The Connecticut Poetry Society presents a reading by poets Patricia Mottola and Tony Fusco at Best Video Film & Cultural Center on Tuesday, June 25. The event starts at 7 PM. Admission is free but donations to support BVFCC’s programming are encouraged.
The Connecticut Poetry Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion and enjoyment of poetry. Its mission is to encourage a community devoted to poetry through chapter meetings, education and events. Laura and Victor Altshul co-Chair the New Haven branch of the CPS, which meets monthly to workshop poems and to encourage programs in the area.
Award-winning poet and Pushcart Prize nominee Pat Mottola teaches Creative Writing at Southern Connecticut State University, where she earned both an M.S. in Art Education and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. In addition to working with students at S.C.S.U., she is thrilled to teach both art and poetry to senior citizens throughout Connecticut. Her work is published in journals across the country. On a global scale, she has mentored Afghan women writers living in Afghanistan through the Afghan Women’s Writing Project. Pat served as editor of Connecticut River Review from 2012-2017, and is currently Co-President of the Connecticut Poetry Society. Pat was recently awarded the CT Board of Regents Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award. She is the author of two collections of poetry, Under the Red Dress (Five Oaks Press) and After Hours (Five Oaks Press).
Tony Fusco is the new and first Poet Laureate of West Haven, Connecticut, Co-President of the Connecticut Poetry Society. He has a Master Degree in Creative Writing from Southern Connecticut State University. He was the editor of Caduceus, the anthology of the “Yale Medical Group Art Place” and past editor of the Connecticut River Review, Long River Run. His work has appeared in many publications including the Connecticut Review, Louisiana Literature, the Red Rock Review, The South Carolina Review, Lips, and The Paterson Review.
He has published four books of poetry and three chap books, Extinction 2018, Java Scripture 2014, Droplines 2010, and Jessie’s Garden 2003. His poetry has won prizes in many contests including the Sunken Garden Poetry Prize. Tony is a life long resident of West Haven, Connecticut; his writing is infused with the local flavor of growing up a Catholic Italian, and with memories of the now defunct Savin Rock Amusement Park and working at the Yale School of Medicine. He is married to Patricia White Fusco, has two daughters, Emily and Cyndi, and four grandsons.
On the anniversary of the 2007 bombing of the booksellers’ market in Baghdad, and in defiance of the ongoing attacks throughout the world against reading and readers, excerpts from the anthology “Al-Mutanabbi Street Starts Here” will be read by Daisy C. Abreu and Stephen Vincent Kobasa.
