Poetry Video

Richard Blanco Reading in the Libraries of Hill-Stead

Richard Blanco performed in the Libraries of Hill-Stead Museum to support The Sunken Garden Poetry Festival on Thursday, March 3.

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Richard performed at the Festival in 2013 and also served as Inaugural Poet for President Barak Obama. Hill-Stead was honored to have him headline last night’s benefit reading.

For more information about the festival, see 2016 Sunken Garden Poetry Festival.

An Eve of Poetry in the Libraries

Hill-Stead Museum recently hosted Eve of Poetry in the Libraries to kick off the 2015 Live Poets Society appeal, which benefits our beloved Sunken Garden Poetry Festival. This was the very first time Hill-Stead held a benefit event in the historic libraries. About forty lucky guests enjoyed an hour of live jazz, wine, and hors d’oeuvres as they mingled with new and old friends, and toured the museum at their leisure.

Then a very special reading of Hill-Stead’s own poetry collection commenced. The delicate books were handled with care by members of our Poetry Advisory Committee, who served as opening poets for the event.

  • Ciaran Berry, delivered a gentle rendition of Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats.
  • John Stanizzi read from Fir-Flower Tablets (an English translation of Asian poetry) by Amy Lowell (1921).
  • Rennie McQuilkin shared selections from Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Second April (1921).
  • The star of the evening was Sue Ellen Thompson, who shared an intimate reading from her most recent bookThey. The audience was moved to laughter and tears by her personal family stories. Ms. Thompson treated those in attendance to a book signing over coffee and desserts following her reading.

Join Live Poets Society

To join Live Poets Society and to enjoy its many benefits, see our Support the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival Page, or contact Lisa Lappe, Sunken Garden Poetry Festival Manager at lappel@hillstead.org or 860-677-4787 x111; or Susan Orred, Director of Development at orreds@hillstead.org or 860-677-4787 x131.

Thank you Deborah Key Mundair, Morrow Jones, and John Stanizzi for donating their photography and videography services to Eve of Poetry in the Libraries.