Wednesday Night Poetry to feature ASMSA alumna

Submitted photo OPEN MIC: Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts alumna Ginna Wallace will be the feature this week for Wednesday Night Poetry at Kollective Coffee+Tea, 110 Central Ave. The regular open mic session for all poets begins at 6:30 p.m. and Wallace will begin her performance at 7 p.m., which will include opportunities for other poets to share their poems about happiness. Admission is free and open to all ages.
Submitted photo OPEN MIC: Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts alumna Ginna Wallace will be the feature this week for Wednesday Night Poetry at Kollective Coffee+Tea, 110 Central Ave. The regular open mic session for all poets begins at 6:30 p.m. and Wallace will begin her performance at 7 p.m., which will include opportunities for other poets to share their poems about happiness. Admission is free and open to all ages.

Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts alumna Ginna Wallace will be the feature this week for Wednesday Night Poetry at Kollective Coffee+Tea, 110 Central Ave.

The regular open mic session for all poets begins at 6:30 p.m. and Wallace will begin her performance at 7 p.m., which will include opportunities for other poets to share their poems about happiness. Admission is free and open to all ages.

A native of Jonesboro, Wallace was first published at the age of 5 in the Memphis Commercial Appeal. In a news release, Wallace said, "It was a short story about a woodcutter and magic. In it I misspelled the word 'husband' as 'has been' and they thought that was cute. So they published it."

Although she continued to write short stories and even a couple of novels during her earlier years, it wasn't until she was 17 years old that she took up poetry. "I was a student at ASMSA and volunteered to help with the 1998 Arkansas Grand Slam poetry slam. It was the most amazing night. I was hooked," she said. The following year Wallace earned a spot on the team of poets who represented Hot Springs at the 1999 National Poetry Slam in Chicago.

Poetically, 1999 was a big year for Wallace. That November, she was picked to perform with master Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko during a poetry festival in Hot Springs. She did the English translation of his work while he performed it in Russian. "This man has been translated into 90 different languages. He has done this routine all over the world. Afterwards he told me I was much better than Robert DeNiro," Wallace said. "I want that on my tombstone."

After graduating from ASMSA in 2000 Wallace went on to study the culinary arts at various schools in the U.S. and did internships in Scotland and Mexico. Part of her 10-year career as a chef was at Hot Springs' popular restaurant Café 1217.

Wallace holds a B.A. in International Studies and Spanish from UALR. For the past five years, she has lived in Taiwan, where she teaches English as a second language.

"Through all these different directions in my life, the one constant has been poetry. I look forward to coming home to Hot Springs where Ginna the poet was born. And I'm determined to make it a happy occasion for all," Wallace said. "There has been far too many negative things going on around us. I want this night to be all positivity and healing for everyone. My plan is to present poems about what makes me happy, and I want other poets to respond with what makes them happy. It's my hope everyone will leave the venue feeling hopeful."

The themes of Wallace's poems include social justice, family issues, love and food. "What do you expect? I was a chef for 10 years. Food and love make me happy!" she said.

Wallace has self-published eight books of her work. While none will be available Wednesday night, the last two can be found on http://www.amazon.com

Email [email protected] for more information about Wednesday Night Poetry.

Entertainment on 05/22/2018

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