Reading Moved INSIDE the Palm House due to weather!!

These gifted writers will intrigue with their outward and inward journeys, against the gorgeous view of the setting sun over the glistening Gulf waters.

The Hermitage Artist Retreat presents a “Sunset Reading on the Beach,” with poet Melissa Studdard and author Michael J. Seidlinger, .Melissa will read poems from her poetry collection, “I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast,” as well as from manuscripts in progress, some of which were created during an April residency at The Hermitage and reflect her time there. Michael will read from a novel-in-progress based on a road trip he took during the summer of 2017. Audience members are invited to bring their own beach chairs and blankets. In case of rain, the event will be moved indoors to the Palm House.

Patricia Caswell, the Hermitage’s co-founder and program director, says, “Young, hip and smart, these gifted writers will intrigue you with their outward and inward journeys, against the gorgeous backdrop of the setting sun and the glistening Gulf waters.” She adds that the Hermitage is grateful to the Fine Arts Society of Sarasota for sponsoring both of these residencies.

Melissa Studdard is the author of the poetry collection, I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast and the young adult novel, Six Weeks to Yehidah. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The New York Times, Poetry, Harvard Review, New Ohio Review, Psychology Today, Poets & Writers, and elsewhere, and has received awards, including the The Forward National Literature Award, the International Book Award, and the REEL Poetry Festival Audience Choice Award. Of her work, Robert Pinsky writes, “This poet’s ardent, winning ebullience echoes that of God,” and, Cate Marvin says her poems "would have no doubt pleased Neruda’s taste for the alchemic impurity of poetry, which is, as we know, poetry that is not only most pure of heart, but beautifully generous in vision and feeling.” To learn more, visit www.melissastuddard.com.

Michael J. Seidlinger is a Filipino-American author of a number of books, including My Pet Serial Killer and The Fun We’ve Had. He is an editor at large for Electric Literature and is a member of The Accomplices. In 2012, he founded Civil Coping Mechanisms, an independent press specializing in poetry, hybrid-form fiction and nonfiction. His writing has appeared in Buzzfeed, Forbes, Literary Hub, The Rumpus, PANK, Hypable, and elsewhere. He has taught classes for Sarah Lawrence, Kenyon Writers Workshop, and Catapult. A graduate of George Washington University’s Master of Business in Publishing program, he lives in Brooklyn, New York, where he never sleeps and is forever searching for the next best cup of coffee. You can find him online at michaeljseidlinger.com, on Facebook and Twitter (@mjseidlinger), and Instagram (@michaelseidlinger).