Special Projects

Sleepy Hollow Lit Fest

The Hudson Valley Writers Center was proud to be an essential planner and participant in the first annual Sleepy Hollow Lit Fest of May 2019, filling eight venues across the villages of Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow with family-friendly literary fun. We are now preparing for year 2: June 13, 2020. Visit sleepyhollowlitfest.org to find out more.

Coffee Poems: A Public Poetry Collaboration

A collaboration between Coffee Labs and the Hudson Valley Writers Center begins with your words.

Our audience is invited to submit one SHORT poem by the 10th of each month on any topic. Each month’s winning entry, selected by a panel of poet volunteers, will be announced at the third Friday Open Mic and showcased the following month at Coffee Labs Roasters in Tarrytown.

Each month we’ll list the winner here. So far we are proud to announce:

BEST OF the first 15 months of CP goes to: “Up North” by Kathleen Williamson
Jan 2020: “Dinner for One” by Leo Farley
Dec 2019: “Absolute Stranger” by Kathleen Seuss
Nov 2019: “In the End” by Eric Odynocki
Oct 2019: “Coming Home” by Steven Lewis
Sept 2019: “still august” by Ellen Lytle
Aug 2019: “Low Tide” by Ed Ahern
July 2019: “Trappings” by Susan Barry-Schulz
June 2019: “Up North” by Kathleen Williamson
May 2019: “Into the Arms of Moebius” by Tom Nolan
Apr 2019: “Oppy’s Last Words” by M.A. Scott
Mar 2019: “White Dawn” by Mary Holste
Feb 2019: “A Battle with the Bard” by Beth SK Morris
Jan 2019: “August Sixth” by Gary Allen
Dec 2018: “Lover/Loved” by Jack Powers
Nov 2018: “Lord Byron Redux” by Robin Dellabough
Oct 2018: “Tomorrow” by Iyaba Ibo Mandingo

Official rules and info here.

Poetry in the Pavement, Spring 2018

Poetry in the Pavement

A collaboration between the Village of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley Writers Center has yielded new sidewalks just north of the HVWC (come visit and go see!) imprinted with excerpts from our winning poems.

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists.

Winners

Lisa Olsson
Iain Halley Pollock
Faryn Sand
Leah Scarpati (Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown student)
Lee Sennish
Margo Taft Stever
Kathleen Williamson

Finalists

Inessa Bliznetsova
Joseph Fasano
Scott Kaplan
Lynn McGee
Quinn Muller (Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown student)
Maxine Nodel
Oscar Pak (Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown student)
C.J. Scarglato (Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown student)
Rebecca Scarpati
Lynn Schmeidler

About the Project

As part of a plan to rebuild and enhance the sidewalk along Riverside Drive in the Philipse Manor neighborhood, the Village of Sleepy Hollow partnered with the Hudson Valley Writers Center to launch a Rivertowns poetry competition. Winning poems were embedded in the new sidewalks when they were installed in the spring of 2018, along with benches and serene river views.

The winning entries were announced on February 15th, 2018. Each winner received a $50 cash award, publication in the sidewalk in Sleepy Hollow, and a reading at the Open Mic at the Hudson Valley Writers Center on Friday, February 16th.

Puppetry & Playwriting Workshop, Spring 2018

Our talented neighbors Christina Blatt (artist) and Rebecca Scarpati (author) brought their skills to elementary students of our local Washington Irving School to guide them in making original puppets and writing a play. They performed their wonderful puppet show at the HVWC to a packed room of friends and family.

Bridging Art, Fall 2017

Bridging Art was the idea of Peter Kramer of the Journal News as a new Tappan New Bridge goes up and the old comes down. He gathered artists of all kinds to make original dance, music, sculpture, performance and writings surrounding the theme of Bridges both metaphoric and literal. The HVWC was solicited to gather creative writing submissions from our artists, four of whom were featured in the Journal News and at a well-attended event and reception in Sparkill, NY.