Published poets present at Pine Technical College

Pine Technical College, in conjunction with the Pine Center for the Arts, hosted a poetry reading Tues. April 14.

The event began with readings by returning poets Jim Redmond and Matt Mauch. Redmond’s poems have appeared in Speakeasy, Seattle Review, South Carolina Review and Water~Stone, among others. Redmond is a two-time winner of the Loft's Mentor Series Award and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Mauch’s poetry has appeared in The Journal and in many other publications. Mauch teaches writing at Concordia Univ. of St. Paul.

The event’s feature presenter, Angela Foster, is a local writer. Foster’s work has been published in Talking Stick, Dust and Fire, Otter Tail Review, Tiny Lights, Poetry Midwest and Lake County Journal. Foster’s poetry and creative nonfiction have won her awards from the Brainerd Writer’s Alliance, the National League of American Pen Women, the Writers at Work Fellowship Competition, Cup of Comfort, New Orleans Study Abroad Competition, Lucidity, Carlisle Poets, Byline Magazine, and the League of Minnesota Poets. In 2004 and 2006, Foster received the Carol Bly Award in Creative Nonfiction from Bemidji State University. Foster also received an artist’s grant from the East Central Arts Council and was a 2006 finalist for the Loft Mentorship program.

Foster teaches writing through Pine City Community Education and co-teaches a workshop, “How to Find, Enter and Win Writing Contests,” at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. Foster also serves as co-editor of County Lines: 87 Minnesota Counties, 130 Minnesota Poets, published by Loon Feather Press (2008). Additionally, Foster serves as Treasurer for the League of Minnesota Poets.
In addition to the poetry reading event, winners of the Pine Technical College Poetry and Prose Contest were announced. First place went to Sean Ryan for “Web,” and the runner-up went to Felicia Maiwurm for “Like the Sea.”

Faculty members of the Pine Technical College English department also announced the third issue of Inkling: An Online Journal of Poetry and Prose. The journal was created to promote and encourage the work of creative writers throughout the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system by giving them an exclusive and competitive forum to display their work. Visit the journal at http://www.pinetech.edu/inkling/index.html.