Nathanial Gadsden, Marjorie Maddox, Jerry Wemple, David Bauman, and Melanie Simms read poetry to commemorate Pennsylvania at 12:00 pm on Thursday, October 11th, at the Harrisburg Capitol East Wing Rotunda. The event will air on PCN on Oct. 27th from 3:45-5:15.

The evening of the 11th from 7:00-8:00 pm, the Almost Uptown Poetry Cartel at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore hosted poets Jack Veasey (anthology contributor), Jerry Wemple and Marjorie Maddox (anthology co-editors), David Bauman, and Melanie Simms. Click on the above to hear their reading!

Over the years, Pennsylvania has been graced with an abundance of writers whose work draws imaginatively on the state's history and culture.  Common Wealth sings the essence of Pennsylvania through comtemporary poetry.  In these pages, poems sketch the landscapes and cultural terrain of the state, delving into the history, traditions, and people of Philadelphia, "Dutch" country, the coal-mining region, the Poconos, and the Lehigh Valley;  the Three Rivers region;  the Laurel Highlands, and Erie and the Allegheny National Forest.  Theirs is a complex narrative cultivated for centuries in coal mines, kitchens, elevated trains, and hometowns, a tale that illuminates the sanctity of the commonplace - the daily chores of a Mennonite housewife, a polka dance in Coaldale, the late shift at a steel factory, the macadam of the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

With its panaromic vision of Pennsylvania, its culture, and its thriving literary heritage, Common Wealth is a collection of rememberance for a state that continues to inspire countless contributions to American literature.