Last night, my good friend and partner-in-crime, Alys Caviness-Gober, together with over a dozen authors and artists, launched a new book. You can purchase it online here.

The Polk Street Review is an anthology of writing of all types (short stories, memoir, movie reviews, recipes, poetry) and images (painting, textile art, photographs, digital art). Either the contributors or the pieces must have a connection to Noblesville, Indiana. We get our name from 8th Street in downtown Noblesville, formerly known as Polk Street. Each year also has a theme. This year’s was “Sunrise.”

Together, Alys and I run the nonprofit, Community, Education, Arts (CEArts). This is our 4th year publishing The Polk Street Review. It was started by a couple local authors, Bill Kenley and Kurt Meyers, but when the project grew too time-consuming for them, we took it over.

I love the sense of community the project creates. Writing can be a solitary pastime. It’s so nice to have a gathering of creatives at our book launch. Contributors presented brief excerpts of their work. We had refreshments, sold books, and presented awards. There was just such a positive energy from the group. I was impressed this year with the caliber of writing/images. I want to give a big thanks to the wonderful contributors, as well as Indiana Arts Commission for helping fund this project.

By the way, one of the things Indiana Arts Commission has helped us do this year is start our own podcast! You can listen to @theroundtable on our website. The first several episodes are a placemaking series – how can other communities launch an arts placemaking project like The Polk Street Review? In the future, we’ll expand to interviews with local writers and artists.

One of my absolute favorite parts of rejoining the artistic/writing community in my adult life has been the wonderful relationship I have formed with other creative people. I hope with efforts like these we can continue to encourage creators – art is for EVERYBODY.