Tag Archives: UpTownNYC

Word Up Recirculation: Hudson Pier Women in Poetry and Memoir

Sunday, June 1, 2025 – 4:00pm to 5:30pm
RECIRCULATION A project of Word Up
876 Riverside Drive (near 160th St.)
New YorkNY 10032

Book releases:
Melting in Your Mouth by Chocolate Waters 
Harlow/Smith Postcards by Stephanie Dickinson

Three women writers (two from Hell’s Kitchen, one from Washington Heights) share their work in poetry and memoir, drawing from their work together in a writing group that met for over ten years. Chocolate Waters, one of the earliest published lesbian poets, will read selections from her latest book, Melting in Your Mouth, a collection of her early work and her recently published memoir.  Stephanie Dickinson, a gifted lyric writer who writes of both rural and urban life and of violence against women will read from her autobiographical novel Half Girl and her most recent poetry collection Harlow/Smith Postcards: Icons in Black and WhiteSharon Silber will read autobiographically based early poems from her collection The Canadian Geese Consider Their Situation and some of her current work. We will also read a brief selection from the work of our late colleague Nicholas Johnson, a noted poet and a member of the group, who lived in Washington Heights.

This event is a $5 suggested donation ticket with 50 max attendees. Please register in advance. 

In compliance with Word Up Community Safety guidelines, all attendees are encouraged to stay masked at all time.

Recirculation, a project of Word Up Community Bookshop, is located at 876 Riverside Drive (near 160th St.) in Washington Heights, NYC. You can take the 1 train to 157th St., A/C train to 163rd St., and the M4 and M5 to Broadway and 159/160th.

Chocolate Waters has been publishing her poetry for over four decades. She was one of the first openly lesbian poets to publish her work and her contribution has been documented in Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975 (U of Il. Press, Barbara Love, Ed.). Her first three collections: To The Man Reporter From The Denver Post, Take Me Like A Photograph and Charting New Waters are considered classics of the early women’s movement and are collected in the forthcoming Melting in Your Mouth: The Early Work of Chocolate Waters. In addition to her work as a writer, Waters was also a founder of the early feminist newspaper, Big Mama Rag, which was produced in Denver, Colorado from 1972-1982.  Her poetry, which has won many individual awards in addition to being nominated for several Pushcart prizes, is widely published and anthologized. Hailed as the “Poet Laureate of Hell’s Kitchen,” Waters is also a pioneer in the art of performance poetry. Her memoir, Muddying the Waters was published last year.

Stephanie Dickinson lives in New York City. Her novels Half Girl and Lust Series are published by Spuyten Duyvil Press, as is her feminist noir Love Highway. Half Girl, searing and gorgeously written, presents an autobiographically-based account of her experience being shot in the face as a victim of intimate partner violence. Stephanie has published 14 books (thus far) and has had her poetry and short stories appear in over 150 literary journals. Her latest published book is Harlow/Smith Postcards: Icons in Black and White, published in 2024.

Sharon Silber is a retired child and adult psychologist and long-time human rights activist who had the privilege of joining the Hudson Pier Poets writing group, meeting together for about ten years. During that time, she published poems in Mind the Gap, Salonika and Skidrow Penthouse and performed her poetry around the New York metropolitan area. Her chapbook, The Canadian Geese Consider their Situation was published by Linear Arts Press. She has participated in human rights missions to Bosnia and she taught a course at the University of Tuzla, Bosnia on treating trauma in children and their families. She has taught psychology courses at Tulane University, Boston University, and the University of Michigan. She is currently writing an autofictive memoir of her grandmother, who was murdered at the age of 70 in the summer of 1941 in Keidan, Lithuania, killed by a fascist paramilitary unit composed of her neighbors. Sharon lives in Washington Heights with her husband and son.

