Important Announcement

Dear friends,

Thank you for a great event last night. Thank you, D. E. Spikes, for being our featured reader! It was a perfect night to close our beloved reading series.

Yes, I am shutting down Words on the Verge. Since 2012 I’ve brought community literary events to the beautiful space at 27 Market St., but it is time to say goodbye. I’m proud that for seven years both established and emerging writers have taken the mic here in Brockport. Through your support I was able to pay my readers starting in 2016, something that many reading series are unable to do. I feel a rush of joy knowing that this community came together to make this happen. But the funds are gone now, and I admit that I am tired. I wanted to do so much--buy or rent my own space, get a 501 c3 non-profit status, hire paid staff, host free community workshops ...for a variety of reasons it just was not possible to make these dreams a reality. But that’s ok, because new and exciting adventures await!

If you are looking for a way to further financially support the literary arts I encourage you to donate to the Pink Door Writing Retreat at www.pinkdoorretreat.com/take-action.

But you know what the literary community needs more than anything else? It needs YOU to go to events. Writers want to see your face in the audience, they want their gorgeous words to be heard. Check out Just Poets, Writers & Books, the College of Brockport Writers Forum, Poetry & Pie Night at the Spirit Room, Bloom Poetry Events, We All Write, Straw Matt, or Rochester Spoken Word. I can’t list everyone, but you guys are smart and savvy. If you are on Facebook and Twitter follow local writers and go to their events. Share event invites with others. Read the poems and stories they post. And buy their books.

We had a good run, didn’t we? I feel like we did! So don’t be sad, and do not send “I’m sorry” emails or texts, because the literary arts will always be alive and well in this community.

Thank you to everyone especially Katherine Weston and Sarah Hart for being so generous and supportive. I also would like to offer a special thank you to Karen Faris. She has been so good to me and Words on the Verge over the years. Thank you, too, to my family who I forced to help me set up and clean up every month. I also thank Kelly Myers, Bill Berry, Jr., Milo Oburn, Rosa Davila, Melissa Kleehammer, Tokeya Graham, Maria Brandt, Nadine Ardnt, Rachel Doll, Sandy Bordeau, and Scott Seifritz. I’m missing people, I know that, and I’m sorry. I love you all.

Finally, thanks to the person who, after I asked them to read for me in 2012, sent me a message saying “Have you really thought this out? Do you think you know what you are doing?” You motivated me more than anyone else ever did.

Oh, by the way, I know exactly what I’m doing.

With love, Christine