Poetry Events

Playing the Scales: A Jazz-inspired Poetry Event

Saturday, October 3, 2020 - 2:00 to 3:30 PM

Geraldine R. Dodge poet BJ Ward will host a virtual poetry reading in Zoom featuring four prominent New Jersey poets: Nicole Homer, Christine E. Salvatore, Paul-Victor Winters, and Lamont B. Steptoe.

Poets will share their work in this “Playing the Scales’’ event in a jazz improv format, playing off each other’s poems in an interactive presentation that explores the themes of science, music and justice.

Read more about our participating poets. Register today to participate in this virtual poetry reading. After registration, you will receive information on how to access the event, which will be held via Zoom.

Poetry events are presented with the generous support of the Collingswood Foundation for the Arts, as well as our partners at the Nick Virgilio Haiku Association of Camden and Murphy Writing at Stockton University.

When Paul Lisicky arrived in Provincetown in the early 1990s, he was leaving behind a history of family trauma to live in a place outside of time, known for its values of inclusion, acceptance, and art. In this idyllic haven, Lisicky searches for love and connection and comes into his own as he finds a sense of belonging. At the same time, the center of this community is consumed by the AIDS crisis, and the very structure of town life is being rewired out of necessity: What might this utopia look like during a time of dystopia? 

Later dramatizes a spectacular yet ravaged place and a unique era when more fully becoming one’s self collided with the realization that ongoingness couldn’t be taken for granted, and staying alive from moment to moment exacted absolute attention. Following the success of his acclaimed memoir, The Narrow Door, Lisicky fearlessly explores the body, queerness, love, illness, community, and belonging in this masterful, ingenious new book.

Stroll along cobblestone streets. Duck into secret speakeasies. Explore urban parks. 

100 Things to Do in Philadelphia Before You Die provides the inside scoop on well-known attractions and hidden gems plus tips on snagging reservations at trendy restaurants, scoring discounts, and getting the most out of each experience. This updated edition includes more things to do, see, and taste, new itineraries, and updates to every page. 

First-time visitors will discover must-see attractions, including Reading Terminal Market and the Museum of the American Revolution along with Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, mural tours, Spruce Street Harbor Park, and other only-in- Philadelphia sights. Born and raised on cheesesteaks? This book takes long-time Philadelphians to under-the-radar spots, from an old fashioned rodeo to a former opera house turned modern venue for A-list performers, up 60 floors to indulge in cocktails and down a tiny alley to visit the city’s oldest tavern. 

Find out why Philadelphia was the only city in the country to make National Geographic’s list of best places to visit. And don’t miss out on the fun as author Irene Levy Baker shares secrets she’s learned while working in Philadelphia’s hospitality industry for three decades. 

He had a license to prescribe and a motive to kill.

A prominent New Jersey doctor and members of a notorious outlaw motorcycle gang transform the doctor s office into a drug ring pumping thousands of highly addictive opioid pain pills onto the streets in exchange for cash. Everything was going smoothly until one person discovered their plan: the doctor s wife. When she threatened to divorce him, the doctor s unholy alliance with his partners in crime turned deadly and the doctor hired a hitman to kill her.

The Doctor, The Hitman, and The Motorcycle Gang is the true story of the murder of April Kauffman, a beloved and vivacious local radio personality and veterans advocate who was found shot to death in the bedroom of her home in Linwood, the affluent town just outside Atlantic City, New Jersey, in May of 2012. In the months leading up to her death, she had uncovered a tangled web of deceit surrounding her husband. She feared he was trying to kill her and that he may harm her family.

Her daughter, Kim Pack, never doubted her stepfather Dr. James Kauffman was responsible somehow. Reporter Annie McCormick met Kim Pack on the first anniversary of Kim s mother s murder. Over the next five years, McCormick tracked the case even as few clues emerged. She continued to gather information, sorting through gossip, rumors and facts to uncover the doctor s web of lies.

Dr. Kauffman shunned the media and his stepdaughter, moving on with his life in the very same town. Meanwhile, investigators uncovered how the doctor worked with the outlaw motorcycle gang, the Pagans, to run a prescription pill mill out of his New Jersey Office. More illegal deeds would catch the attention of The FBI and DEA. The twists and turns of Dr. Kauffman s lies and schemes would leave Kim Pack, her tight-knit New Jersey community, and even investigators shocked.

The murder case, which has received national attention, was the subject of a 20/20 episode on ABC in the spring of 2018. McCormick details the investigation that dragged on for years until investigators caught an unexpected break that sparked a string of arrests including the arrest of the doctor and several former members of The Pagans. Nearly six years later, authorities charged her husband, Dr. James Kauffman, with her murder. In 2018, a jury convicted a former leader of the Pagans Motorcycle Club with helping to carry out the murder. McCormick includes never before seen or heard details from the investigation through her years of covering the case and she documents the relentless search for justice by April’s family, friends, and her daughter.

Encompassing some 130 years in Ironwood's history, Compassion, Michigan illuminates characters struggling to adapt to their circumstances starting in the present day, with its subsequent stories rolling back in time to when Ironwood was first founded. What does it mean to live in a small town--so laden with its glory day reminiscences--against the stark economic realities of today? Doesn't history matter anymore? Could we still have compassion for others who don't share our views?

A Deaf woman, born into a large, hearing family, looks back on her turbulent relationship with her younger, hearing sister. A gas station clerk reflects on Stella Draper, the woman who ran an ice cream parlor only to kill herself on her 33rd birthday. A devout mother has a crisis of faith when her son admits that their priest molested him. A bank teller, married to a soldier convicted of treason during the Korean War, gradually falls for a cafeteria worker. A young transgender man, with a knack for tailoring menswear, escapes his wealthy Detroit background for a chance to live truly as himself in Ironwood. When a handsome single man is attracted to her, a popular schoolteacher enters into a marriage of convenience only to wonder if she's made the right decision.