More than 40 people turned out last night, Monday, April 18, at the Towson Library in support of six featured Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore! poets, including Hanna Badalova, S.J. Ferrandi, Heck, Sarah Jane Miller, Fernando Quijano III and Dean Smith. The free event was part of the 6th Annual Cruelest Month Poetry and Performance Festival co-sponsored by the Towson Arts Collective and the Baltimore County Public Library. An open-mic session followed the featured artists.Thanks to all those who read and everyone in attendance for making the evening so special. Also, special thanks to: photographer and Smile, Hon contributor Bill Hughes for showing up to document the evening just a few hours before fleeing the country; Christophe Casamassima of the Towson Arts Collective and the staff of the Towson Library for suffering Smile, Hon with admirable grace; master thespian Alex Hewett for her dramatic interpretation of a Bazooka Joe comic; and especially Davida Gypsy Breier, without whose organization and support stark raving mad naked chaos would have reigned.
In related news, Furniture Press Books has posted recordings of Smile, Hon editor William P. Tandy reading a few selections from his body of work. Listen here.
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