the beautiful new Mariners Harbor branch library.   Bessie Coleman was a game-changer in American aviation history.  She was an African-American pioneer.  She broke new ground for women’s rights and occupational opportunities.  But today, few people know her story –  Indeed, few people know her name.

Bessie Coleman wanted to be a pilot, but nobody in the US would train or license a Black woman.  So she went to France.  Learned the French language.  Learned to fly.  Got her pilot’s license.  Made history.

Join Staten Island OutLOUD, and our host Doris Nielsen, as we read excerpts from biographies of this courageous and talented woman.  This free event is good for all ages.