(Batesville, IN) – Award-winning poet and Indianapolis resident John Sherman will give a poetry reading at Amack’s Well Community Coffee House on George Street in Batesville on Friday, June 19, at 5:30 p.m.
Sherman will donate a portion of his book sales to Amack’s Well, a nonprofit venture that supports many area organizations.
He will read from his latest book, Fussing a Bit: Poems of My Lives.
This is his fourth book of poetry, along with two spoken-word CDs. He is also the author of six other books.
Following the reading, Sherman will sign copies of Fussing ($20, 130 pages of poetry, some recipients of awards, others being published for the first time), as well as, for $5 each, Marjorie Main: Rural Documentary Poetry; War Stories: A Memoir of Nigeria and Biafra; and a CD HOME: Stories of a Childhood Told in Poems.
His poems have appeared more than 100 times in literary magazines and anthologies.
Sherman has received numerous Individual Artist Award and Arts in the Parks and Historic Sites grants from the Indiana Arts Commission for poetry and photography.
This book was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Indiana Arts Commission.
Sherman is also an award-winning photographer who has had his work in several juried shows.
John earned the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation for researching and writing the first edition of Santa Fe: A Pictorial History. A display of his photos and papers, donated to the Taos County Historical Society, from Taos: A Pictorial History, a companion volume to his Santa Fe book, is planned at the Society later this year.
He received a Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis, resulting in his writing the libretto for a three-act opera, “Biafra.” A portion, scored by Nathaniel Blume, was performed at the Artsgarden in Indianapolis. It is based on his experiences working on an International Committee of the Red Cross food and medical team during the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War. The performance and other Africa-related exhibits may be viewed at www.mesaverdepress.com.
