Wicker reads for Patchwork fundraiser

"Celebrate!" an evening of poetry at Patchwork Central, will feature two nationally-recognized poets, Marcus Wicker and Jenny Browne, and raise funds for Patchwork's programs.

Wicker, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is assistant professor of English at the University of Southern Indiana. His debut book of poetry, Maybe the Saddest Thing, was selected by D. A. Powell for publication by Harper Perennial as one of five winners of the National Poetry Series Competition.

In January, the book was nominated for the NAACP's Image Award in Outstanding Literary Work-Poetry along with works by U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey and other noted poets.

After receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University in 2010, Wicker spent seven months working on his book on a fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He also was the recipient of a 2011 Ruth Lilly Fellowship.

Through a Wayne State University program called InsideOut, he served for a year as Writer-in-Residence for the Detroit public schools, completing the residency in spring 2012, and taught an intensive workshop at the Martha's Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing before joining USI in the fall.

He is poetry editor of Southern Indiana Review, USI's literary magazine, and is leading the New Harmony Writers Retreat, which will launch in summer 2014.

After graduating from the University of Wisconsin and living in Africa, Alaska, and Guatemala, Evansville native Jenny Browne returned to work as a Mennonite Service Volunteer at Patchwork Central. 

While at Patchwork, she helped write the training program for the Neighborhood Economic Development Center and coached a soccer club at Lincoln Elementary.

She now lives in San Antonio, Texas, and is assistant professor of English at Trinity University. She received a 2013 literature fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and her latest collection of poetry, Dear Stranger, will be released this fall.

Browne has published two previous collections of poems and a chapbook, and she has received fellowships from the James Michener Center for Writers, the Writing Center of Washington D.C., the Texas Writers League, and the San Antonio Artist Foundation.

The event celebrates Patchwork's connection to the arts and the recently completed renovation of Patchwork's Tower, the last remnant of the Washington Avenue Temple which was built in 1904 and once occupied the corner of Washington Avenue and 6th Street.

Last year, Patchwork made a significant investment in the structure in recognition of its contribution to the beauty of the neighborhood and the diversity of faith traditions in Evansville. 

Tickets for the event, which will be held at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, October 12, at 100 Washington Avenue, are $30 per person. Light refreshments will be served. Patchwork Center is located at 100 Washington Avenue.

For more information about the event, call Patchwork at 812/424-2735. All proceeds from the event will benefit Patchwork's ongoing programming.