Wordsmiths Reading Series
Nathan Spoon
Thursday, September 12, 12:15 p.m., Hicks Art Center Gallery
Renowned poet Nathan Spoon will present a reading of new work and favorites in the Hicks Art Center Gallery on September 12 at 12:15 p.m.
Visitors to Nathan Spoon’s reading and the public are invited to attend the closing reception for both exhibitions in Hicks Art Center “Dreams of Flora and Fauna” and “Endless Summer” later in the afternoon on September 12 from 4 – 7 pm. The reading and reception with light refreshments are free and open to the public.
About Nathan Spoon
Nathan Spoon is a self-described “autistic poet with savant abilities” and author of The Importance of Being Feeble-Minded, forthcoming in the Propel Disability Poetry Series published by Nine Mile Books. His poems and essays have appeared in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day, American Poetry Review, Bennington Review, Gulf Coast, Poetry, Poetry Daily, The Southern Review, and swamp pink, as well as the anthologies The American Sonnet: An Anthology of Poems and Essays, How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope, Mid/South Sonnets: A Belle Point Press Anthology, and The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace and Renewal. He is editor of Queerly and has read his poems at Penn, Vanderbilt, Yale, and elsewhere.
Kasey Jueds and Bernadette McBride
Friday, October 25, 7:30 p.m., Tyler Hall 142
The next reading in the fall series features poets Kasey Jueds and Bernadette McBridge who will read selected works in room 142 of the historic Tyler Hall on the Newtown Campus on October 25 at 7:30 p.m.
About Kasey Jueds
Kasey Jueds’ poems have appeared or are forthcoming in publications including The American Poetry Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Bennington Review, Cave Wall, Cincinnati Review, Colorado Review, Crazyhorse, Denver Quarterly, Narrative, Ninth Letter, Pleiades, Provincetown Arts, River Styx, Salamander, The Southampton Review, Tinderbox, and Waxwing. She’s been a resident at the Vermont Studio Center, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Soapstone, and the Ucross Foundation; she’s also been a visiting poet at the University of Pennsylvania, LaSalle College, and the University of Northern Colorado. Keeper, her first book, won the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press, and was published by Pitt in fall, 2013. Her second book, The Thicket, was published by Pitt in November, 2021.
About Bernadette McBride
Bernadette McBride is author of four full-length poetry collections: Waiting for the Light to Change (WordTech Press, 2013), and from Kelsay Books/Aldrich Press: Food, Wine, and Other Essential Considerations (2014), Whatever Measure of Light (2016), and Everything Counts (2019). A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, she won second place for the International Ray Bradbury Writing Award. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including the UK, Canada, and on PRI’s The Writer’s Almanac. She taught literature and both poetry and fiction writing at Temple University for many years, currently teaches writing and literature at Bucks County Community College, and has served as a judge for the Charlotte Miller Simon Annual Poetry Competition, Main Street Voices Poetry Award, and for the Student Poet Laureate competition for Temple University’s literary publication, Parable.
Thomas Devaney and 2024 Poet Laureate
Saturday, November 16, 1 p.m., Tyler Hall 142
The final reading in the fall series features Thomas Devaney and the still-to-be-selected 2024 Poet Laureate.
Thomas Devaney
Thomas Devaney is a Pew Fellow in the Arts and author of five books, including Getting to Philadelphia (Hanging Loose Press), Calamity Jane (Furniture Press), and The Picture that Remains, a collaboration with photographer Will Brown (The Philadelphia Print Center). He wrote and co-directed the film Bicentennial City, exploring the legacy of Philadelphia's 1976 Bicentennial celebration. Devaney's work has been published in Best American Poetry, The American Poetry Review, and The Brooklyn Rail. The literary hub Blue Stoop: A Home for Philly Writers was named after his poem "The Blue Stoop."
For twelve years, Devaney taught creative writing at Haverford College. He now works at the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation at Drexel University, where he recently completed a master's degree in urban design. His thesis, "Reimagining Urban Parks: Philadelphia's FDR Park as a Space for People and Nature" (2024) reflects his ongoing engagement with urban spaces and explores the intersection of people and place through civic storytelling.
A History of Wordsmiths Reading Series
Since the 1960s, Bucks County Community College’s Wordsmiths Reading Series has featured some of the most distinguished and admired poets of our times. The list of poets from the 1960s includes Allen Ginsberg (with cushion and guitars), Galway Kinnell, William Stafford, Richard Hugo, Kenneth Koch, Nikki Giovanni, Carolyn Forché, Derek Walcott, Lucille Clifton, Denise Levertov, David Ignatow, Joseph Brodsky, Philip Levine, James Tate, Wendell Berry, Donald Hall, Jane Kenyon, Robert Bly, John Logan, Carol Muske-Dukes, Tess Gallagher, Maxine Kumin, and James Dickey. The 1970s featured, among others, Etheridge Knight, Gary Snyder, John Logan, Carolyn Kizer, Robert Creeley, Alan Dugan, Judith Sherwin, Adrienne Rich, and W. D. Snodgrass. In recent years, the series has continued to highlight contemporary literary luminaries such as Sharon Olds, Robert Pinsky, Martín Espada, Bob Holman, Mark Doty, Gerald Stern, James Richardson, Evie Shockley, Anne Marie Macari, Dean Rader, Charles Simic, Jericho Brown, Richard Blanco, Li-Young Lee, Chase Twichell, and Brenda Hillman. Additionally, in recent years, the series has featured some of the most notable fiction writers of our time, including Andre Dubus and Ben Marcus. The awards bestowed on our featured writers are too numerous to name, and include the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book award, and the PEN Literary Award.
Cultural Significance
As the founder and leader of the renowned Wordsmiths series, the College has distinguished itself among Philadelphia-area colleges and universities, and has become the home of a vibrant community of writers, poetry lovers, and supporters of the arts. Wordsmiths readings are always widely attended. Guest writers are often paired with inspiring local ones, and the audience is typically made up of a lively mix of students, faculty, and the community at-large. The series gives students the opportunity to connect what they learn in the classroom with the wider world by attending high caliber free readings on their own campus. Simply put, the series places Bucks County Community College at the center of the region’s literary life.
The Wordsmiths Reading Series is funded by BCCC’s Cultural Programming Committee.