NEWS RELEASE

JEFFERSON PARISH, LOUISIANA

August 17, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OLD METAIRIE LIBRARY TO HOST 'SONNETS IN SEPTEMBER'

JEFFERSON, LA – “Sonnets in September,” an afternoon of readings by local poets, will occur from 2 to 4 p.m., Saturday, September 23, 2023 at the Old Metairie Library, 2350 Metairie Road.

This event is free of charge and is open to the public. Registration is not required.

“Sonnets in September” will feature as many as 16 poets from Louisiana and Mississippi whose work has appeared the new Mid/South Sonnets: A Belle Point Anthology, published by Belle Point Press of Fort Smith, Arkansas. 

Benjamin Morris, the host for the event and a contributor, says that while this anthology includes many conventional and experimental approaches to the sonnet form, each poem enacts an attempt to struggle through the anxieties of home in the hope of finding a place to love and belong.

The current list of readers includes C.T. Salazar, Stacey Balkun, Justin Lacour, Alison Pelegrin, Adam Clay, Ellie Black, Kirsten Reneau, David Greenspan, Maggie Graber, Jack Bedell, and Darrell Bourque. Editor C.T. Salazar will introduce the anthology to attendees.

The first half of the reading will feature readings from the new anthology of sonnets. The second half will feature poets and writers with new and forthcoming books from Belle Point Press.

For more information regarding this presentation, contact Chris Smith, manager of adult programming for the library, at (504) 889-8143 or wcsmith@jplibrary.net.

The Jefferson Parish Library system consists of 16 locations that stretch from the Lakeshore Branch on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the Grand Isle Branch just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. The library system consists of two large regional libraries and seven branches on each side of the Mississippi River. The East Bank Regional Library (4747 W. Napoleon Avenue, Metairie) serves as library headquarters. The Jefferson Parish Library is the second largest system in the state of Louisiana. More than 200 employees work for the Jefferson Parish Library including librarians, administration and support staff. JPL is supported by a vibrant volunteer organization, the Friends of the Jefferson Public Library. For more information, contact the library at (504) 838-1100 or www.jefferson.lib.la.us.

For more information about Jefferson Parish, visit www.JeffParish.net. Residents can also receive regular updates by following the Parish on social media (@JeffParishGov) or by texting JPALERT or JPNOTICIAS to 888-777.

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Jefferson Parish Public Information Office 1221 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Suite 1002 Jefferson, LA 70123

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Gretchen Hirt Gendron, PIO