By Eileen Wingard
LA JOLLA, California — Three outstanding local poets, Annette Friend, Jen Laffler and Susan L. Lipson, will be featured in the third program of the 2020-2021 series of Jewish Poets—Jewish Voices, Tuesday evening, March 16, 7:00 p.m. on Zoom. The three poets have all been published extensively.
Annette Friend, a native of West Orange, New Jersey, has degrees in English, teaching and occupational therapy. She has worked as an occupational therapist, a public school elementary teacher and as a Hebrew teacher. In 2008, she was selected as San Diego’s Grinspoon Steinhard Jewish Educator award winner. A member of the Awaken the Poet group from the Encinitas Library and Poets INC in Escondido, she has had her poems published in Tidepools, Summation, The San Diego Poetry Annual, the The California Quarterly and the online “Jewish Writing Project.”
Jen Laffler was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Jen is a graduate of Wellesley College. She is a Girl Scout Troop Leader and also volunteers with children’s educational organizations, including Odyssey Of The Mind and Encuentros Leadership. She served as Director of Children’s Programming for the inaugural San Diego Writers Festival and, for the last three years, has volunteered as Director of the Festival’s Children’s Writing Contest, KidsWrite! San Diego. Her poetry has been featured in Cadet Quest Magazine, the Kids Cast Weekly podcast and at the San Diego Writers Festival. Two of her poems have been selected to appear in the San Diego Poetry Annual. One of her poems, The Matzoh Ball, was adapted into a short play for Straight from the Page, the Lawrence Family JCC’s Annual 5 Minute Play Festival. Her children’s book, J is for Jitterbug: A Fanciful Animal Alphabet, was published in 2016.
A former Michigander, Susan L. Lipson has been writing verses since she was eight years old. She studied both writing and teaching at the University of Michigan. She worked as a free-lance editor and associate literary agent. Currently, she writes fiction and educational materials, coaches writers of all ages and teaches weekly creative writing workshops for kids, ages 8-18.
Her poems and songs have appeared in literary magazines, blogs and podcasts including: The Writer magazine, Crazyquilt Quarterly, Alura, “The Jewish Writing Project” blog, the podcast, “Life, Death and the Space Between,” the Instagram-hosted “Viral Poetry Series,” various local synagogue and temple service supplements and programs and publications of the POINT Interfaith Team. A collection of her poems for young readers appears within the textbook, Writing Success Through Poetry, and she most recently published a collection of poetry for teens and adults, Disillusions of Grandeur—and Other Eye Openers.
Following the hour-long presentation by these stellar featured poets, there will be a half hour of open mic.
This is a free offering of the Astor Judaica Library of the Lawrence Family JCC.
Click Here to register. Contact melanier@lfjcc.org to sign up for open mic.
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Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. She may be contacted via eileen.wingard@sdjewishworld.com