Where did your voice come from? How do you use it in your poetry? Hands-on exercises and discussion. Understanding poetry from a performance perspective. Your words, your body, and your voice are the only tools you have.

$35 per person

www.theriverhousewv.org/event-registration

KIRK JUDD has lived, worked, trout fished and wandered around in West Virginia all of his life. Kirk was a member of the Appalachian Literary League, a founding member and former president (and JUG recipient) of West Virginia Writers, Inc., and is a founding member of and creative writing instructor for Allegheny Echoes, Inc., dedicated to the support and preservation of WV cultural heritage arts. Author of 3 collections of poetry “Field of Vision” 1986, “Tao-Billy” 1996, and “My People Was Music” 2014, and a co-editor of the widely acclaimed anthology, “Wild, Sweet Notes – 50 Years of West Virginia Poetry 1950 – 1999”, he is widely published. His work has appeared in such respected regional publications as “The West Virginia Hillbilly”, “Appalachian Heritage”, “Appalachian Journal”, "BOGG", "Now & Then", "The Sow's Ear", "Grab-A-Nickel", "Down Home", “The Dickensonian”, “The Hamilton Stone Review”, and "Hill and Valley", and has been used in Appalachian Poetry classes at the University of Tennessee, The Ohio State University, Marshall University, and Southern West Virginia Community College. He has been featured three times on American Public Radio on "The Poet and The Poem" with WV native Grace Cavalieri. Kirk's poetry deals with the Appalachian cultural experience, and the individual emotional and spiritual involvement of living day-to-day in this unique environment. Kirk was honored to be one of the 5 readers selected for the installation ceremony of Louise McNeill Pease as Poet Laureate in 1979 at the WV Cultural Center on the Capitol grounds in Charleston, WV, and currently sits on the advisory boards of the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation headquartered in Hillsboro, WV and the WV University Pearl S. Buck Advisory Committee. He is internationally known for his performance work combining poetry and old time music, and has performed poetry in Ireland and across West Virginia at fairs, concerts, and festivals for the past 40 years.