| UPCOMING
& PAST EVENTS
Author Update
Linda Nemic Foster's, Ten Songs from Bulgaria, will be
published later in 2008 by Cervena Barva Press. The collection
was a top finalist in the press' national chapbook competition
and was selected for publication by editor Gloria Mindock.
Recently, she has had poems published in Witness, Salamander,
The MacGuffin, and New Millennium Writings.
Tuesday, April 22 at
7:00 PM
Reading for the anthology, Fresh Water (Michigan State
University Press) with other contributors (Alison Swan, Jackie
Bartley, Lisa Lenzo, Gail Griffin). Herrick District Library,
300 S. River Ave., Holland, Michigan. For more info, call the
library at (616) 355-3100.
Saturday,
April 19 at 1:45 PM
Poetry reading at the Festival of Faith and Writing, Calvin
College, Prince Conference Center Board Room, Grand Rapids,
Michigan. Foster is one of 15 poets invited to read at this
national conference; there are other writers from other genres
scheduled to present. A book-signing follows her reading.
Other poets and writers
include Mary Gordon, Paul Mariani, Rod Jellema, Mary Karr, and
Franz Wright. For more info contact Festival Director Shelly LeMahieu Dunn at (616)
526-8720 or mld5@calvin.edu.
The entire Festival web site can be accessed at
http://www.calvin.edu/festival.
February 27, 2008
Poetry workshop for literacy teachers at 6:00 PM-7:30 PM, Grand
Rapids Public Library, VanderVeen Center for the Book--4th
floor, Grand Rapids, Michigan. For more info contact Shay
Kraley at (616) 459-5151 ext. 13 or
skraley@kentliteracy.org
February 14, 2008
Craft lecture and discussion at 10:00 AM-10:45 AM; poetry
reading at 2:00 PM-2:45 PM at Kalamazoo Valley Community
College, Kalamazoo, Michigan. For more info contact Rob Haight
at (269) 488-4452 or
RHAIGHT@kvcc.edu
January 5, 2008
Poetry reading at the Embassy of Poland, Washington, DC as part
of the annual conference of the American Historical
Association. Foster was also presented with the 2008
International Creative Arts Award by the Polish American
Historical Association at a gala awards banquet at the Embassy.
For more info contact Dr. Anna D. Jaroszynska-Kirchmann at
kirchmanna@easternct.edu
February 28, 2007
12:30 PM--2:00 PM
Linda Nemec Foster and Dianne Carroll Burdick present their
book, Listen to the Landscape, for the Grand Forum at Grand
Valley State University, Eberhard Center, Room 215, 301 W.
Fulton St., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49504. For more information,
contact July Palmer at (616) 331-6615 or at
palmerju@gvsu.edu
March 7, 2007 7:00
PM
Linda Nemec Foster and other writers included in the
award-winning anthology, Fresh Water, read their selections for
the VanderVeen Center for the Book at the Grand Rapids Public
Library, Ryerson Auditorium, 111 Library St. NE, Grand Rapids,
MI 49503. For more information, contact Chris Byron at (616)
988-5402, ext. 5497.
March 8, 2007 7:00
PM
Linda Nemec Foster reads from her book, Listen to the Landscape,
and discusses the dimensions of poetry that reflects on nature
at the Catholic Information Center,
246 Ionia NW, Grand Rapids,
MI 49503. For more information, contact Mary Vaccaro at (616)
459-7267
March 11, 2007 1:30
PM
Linda Nemec Foster reads from her recent poetry collections in
celebration of Women's History Month at the Grandville Barnes &
Noble in the Rivertown Crossings Mall. For more information,
contact Linda Arnold Schuhardt at (616) 531-5875 or at
crm2008@bn.com
March 25, 2007
2:00 PM
Linda Nemec Foster reads her poetry for the Metro Detroit
Writers' Downtown Literary Series at The Scarab Club, 217 E.
Farnsworth, Detroit, MI. For more information, contact Series
Director M.L. Liebler at (313) 577-7713 or at
MLLiebler@aol.com
March 28, 2007
12:00 PM
Linda Nemec Foster and other writers included in the
award-winning anthology, Fresh Water, read their selections at
the University of Michigan, Institute for Research on Women and
Gender. For more information, contact Alison Swan at
a_swan@sbcglobal.net
September 17, 2006
12:00-3:00 PM
Fountain Street Church's Keeler Gallery, "The Good Earth"
exhibit: Dianne Carroll Burdick, photography; Linda Nemec
Foster, poetry; reception and book signing for Listen to the
Landscape.
