Our Mar. 4th feature is a group of four of these students, three in their senior year, headed by UWO’s current Student Writer in Residence, Scott Beckett. Scott is the second person to occupy this new post, which was set up to help foster the commuity of creative writing students at Western. Beckett has organized a unique reading by these young, energetic poets, probably three rounds of poems, each round with one poem per student. The first round will consist of poems written expressly for this event, each containing the same three lines, including the first line. It should be fun!
The students are:
Jilian Baker (3rd year)
Scott Beckett (4th year)
Koral Scott (4th year)
Eric Zadrozny (4th year)
“The beginning of Scott Beckett’s writing history is full of stories with vivid beginnings. They expanded so large that they became unwieldy and were abandoned, usually in fear. It was not until high school that Scott returned to writing.
“Over four years of writing education at Western University, Scott has become more experienced in several forms, but poetry always seemed to come most easily. In second year he took a position at The Rusty Toque, the online literary journal, which greatly increased his interest in creative writing. In fourth, he was appointed the second Student Writer in Residence at the university, a position intending to give a student the means to contribute to the creative writing community at Western.
“Scott has published poetry in The Rusty Toque, Occasus, and Shorthand. He plans to continue seeking publication for his poetry, as well as working on prose projects in the coming months. He is also opening submissions for the first issue of the SWIR-affiliated literary journal Conpareo.”
THE EVENT
WHERE: All of our reading events except the April one are held in 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. Overflow parking is available across the side street and in the large lot one block north, in front of Trad’s Furniture.
LIVE MUSIC opens each event, at least by 6:30. There is also an intermission with live music and usually more music at the end of the event.
THE FEATURED POETS begin their rounds of readings at 7:00, followed by a Q&A.
OPEN MIC: Following the featured poets, there is about 1.5 hours of open mic, 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. 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.