(FANWOOD, NJ) -- In celebration of National Poetry Month 2023, the Union County Board of County Commissioners will present a talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and poet Tina Kelley, on the intersection of journalism and poetry. The event will take place at the Patricia M. Kuran Cultural Arts Center Carriage House at 135 Watson Road in Fanwood on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 from 7:00pm to 8:00pm. The event is free of charge but pre-registration is required online at ucnj.org/tinakelley23.

“We are very proud to bring Ms. Kelley to the Union County community. This is a wonderful opportunity for poets of all ages and levels of experience to gain new insights into the creative process, and to hone their skills in communicating through the power of poetry,” said Union County Commissioner Chairman Sergio Granados.

Tina Kelley has published four full-length volumes of poetry along with two non-fiction books. Her career in journalism has spanned The New York Times, The Star-Ledger, and New Jersey Monthly among other publications. She was co-awarded the Pulitzer Prize for covering the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

As both poet and journalist, Ms. Kelley encourages her audiences to explore how journalism inspires creative writing, and how the skills of finding new and engaging topics, choosing key details, weaving narratives, revising and making deadlines are helpful in both fields.

Tina Kelley’s most recent poetry collection, Rise Wildly, appeared in 2020 from CavanKerry Press, joining Abloom & Awry, Precise, and The Gospel of Galore, a Washington State Book Award winner. Her poems have appeared in Poetry East, Southwest Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Best American Poetry 2009.

Ms. Kelley also co-authored Breaking Barriers: How P-TECH Schools Create a Pathway from High School to College to Career and Almost Home: Helping Kids Move from Homelessness to Hope.

She is currently the senior education reporter at nj.com.

Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, families, and poets, marking poetry’s important place in our lives.

The National Poetry Month program is presented by the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, a division of the Department of Parks and Recreation, and is made possible by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

For more information about this event and other activities and programs of the Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, visit ucnj.org/cultural.

For information and updates on all Union County services during the COVID-19 outbreak, including free vaccination, free testing and other support services, visit ucnj.org/covid19. General information about COVID-19 is available through the New Jersey Department of Health at nj.gov/health.