September 24, 2006 4:00-5:00 PM
Summer Writers Series at Till Midnight Cafe. Linda Nemec
Foster reads from the new book, Listen to the Landscape, and
other poetry collections.
September 10, 2006
2:00-4:00 PM
Lowell Area Arts Council reception for InnerScapes, an
art/writing exhibit juried by Poet Linda Nemec Foster and Artist
Dianne Carroll Burdick. Book signing for Listen to the
Landscape. Lowell Area Arts Council, 149 South Hudson, Lowell,
MI 49331.
August 4, 2006 at
6:30 PM Linda Nemec Foster reads her poetry at the Grand Rapids
Art Museum.
May 19, 2006
at 2:00 PM-4:30 PM Linda Nemec Foster reads with other Michigan
poets at the Ludington Poetry Festival in Ludington, Michigan.
For more info, go to the festival website at
www.ludingtonwriters.com
April 13, 2006 at
7:00 PM Linda Nemec Foster reads her poetry for Voices in Verses
at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.
April 11, 2006
at 7:00 PM Linda Nemec Foster reads with Miriam Pederson and Sue
William Silverman in celebration of National Poetry Month at
Schuler Books in Kentwood, Michigan.
March 23, 2006
at 6:30 PM Linda Nemec Foster reads her poetry for the Catholic
Social Services of Grand Rapids 60th Anniversary Celebration at
the Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids,
Michigan.
March 22, 2006
at 7:00 PM Linda Nemec Foster reads her poetry in celebration
of Women's History Month at Grand Rapids Community College
Library, second floor.
June 2005
Linda Nemec Foster in Poland
In June, 2005 Linda Nemec Foster was the cultural representative for
the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan in an official Sister City
delegation that visited Bielsko-Biala, Poland.

Grand Rapids City Commissioner Robert Dean and Grand Rapids Poet
Laureate Linda Nemec Foster at Town Hall in Bielsko-Biala, Poland
participating in the Sister City Delegation in June 2005
The city in southern Poland is one of four places that has developed
close ties with Grand Rapids in the Sister Cities International
Organization. (The other three are in Japan, Italy, and the Ga
District in Africa).
More than twenty people comprised the delegation that included Grand
Rapids mayor George Heartwell and his wife Susan, City Commissioner
Robert Dean, Aquinas College President Harry Knopke and his wife
Sheila, and various professors, scholars, and translators. As the
first poet laureate of Grand Rapids, Foster had specific duties
during the trip that included meeting with university professors to
develop a college exchange program and talks with secondary school
educators to discuss the possibilities of a high school exchange
program.

Barbara Rylko-Bauer, Grand Rapids Poet Laureate Linda Nemec Foster
and Urszula Kassel at Mayor's Reception in Bielsko-Biala, Poland
in June 2005
Her main goal was to develop relationships with prominent Polish
poets and writers to explore the creation of a program in which
these authors would be writers-in-residence at Aquinas College's
Contemporary Writers Series. With that goal in mind, she had a
personal meeting with Adam Zagajewski, one of Poland's most
significant poets and writers. He was very interested in the
Contemporary Writers Series and the residency program that would be
connected with it. Foster is hoping that this cultural connection
with Poland and Grand Rapids will be a reality in five years. In the
meantime, she feels this trip was instrumental in starting the
process.
Friday,
May 7-14, 2005
Grand Rapids, Michigan, poet Linda Nemec Foster will appear
on the nationwide broadcast of the public radio literary program New Letters on the Air. Foster, the
first Poet Laureate of Grand Rapids, Michigan, talks about her
books of poetry, including her most recent,
Amber Necklace from Gdansk. The program will be available
on the public radio satellite on April 27, 2005, and can also
be heard on the program’s website www.newletters.org. May 4-17.
Click
here to read full press release
Friday,
February 4, 2005 from 6:00 PM
Grand Rapids Poet Laureate Linda Nemec Foster is doing a poetry reading and presentation
at the Grand Rapids Art Museum on Friday, February 4 from 6:00 PM to 6:30 PM
in the Museum's Cook Auditorium (second floor). The reading is from work
that was specifically inspired by the visual arts and will include a slide presentation
of those pieces. A question and answer period and book signing will
follow. This event is free and open to the public.
Thursday,
November 4 at 1:00 PM,
Linda Nemec Foster gives a reading from her new work at University
of Michigan-Dearborn.
Thursday,
October 28 at 1:00 PM
Linda Nemec Foster presents her poetry at Thornapple Evangelical Covenant Church,
6595 Cascade Road, Ada, Michigan. Her work will be presented in the context of
Woman as Immigrant.
