Doug Holder Invited to Judge Poetry Competiton In Israel.


Dear Doug Holder,


We are delighted by your positive response to our invitation on behalf of Voices. Hopefully you will judge our 18th international contest at the end of the year 2007. Tradition has it that the judge joins us in a week of poetry festivities generally at the end of December or in January. I will forward by snail mail a copy of our latest anthology and more info about our organization. We see ourselves as a cultural bridgehead between Israeli/Anglo writers and the world at large. The week's festivities will include two workshops, (a weekend and a day long affair) a public reading in Tel Aviv of our contest winners which can also be a forum for you to read also and perhaps give a dissertation relating to poetry. I hope also to organize a reading or lecture at Tel Aviv and Bar Ilan universities and also a public reading at a well known coffee bar cum cultural meeting place in Jerusalem. There will probably be a private meeting relating to Voices members. We meet on a monthly basis in three of the country's main centers. Last year we hosted Prof. Jascha Kessler from UCLA and this year our judge is Vera Rich of Manifold Mag. in the U.K. Have you been to Israel before? It is a small country about the size of New Jersey but rich in contrasts. Is there anyone in Israel with whom you would like me to make contact? I will be sending your impressive resume to the American Library requesting some sponsorship but they don't seem to be functioning very well in recent months; since and during the recent war. As a non profit organization we are usually strapped for funds but as the largest poetry organization in Israel we set a high standard. I'm sure your visit will be memorable. Best wishes, Mike Scheidemann D.Litt. (President and coordinator of Voices; The Israel English Poetry Assoc.)