Connections Seeks Submissions
Along with an upcoming College of Southern Maryland Connections Literary Series reading by poet Rick Benjamin, the Connections magazine is soliciting submissions. The magazine is a regional literary journal published twice a year that features poems, stories, artwork, and photography of Southern Maryland residents.
To be considered for the fall 2016 issue, the deadline for submissions is Oct. 31.
A reading by contributors to the magazine will take place at 7:30 pm Dec. 2, 2016, on the La Plata Campus Center for Business and Industry (BI) Building, Rooms 103/104 at 8730 Mitchell Road in La Plata. The event is free. Another reading will be held in May.
Connections also will bring Mr. Benjamin to the Leonardtown Campus at 7:30 pm Nov. 4. His reading is sponsored in part by a grant from the St. Mary’s County Arts Council and the Maryland State Arts Council.
The literary series continues the college’s tradition of bringing engaging writers to its campuses. Mr. Benjamin is the former state poet of Rhode Island.
CSM professor Neal Dwyer coordinates the program. He is a professor in the Languages and Literature Division, and said Mr. Benjamin will be a good fit for the annual series.
Mr. Benjamin will read from his work at 7:30 pm Nov. 4 at the Leonardtown Campus in Building A, Auditorium, 22950 Hollywood Road in Leonardtown, MD. He has taught at Brown University, the Rhode Island School of Design, and the MFA Program in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College, as well as in many schools, and in community and assisted living centers — where, he said, “I have passed good time in the company of people who range in age from 6 to 96.”
Mr. Benjamin was a Fellow at New Urban Arts, an afterschool arts mentoring program for Providence area high school students. His poems and essays have appeared in “PRØOF,” “Watershed,” The Providence Journal, “Tongue,” 350.org, “The Writer’s Circle,” “American Poets in the 21st Century: The New Poetics” (Wesleyan University Press), “Urthona: An International Buddhist Journal of the Arts, Poem, Home: An Anthology of Ars Poetica” (Paper Kite Press), and “La Petite Zine.”
Mr. Benjamin believes that poetry can play a primary role in creating vibrant and connected communities. Mr. Dwyer said that is what drew him to the poet’s work.
“Rick is about building community and using poetry as a way to bring people together. That could be the theme for this season of Connections: Poetry’s role in bringing people together,” Mr. Dwyer said.
The spring literary series will include visits to CSM by author Michael Archer on Feb. 17, novelist Sunil Yapa on March 3 and Affrilachian poet Frank X. Walker on April 7.
Tickets for the Benjamin reading are $3 in advance at the CSM box office, $5 at the door, and $3 with a CSM student ID. For tickets, contact [email protected] or call 301-934-7828.
For information on Connections, study guides, and author links, visit the CSM website. Featured books are available at any CSM College Store or online.
For more about the College of Southern Maryland, visit their Leader member page.
