March 22, 2024
For Immediate Release
Contact: Susan Stiller
sstiller@nwcc.edu

Northwestern Presents Mad River Festival With Featured Poet Frederick Douglass Knowles II

Winsted, CT – CT State Northwestern is happy to announce the return of the Mad River Anthology and Mad River Festival to the campus on Wednesday, April 17 in the Founders Hall auditorium, 2 Park Place Winsted. The evening will begin at 5:45 p.m. with the anthology launch for distribution to attendees accompanied by a musical prelude by student Michael Rodgerson. An open reading is scheduled at 6:25, followed by featured poet Frederick Douglass Knowles II at 7 p.m. A reception and book signing will conclude the free event which is open to the community.

Knowles is an Emeritus Poet Laureate of Hartford and a professor of English at CT State Three Rivers. He has been a recipient of the Nutmeg Poetry Award and was named a Connecticut of the Arts Fellow in Artist Excellence for Poetry/Creative Non-Fiction. He is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and the author of BlackRoseCIty. More information about the poet can be found at freddydouglass.com.

Both the anthology and festival are being presented by a new collaborative team of faculty and staff who have themed this year’s event Becoming, signifying the tremendous change, as seen both globally and locally, over the last several years.

In an introductory letter to the anthology, campus president, Dr. Michael Rooke, and the dean of faculty and students, Dr. Jay Whitaker, state: “This academic year, Northwestern Connecticut Community College became the Northwestern campus of CT State, while the festival itself made a transition to a broader focus on arts and humanities. And not to be forgotten, becoming are the aesthetics of diverse perspectives and voices that make Northwestern unique and excellent.”

Northwestern has had a proud literary history, beginning with the magazine Scroll, published each semester from the opening of the campus in 1965 through 1974. In 1975, the journal was rebranded as the Mad River Anthology, which was published annually through 2019. The Northwestern Community College Foundation has been a generous sponsor of Mad River since 1993.

In an effort to embrace several art genres during Mad River, the poetry event coincides with the annual student art show in the Founders Hall Gallery, and includes the classic rock acoustical guitar sounds of student Michael Rodgerson. Another change to this year’s event was the call for submissions to the anthology going out to members of the community and local high school students. “Honoring our tradition while embracing the new, the planning committee wanted to present a variety of arts and provide more opportunities to include our community,” said Deb Kline, graphic design faculty and one of the festival organizers. “We are looking to present a true arts festival and cultural event.”

In conclusion to their anthology introduction, Rooke and Whitaker state: “We sincerely hope the Mad River Festival and the Mad River Anthology allows time and space to reflect on the rich heritage of arts in the northwest corner as our college and our community continue to be the becoming beacons of inspiration for our future.”

For more information on the festival, please contact Deb Kline at dkline@nwcc.edu.