Charles Olson Centennial Celebration in Gloucester, October 8-10, 2010

Letter from the Charles Olson Society of Gloucester
To the extended Charles Olson community:

Gloucester's Charles Olson Society, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization, is organizing a series of events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Olson's birth. The main events will take place in downtown Gloucester on Columbus Day weekend (Friday, October 8 through Sunday, October 10), though other events will be held before the main festival. We need your donations to make it all happen.

Events will include a Charles Olson study group of local citizens meeting once a week for five weeks prior to Columbus Day weekend; nightly readings at venues throughout Gloucester in the week prior to the main events; symposia and panel discussions; a marathon reading at the Independent Church on Middle Street on Friday, October 8; featured readers on Saturday, October 9; an Olson walk with readings highlighting sites in the Maximus Poems on Sunday, followed by a performance of Apollonius of Tyana.

These events, and several others being discussed, will complement an Olson exhibit at the Cape Ann Museum, which will open the first weekend in October. In addition the Gloucester Lyceum and Sawyer Free Library is sponsoring a special catalog/exhibition of rare, inscribed, and out-of-print books, letters, magazines and broadsides by Olson, curated by Greg Gibson of Ten Pound Island Book Company.

The Olson centennial celebrations in Gloucester in October will provide people with an opportunity to extend and intensify discussions and debates begun in Worcester in March and at Simon Fraser University in June. The Gloucester events will also provide a unique opportunity for Olson's readers to encounter many Maximus sites in the company of other poets, scholars, and enthusiasts. The ways contemporary poets, artists, teachers, and activists are responding to Olson's work -- exploring, extending, critiquing, revising-- will be at the core of the Gloucester events. With your help we can make Gloucester's Charles Olson centennial events challenging, nourishing, and of essential use to those who attend.

Please send checks to Charles Olson Society c/o Kent Bowker, Treasurer, 11 Indian Rock Lane, Essex, MA 01929, with "Olson 100" in the memo line. Those interested in contributing toward the establishment of the Vincent Ferrini/Charles Olson Writers Place should send donations to The Charles Olson Society c/o Henry Ferrini, 5 Wall Street, Gloucester, MA 01930.

Sincerely,

The Charles Olson Society of Gloucester

Olson 100 events in Gloucester (as of April 7, 2010):

one day a week for five weeks at The Bookstore
Charles Olson Study Group led by Peter Anastas and James Cook

from early October on, Cape Ann Museum
Charles Olson exhibit

Monday, October 4 - Thursday, October 7 (readings by and of Gloucester writers)

Friday, October 8, 7pm, Independent Church on Middle Street
Marathon reading

Saturday, October 9, 10am, Cape Ann Museum
Moderated "Town Meeting" Discussion

Saturday, October 9, 7pm, Independent Church on Middle Street
Featured Readers

Sunday, October 10, 11am, from Stage Fort Park to 28 Fort Square
Maximus Walk with readings

Sunday, October 10, The Blackburn Performing Arts Center
Apollonius at Tyana

Become a member of the Charles Olson Society of Gloucester

To become a member send $35 to Charles Olson Society c/o Kent Bowker, Treasurer, 11 Indian Rock Lane, Essex, MA 01929 with "Member Dues" in the subject line.

By becoming a member you will be helping to support our efforts to organize Olson 100 events for Columbus Day weekend 2010 and to raise money for a Vincent Ferrini / Charles Olson writing center.