For Immediate Release

Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival as part of the Woodstock Arts Consortium is sponsoring the following poetry event as part of the Woodstock "Second Saturdays" Art Events. For a full listing of "Second Saturday" events, see: www.artsinwoodstock.org

Poets Josie Peralta, Ted Gill, and Glen River reading from their collaborative book Voyage will be the featured readers when the Woodstock Poetry Society & Festival meets at the Woodstock Community Center, 56 Rock City Road, on Saturday, February 14th at 2pm. Note: WPS&F meetings are held the 2nd Saturday of every month.

The readings will be hosted by Woodstock area poet Phillip Levine. All meetings are free, open to the public, and include an open mike.

Voyage
Published by Lulu.com, distributed by Ingram
2008978-1-4357-3913-0 ISBN
Paperback Book 116 pages
6" x 9" perfect binding
$18.95

Bios:

Voyage - Voyage is a collection of the work of three poets in the Hudson Valley: Ted Gill, Josie Peralta and Glen River. Their three voices express the voyage of each through life in search of meaning to live by. The poems are in both English and Spanish. Drawings by Glen River illustrate the poetic visions of the three poets. Josie Peralta, translator of the Spanish poems in the book, was the host of a multilingual poetry gathering and reading in Woodstock for many years and now hosts a poetry series at Cafe Mezzaluna in Saugerties. Glen River was a co-host when he lived in the area. Peralta and River also worked together on a poetry DVD before collaborating on the Voyage anthology.

Josie Peralta - Josie Peralta was born in Argentina and immigrated to United States as a teenager. Storytelling has been a basis for learning in her upbringing. Whether through her mother's words or books, story has been her most vital source for learning. It is only natural that her gift of expression would find substance in language. Both Spanish and English offer unique centers for understanding. She began writing in Spanish, translating into English. Now she writes in English. She began writing poetry at eleven years old and prose shortly after. Since that time, she has tried to discover an essence of truth to be the light bringing understanding to her world. This understanding is the voice we find in her work. She continues to teach Spanish and work in the community.

Ted Gill - Ted Gill wrote occasional poems in high school and college in the ‘50's and started saving them formally in the early '60's. He became known at work as “the poet” and there chronicled events and personalities in verse. In 2002 he began to read at Poetry On The Loose in Middletown. His style goes back to the romantics, with a bow of acknowledgement to Robert Frost. Since then he was published in the catalog for Howland Cultural Center, Times Herald-Record, newsletters, Chronogram and on the web: www.poetwarriors.org. He has featured at nearly every venue in the New York's Hudson Valley area. A combination of wit and insight have become his signature style, which poets and audience alike admire.

Glen River - Glen River has participated in poetry readings throughout the Hudson River Valley since 1997. He has been writing poetry since childhood. Author of numerous poetry chapbooks and CDs, his most recent poetry book (2008) is called Lingo. His combining of poetry, music, and song are expressed in the CD, paperback book and art book called Poetry Cafe. His poetry reflects his artistic sense of adventure. From shamanic insights to ballads of love, his poetry delivers a voice of his times. The illustrations in Voyage demonstrate his ability to cross artistic boundaries to convey meaning.

These three voices transcend individual experience to form a shared community of meaning. Beyond the boundaries of language, the poet's "voyage" into a spirit of life that continues to flourish no matter what the poet's background.

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