a wonderful night at Musehouse

Musehouse: A Center for the Literary Arts is everything it promises to be—"a home for writers of varying ages and levels of experience in poetry, fiction, nonfiction, memoir, and scriptwriting through workshops, conferences, readings, and special events."  Let's focus on that word home—the welcoming front porch, the long living room, the Stanley Kunitz wall art (oh, baby), the green-icing cupcakes (it being St. Patty's Day), and all those warm-hearted souls.

I first wrote about Musehouse long before I had had a chance to visit.  Last night I was honored to share the mike with April Lindner (who wrote Jane and has Catherine forthcoming) and Doug Gordon, a writer I met in 1997 when we both won a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant (along with Justin Cronin, who went on to write The Passage, among other things).

I met people last night whom I'd been hoping to meet for years, saw people I'd first met eras ago, and spoke at length with a young woman whose face I remembered from two long BEA lines.  It was a fine night, a peaceful affair. 

Many thanks to Musehouse.  To learn more about the workshops and readings that are offered there, on Germantown Avenue, please visit the web site.