Poetry Night Returns to Flying Bear With a Special Guest

Phillip Sterling

By Marsha Reeves
 
Want to check out a famous poet without ever leaving Newaygo County?  Flying Bear Books is hosting the world renowned poet and storyteller Phillip Sterling on Wednesday, February 5th, 7 PM at their February Poetry Night.   Mr. Sterling will share some of his work as well as join the audience as some of our local poets read and share, including our local high school students. 
 
In honor of his visit, Flying Bear Books will be providing Sumac Tea, a delicious winter boost made from our local Staghorn sumac bushes.  This is a traditional indigenous tea full of vitamin C and August sunshine. 
 
Phillip Sterling is the author of two books of fiction, In Which Brief Stories Are Told (Wayne State U Press) and Amateur Husbandry (Mayapple Press), two collections of poetry, And Then Snow (Main Street Rag) and Mutual Shores (New Issues) and four chapbook-length series of poems (Significant Others, Abeyance, Quatrains, And for All This: Poems from Isle Royale). A fifth series, Short on Days, will be released from Main Street Rag in 2020. He is also the editor of two anthologies: Imported Breads: Literature of Cultural Exchange (Mammoth Books 2003) and Isle Royale from the AIR: Poems, Stories, and Songs from 25 Years of Artists-in-Residence (Caffeinated Press 2017). The recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, two Fulbright Awards (Belgium and Poland), and a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award, Sterling has served as Artist-in-Residence for both Isle Royale National Park and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. He is currently Professor Emeritus at Ferris State University, where he founded and coordinated the Literature In Person Reading Series until his retirement in 2013.
 
Poetry Night at Flying Bear Books (aka The Bear) happens the first Wednesday of every month at 7 PM.  It’s a great opportunity to hang out with some of Newaygo County’s most creative people. And you don’t need $ to attend.  Both Poetry Night and the Sumac Tea are free. You are welcome to bring your own poetry to share!

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