Friday,
October 22 at 7:00 PM
Linda Nemec Foster is the featured poet at the Writers Place in Kansas City,
Missouri.
Friday
and Saturday, October 15 and 16
Linda Nemec Foster critiques poetry manuscripts and conducts a poetry session
at the Detroit Working Writers Conference at Schoolcraft College, 18600 Haggerty
Road, Livonia, Michigan 48152.
Saturday, October 9 at 4:00 PM
Linda Nemec Foster reads from her critically acclaimed book, Amber
Necklace From Gdansk, at the Hamtramck Public Library in celebration
of Polish Heritage Month.
Wednesday,
September 29 at 7:00 PM
Linda Nemec Foster will be reading poems inspired by visual art
for a special exhibit at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center,
1516 South Cranbrook Road, Birmingham, Michigan 48009.
Monday,
June 14, 2004 at 6-8 PM.
at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts
Linda Nemec Foster will read a new poem especially written to
celebrate the 35th anniversary of La Grande Vitesse, Alexander
Calder's magnificent public sculpture that has graced the Grand
Rapids' City Hall Plaza since 1969. The sculpture was the first
public arts project to be funded by the National Endowment for
the Arts.
Thursday,
June 10 at 7:00 PM
Linda Nemec Foster reads her poetry in celebration of Grand Rapids'
neighborhoods. The program," We Sing the City Electric: Poetry
from the Neighborhoods," is sponsored by the Grand Rapids
Humanities Council. The reading takes place at the Grand Rapids
Public Library, 111 Library Street, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Saturday,
May 22 at 7:00 PM
Linda Nemec Foster is the featured poet at the 7th Annual Theodore
Roethke Poetry Festival. Reading takes place at the Anderson Enrichment
Center, 120 Ezra Rust Drive, Saginaw, Michigan.
Wednesday,
April 14 at 4:00 PM
Linda Nemec Foster will present a talk entitled "Publish
or Perish: How Poems are Created, Written, and Published."
Vandenberg Center for the Book Arts, Grand Rapids Public Library,
Main Branch, 111 Library St NE, Grand Rapids, MI.
Friday,
March 26 at 4:30 PM
Linda Nemec Foster will moderate and participate in a panel discussion
celebrating the poetry of Lisel Mueller, Pulitzer Prize Winner.
Associated Writing Programs Annual Conference, Palmer House Hilton
Hotel, Chicago, IL.
Thursday,
March 18 at 7:00 PM
Linda
Nemec Foster presents a poetry reading and discussion of all six
of her published books. Peninsula Writers March event. Schuler
Books and Music, 2660 28th Street, Grand Rapids, MI.
Friday,
January 23, 2004 at 7:30 PM.
Poetry
reading and book signing for Amber Necklace from Gdansk.
Michigan State University,
Main Library, North Conference Room
Tuesday,
December 30, 2003 at 2:00 PM
Poet Laureate Linda Nemec Foster reads a poem specifically written
for the inauguration of the new mayor, George Heartwell.
Grand Rapids City Hall, 9th floor,
City Commissioners Conference Room.
October
23, 2003
Poetry reading and book signing for Amber Necklace from Gdansk
Shaman Drum Bookstore, Ann Arbor, MI, 8:00 PM.
Sunday,
March 30 at 2:00 PM
Poetry reading in celebration of Women's History Month - Fenton
Public Library.
Fenton, Michigan.
July
28, 2003
Poetry workshop based on visual art, Franciscan Center,
Lowell, MI, 7:00 PM.
May
18, 2003
Poetry reading at Grand Rapids Public Library, 2:30 PM
May 8, 2003
Celebration of poetry and contest winners in Grand Rapids Writing
Competition, Grand Rapids Public Library, 7:00 PM.
April 25, 2003
Poetry Workshops for area high school students, Calvin College,
9:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
April 24, 2003
Poetry reading at the Women's City Club, Grand Rapids, Michigan,
11:00 AM.
April 21, 2003
Poetry reading in celebration of the opening of the new Grand
Rapids Public Library, 10:00 AM.
April 16, 2003
Creative Writing Seminars at East Grand Rapids Middle School,
all day sessions.
March 27, 2003
Creative
Writing Workshops at East Grand Rapids High School, 10:00 AM to
3:00 PM.
Tuesday, March 18, 2003 at 7:00 PM
Poetry reading on the subject of Woman as Immigrant, Aquinas College,
Wege Student Center, Loutit Room. Grand Rapids, Michigan
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