Guilford Poets Guild: Reading by Nan Meneely and Jen Payne at Guilford Free Library

The Guilford Poets Guild presents a reading by two of its members, Nan Meneely and Jen Payne. The program will begin with an open mic session at 6:30 pm. Refreshments will be served.

Nan Meneely holds a B.A. from Smith College, an M.A.T. in English from Yale and an M.Ed. from UMass/Amherst. She has taught at high school, college and graduate school levels and worked as a trainer in State and Federal government departments. After retiring from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2006, she retired to Connecticut to focus on poetry, helping to administer the work of the Guilford Poets Guild and the Connecticut River Poets to support the writing and appreciation of poetry in Shoreline communities. She has published poetry, book reviews and articles in a variety of literary publications and newspapers. Her book, Letter from Italy, 1944, which provides the libretto for the oratorio of the same name, was published by Antrim House in 2013 and was the only book of poetry awarded in the Legacy Non-fiction category of the 2016 Eric Hoffer Book Awards. It was noted by the Hartford Courant as one of thirteen important books published by Connecticut writers in 2013.

Jen Payne is inspired by those life moments that move us most — love and loss, joy and disappointment, milestones and turning points. When she is not exploring our connections with one another, she enjoys writing about our relationships with nature, creativity, and mindfulness, and how these provide balance in our frenetic, spinning world.

In 2014, she published LOOK UP! Musings on the Nature of Mindfulness, a collection of essays, poems and original photography. Evidence of Flossing: What We Leave Behind, a book of poems, is due out in October from Three Chairs Publishing.

Jen is the owner of Words by Jen, a graphic design and creative services company in Branford. She is a member of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, the Connecticut Poetry Society, Guilford Arts Center, and the Guilford Poets Guild.

Her poetry was featured in Inauguration Nation at Kehler Liddel Gallery in New Haven,and Shuffle & Shake at the Arts Council of Greater New Haven. Her writing has been published by The Aurorean, Six Sentences, the Story Circle Network, WOW! Women on Writing, and The Perch, a publication by the Yale Program for Recovery & Community Health.

Please register.