| History: In 1997 the Garden Island Arts Council birthed and nurtured a Kauai poetry circle. The circle began right after the organized by Dawn Kawahara GIAC Poetry Festival and reading of that year. One of the participants, Michaella Mintcheff, had just recently arrived from Portland, missed her poetry buddies and decided to re-create her back-home poetry evenings with friends by inviting... total strangers! Well, strangers who wrote and loved poetry. The host of the poetry festival, Borders Books and Music, seemed like the best place for it. For the about the next 6 years the bookstore and its publicity staff Mary Daubert graciously provided space, help and publicity. Michaella organized and facilitated the event. The group's monthly adventures in poetry included discovery of new and old poets, lively banter and sharing of original poetry. Because of budget cuts, reduced staff and Mary Daubert's leaving, and possibly because of a few public concerns about some of the poetry's content, Borders decided to discontinue its sponsorship. After a brief hiatus, who should come to the rescue but... Mom! The Garden Island Arts Council, (read here: Carol Yotsuda, the prime mover behind all of GIAC's endeavors) gathered the homeless poets under its wing. Thanks to Carol and our new home, today Poets Without Borders is flourishing, meeting almost every Thursday of the month at 6:30 PM at the Harbor Mall GIAC exhibition space (across the street from Kalapaki Bay.)  |
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