Scudder Parker
CALAIS – Words Out Loud marks the ninth year of Sunday afternoon readings of work by Vermont writers at the historic 1823 meetinghouse, the Old West Church, presented in tandem with the annual Fall Art at the Kent exhibit in Kents’ Corner.
This year, “Words Out Loud: Poetry, Place, and the Passage of Time” will be an all-poetry series of readings by Vermonters. Dates will include September 17, with Sean Prentiss and Scudder Parker; September 24, with Sarah Audsley and Nadine Budbill; and October 1, with Nadell Fishman and Sydney Lea.
Vermont poets Sean Prentiss and Scudder Parker will be the first to read in this year’s series, at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 17, at the Old West Church, 758 Old West Church Road.
Sean Prentiss is the award-winning author of “Finding Abbey: The Search for Edward Abbey and His Hidden Desert Grave,” which won the National Outdoor Book Award, Utah Book Award, and the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award, and the author of “Crosscut: Poems.” He is also the author of two textbooks: “Environmental and Nature Writing” and “Advanced Creative Nonfiction.” Prentiss is coeditor of “The Far Edges of the Fourth Genre: Explorations in Creative Nonfiction” and coeditor of “The Science of Story: The Brain Behind Creative Nonfiction.” He and his family live on a small lake in northern Vermont, and he serves as an associate professor at Norwich University.
Sean Prentiss
Scudder Parker’s first volume of poetry, “Safe as Lightning” (Rootstock Publishing, 2020), was awarded the Best Poetry Book of 2020 by the Independent Publishers of New England (IPNE). His poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals including “Sun Magazine,” “Crosswinds,” “The Lascaux Review,” “Northern Woodlands,” “Sky Island Journal,” “Vermont Life,” and “Twyckenham,” and his poem “The Poem of the World” was awarded an honorable mention in the 2021 Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest. A passionate gardener and grandfather of four, Parker lives with his wife, Susan, in Middlesex.
Book sales and signings and a chance to meet the presenters will follow the readings. No tickets required for the readings but donations are suggested. Attendees should arrive early to allow time for parking and seating. For more information see [email protected] or call (802) 456-0099.
