Katherine Galbraith-Chan, who was affirmed Nassau County’s Teen Poet Laureate in May by the Nassau County Poet Laureate Society, will be reciting her poetry on Monday, Aug. 11, at the Hicksville Public Library during its Open Mic event.
Galbraith-Chan is a 16-year-old incoming senior at The Wheatley School from Old Westbury.
The COVID-19 pandemic began when she was in eighth grade, and it kickstarted her poetry writing.
She said while sitting at her house with nothing to do, she began to pick up writing, only to have it become one of her main hobbies.
“I had this newfound passion for writing,” Galbraith-Chan said.
She met with her ninth-grade English teacher and began exploring the options for extracurricular writing, including taking on a leadership role at her school’s literary club.
She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of The Wildflower Review, a magazine that showcases the perspectives of young writers.
“I realized that it was a sort of way for me to convey my emotions in a different way rather than just simply speaking out loud,” Galbraith-Chan
Jeannine Dillon, the program and marketing librarian at the Hicksville Library, said the library hosts over 60 events per month with Open Mic occurring bi-monthly.
Paula Curci, a former Nassau County Poet Laureate Emerita, started the open mic at the Hicksville Library along with Dillon. She said upwards of 50 people have attended past events and that there has been an insurgence of interest in open mic events over the past few years.
“The poetry scene is very intergenerational,” she said.
She and Galbraith-Chan will be joined by Noelle Cuneely, a Hicksville resident and recent high school graduate; Robert Windorf, an English educator, fiction write, and poet; and Kirk Larsen, an award-winning en plein air artist, poet and Hicksville resident, at the event.
Curci said people aren’t limited to reading poetry, and songwriters have also performed at these events.
“It is a wonderful opportunity to support this inspiring group of artists who have welcomed me to join them in their mission to uplift the world one voice at a time,” Cunneely said about Open Mic.
Open Mic is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Hicksville Public Library, at 169 Jerusalem Ave.
More information about events at the Hicksville Public Library can be found on its website.
