2022 Philly Loves Poetry Interview and Readings Series With Zina Bethea Dawson, Jenny Pacanowski & J. C. Todd

Tuesday November 1 @ 6:30 PM — VIRTUAL

To Attend, Visit https://phillycam.org/

And Click ‘Live TV’ Under the Watch Dropbox

Zina Bethea Dawson a served as a combat medic. She spent the majority of her adult life caring for others; fellow service members while on active duty and family upon separation from duty. From as early as she can recall, creativity was interwoven into her life’s journey. Every form of textile artistry piques her interest to the point of formal training and execution. Whether it’s a quilt, hand tooled leather accessory, or a custom piece of jewelry, seeing a smile is the elixir that energizes her passions. Give her a needle and thread; magic will happen. Joy is a mission for Zina as she uses humor in her written work with Women Veterans Empowered & Thriving, where experiential expression is the medium of camaraderie and healing.  

Jenny Pacanowski is the Founder and Director of Women Veterans Empowered & Thriving; a reintegration program that utilizes writing and performance to empower veterans to thrive in their daily life. She is also the program director of Poetic Theater Productions NYC Veteran Voices and the Associate Director of Lucid Body’s Impact theatre. Jenny believes that partnerships, collaborations and empowerment through community and ritual storytelling are the key to reintegration for veterans and their families. She travels all over the country performing, speaking, facilitating workshops and inviting people to empower themselves from within their experiences. 

J. C. Todd was a Blue Star Mother between 2002-2012, when three of her family members were deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and she began to write her book of poems, Beyond Repair, (2021) a selection for the Able Muse Press Book Award. Other poetry collections include The Damages of Morning (Moonstone Press, 2018), a finalist for the 2019 Eric Hoffer Award, and What Space This Body (Wind Publications, 2008). Winner of the 2016 Rita Dove Poetry Prize and a ‘commended’ winner of the 2021 National Poetry Competition: Poetry Society of the UK, she holds fellowships from the Pew Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and Bemis Center. Poems and interviews have appeared in the Baltimore Review, The Night Heron Barks, One Art, The Paris Review, and other journals. In 2023, PDR Press will publish a collection of her new and selected poems in a bilingual (English-Lithuanian) edition. www.jc-todd.com 

Charles S. Carr, Host