Tina Kelley Hosts Open Mic Poetry Night at Library

April is National Poetry Month, and in honor of that, an Open Mic Poetry Night was held Monday evening in the lower level of Maplewood Memorial Library.  The library's Director of Programming & Publicity Joanne Beckerich arranged for the event, which was hosted by local poet and author Tina Kelley.

Beckerich has been posting a different poem each day, both at the entrance to the library and on the library's Facebook page.

Kelley has previously done readings at the library and said that when Beckerich invited her to emcee the open mic evening she was “overjoyed.”

To kick off the event, Kelley read from her book The Gospel of Galore. Saying "it's the season for gardening," Kelley read several poems relating to springtime. Afterwards, members of the community were invited up to the podium to read their poetry. Each reader had five minutes to share their words.    

The Gospel of Galore is available at Maplewood’s own Words bookstore and Kelley’s newest publication titled Precise will hit bookshelves in December 2012. 

Tina Kelley will be reading at the release party for Journal of New Jersey poets, which takes place from 7-10 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, at the County College of Morris.