I’m happy to report that our SISTERS reading at the Muscatine History and Industry Center to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8 was, to my mind at least, a smashing success. Our readers were wonderful, simply marvelous. Each woman brought her own unique personality and perspective to interpreting the piece she read. There was a harmonious combination of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, and an exciting range of background, experiences, career stages, and interests from our readers. I felt like we created something wonderful, and perhaps even (who knows?) started a tradition that will continue. And news of our event even made the front-page paper the next day, providing a nice reflection on the gathering and a plug for Writers on the Avenue.
I’m going to savor that success for a minute or two before launching into full-scale planning for the poetry festival at the end of April. I don’t even recall now how I came up with the ideas for these events, or how I got the nerve to think I could pull off something like this, but I’m glad I did. If nothing else, it’s helping me meet so many interesting people.
