Pianist Sharon Bee will perform her own compositions at the June 4th London Open Mic Poetry Night that features poet Monica Lee, including one song with lyrics written by Lee.

Bee is a classically trained pianist, an award winning composer and a piano teacher. She also teaches music theory and music history. She has performed at many venues and festivals, composed the music & lyrics for three complete musicals (as well as incidental music for several plays), and has developed the music for a series of radio plays being produced out of Halifax, one of which is Old Wounds – the Firefly tribute.

Monika Lee will be the featured poet at the June 4th, 2014 London Open Mic Poetry Night at Mykonos Restaurant, the last London Open Mic event of the second season.

Monika Lee began writing poems at a very young age, about seven, and has always loved poetry. Her parents, both poetry-lovers, were immensely encouraging, and their added encouragement resultedin young Monika winning a couple of poetry contests when she was a child.  So poetry has been a lifelong fascination.  But publishing and giving readings are not second nature for her, as writing poems has always been an intensely private experience for her.  And yet, she does want to create good poems and to improve as a poet, to share something of beauty and meaning with others.  Publishing and readings have helped in that process of improvement. 

Monika grew up in West Flamborough village, went to high school in Dundas, spent a summer in Vancouver, and then lived in Toronto, Aix-en-Provence, and Marseille before coming to the London area where she has lived the majority of her adult life so far. 

Lee is currently an associate professor at Brescia University College where she teaches literature and creative writing. She earned her PhD in English at UWO and held a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell. She graduated from the Humber College School of Writing with distinction in 2007. Lee has had a book of poems published, called gravity loves the body, also a poetry chapbook, slender threads, and a book of literary criticism.  She lives in the village of Lobo with her husband, Brian, and her two daughter, Anna and Natasha.

The Event

WHERE:  The Mykonos Restaurant at 572 Adelaide St. North, London, Ontario. The restaurant has a large, covered terrace just behind the main restaurant, which comfortably holds 60 poetry lovers. Mediterranean food and drinks are available. Except for the coldest months, the terrace is open to the parking lot behind. Overflow parking is available across the side street and in the large lot one block north, in front of Trad’s Furniture.

WHEN: June 4th, the first Wednesday of the month. 

LIVE MUSIC: Pianist Sharon Bee will open the event, at least by 6:30. She will also perform during the intermission and  at the end of the event. 

THE FEATURED POET: Monika Lee will open the poetry portion of the event at 7:00, followed by a Q&A.

OPEN MIC: Following the featured poet, 15 open mic poets will read for about 1.5 hours, ending about 9:00 pm. Each poet has five minutes (which is about two good pages of poetry, but it should be timed at home). Sign up on the reader`s list, which is on the book table at the back. It's first come, first served.

RAFFLE PRIZES: Anyone who donates to London Open Mic Poetry Night receives a ticket for a raffle prize, three of which will be picked after the intermission. The prizes consist of poetry books donated by Brick Books and The Ontario Poetry Society. Donations are our only source of income. We still haven't paid off our initial debt!