Poetry Happy Hour Featuring Annie Newcomer and John Hoppenthaler

Gotahold Brewing has chosen the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow (WCDH) as their #TipsforTransformation benefactor for April 2022. Poetry Happy Hours will be held at 5:30 pm every Thursday in April in the beer garden at Gotahold. The events will benefit the WCDH scholarship fund and celebrate National Poetry Month. On Thursday, April 28, at 5:30 pm Annie Newcomer and John Hoppenthaler will entertain and inspire the audience with their poetry.

Annie Klier Newcomer lives in Prairie Village, Kansas with David, her husband of over forty years and their Aussiedoodle, Summit, a pup who likes to spend time with her as she writes. Annie started “poetizing" later in life. It was a way to keep her brother, John Klier, a revered professor and scholar, who died from misdiagnosed cancer, tethered to her. Her poetry keeps the spirit of John's love of adventure, and thirst for learning, alive in the words she "moves around on the page" and fashions into poems. This endeavor rewards her with a life that is hopeful, happy, and full of curiosity. Her first poetry chapbook, Comets: Relationships that Wander, will be published this year by Finishing Line Press.

John Hoppenthaler is a professor of English/Creative Writing and Contemporary Writers Series Co-Director at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He has published three books of poetry, Domestic Garden (2015), Anticipate the Coming Reservoir (2008), and Lives of Water (2003), all with Carnegie Mellon University Press. His poetry and essays have appeared in a long list of journals, anthologies, and textbooks. He co-edited a volume of essays with Kazim Ali on the poetry of Jean Valentine called Jean Valentine: This-World Company (U of Michigan P, 2012). He currently serves on the Advisory Board for Backbone Press, specializing in the publication and promotion of marginalized voices.

Gotahold Brewing is located at 408 W Van Buren in Eureka Springs. Opened in 2020 by Wendy Reese Hartman and Dave Hartman, their mission is to change customers’ perception of beer while inspiring deeper connection, compassion, and positive action in our world. Visit them at https://gotahold.beer.

The WCDH scholarship fund was developed in December 2019 to assist emerging writers and those from marginalized communities who need financial aid to benefit from a writing residency at Dairy Hollow. Over $17,000 in support has been provided to 40 writers for more than 300 residency nights. Scholarships are awarded on an as-needed basis depending on availability. If you are unable to attend a Poetry Happy Hour but would like to support the WCDH scholarship fund, please visit https://www.writerscolony.org/give-to-wcdh-scholarship-fund.