Nick Johnson (1944-2019) was an accomplished poet who was also a member of the Hudson Pier Poets. His verse was published in journals including American Poetry Review, Shenandoah, American Letters and Commentary, The Journal, Pivot, Yearbook of American Poetry. and The Paris Review. His book Degrees of Freedom was published by Bright Hill Press. “Nicholas Johnson is a poet of incandescent wit… I love his work for its dark, sotto voce originality.”-Dennis Nurkse. For the last ten years or so of his life, Nick lived in Washington Heights.

DFM History in Focus 2025: “Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York.” By Dr. Tyler Anbinder

For the second session of Dyckman Farmhouse Museum’s History in Focus 2025, we will be hearing from Dr. Tyler Anbinder, a Professor of History at George Washington University with a specialization in nineteenth-century America and the history of immigration and ethnicity in American life. Dr. Tyler Anbinder will discuss his new book, “Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York,” and how it upends what we thought we knew about the Famine Irish in New York and beyond. This program is supported, in part, by, the Honorable Carmen De La Rosa, New York City Council, District 10.

Uptown Stories: Wonderland Tea Party

Uptown Stories invites you to join us for a Wonderland Tea Party of epic proportions, where you’ll grow in one direction or the other, play only the most important of games, and debate the madness of all those involved. 🍵
🎟️ Your $25 ticket includes a chance to win fantastical prizes! Buy yours in our bio, and stay tuned for prize reveals…
♥️ Whether you’re a wee bird or a walrus (or something in between) we insist that you attend this celebration of our young writers, or else off with your head!
🃏 We jest of course, but if you must miss this golden afternoon of nonsense, you can support our young writers by making a donation to our Pay-What-You-Can Tuition Fund.
May be an image of 1 person and text that says 'TEA AND TARTS WITH UPTOWN STORIES Join us for a WONDERLAND TEA PARTY of epic proportions! MAY 18TH 2-5 PM THE CORNERSTONE CENTER 178 BENNETT AVE. NYG Buy your ticket or make a donation at givebutter.com/usspring2025 Special thanks to our sponsors ICA& Associates Baunri Dutch Baby Writing the world together Ozcie's Fresh Market uptownstories.org'

Hudson View Gardens Lounge: Cellist Peter Stumpf

The Performing Arts Group at Hudson View Gardens is thrilled to present a member of the Weiss-Kaplan-Stumpf Trio, after that group’s wildly popular performance here in January. On Sunday, May 18 at 5 pm, cellist Peter Stumpf returns to The Lounge at HVG for a recital that features Bach’s Cello Suite No. 5 and sonatas by Mendelssohn and Prokofiev with pianist Noreen Cassidy-Polera.

Peter Stumpf is a member of the Weiss-Kaplan-Stumpf Trio. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Boston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and was the former principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic for over a decade. He’s performed on chamber series and festivals around the world, and is Professor of Cello at Indiana University.

The pianist Noreen Cassidy-Polera is the winner of the Accompanying Prize at the VIII International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. She maintains a career that has taken her to every major American music center and abroad to Europe, Russia, and Asia, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center and Jordan Hall. She has recorded for Sony, EMI, Audiophon, and Centaur Records.

The Performing Arts Group’s Spring 2025 concert season at The Lounge wraps up on Sunday, June 22 with HVG’s own pianist Evelyne Luest and the ThEMA Ensemble with cellist Angela Lee and guest clarinetist Nikki Pet. Details are below; more information and updates are at Facebook.com/HVGPAG.

Just the Facts

Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 5 pm

HVG Performing Arts Group presents:

Peter Stumpf, cello

Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano

The Lounge at Hudson View Gardens
128 Pinehurst Ave at W. 183rd Street (Manhattan)

Admission: $15 suggested donation
($12 seniors/children, children under 8 are free)

PROGRAM

J.S. Bach: Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor

Felix Mendelssohn: Cello Sonata #1 in B Flat Major Op. 45

Sergei Prokofiev: Cello Sonata in C Major Op. 119

Details and updates at Facebook.com/HVGPAG