Authors, Musicians and More Cross-Pollinate at BONK!

The next event in the Racine Public Library's "BONK!" performance series will take place on Saturday, April 25 at 6 p.m. at Blueberries restaurant, 418 Sixth St. in Racine. This month's BONK! will feature performances from poet Stephen Kalmar, musician Chris Marvin, spoken word artist Dasha Kelly, and comedian TP Lucas.

Created to expose the public to both local and nationally recognized artistic talents, the series showcases poets, writers, musicians, film makers and all sorts of talents in between. A completely free program, doors open at 5:30 p.m. with seating available on a first come/first served basis. Blueberries restaurant offers food and drink to be purchased at the events. Each BONK! event features a short question and answer session with the artists at the end of the performances.

Dasha Kelly is an accomplished writer, performer and public speaker: She has written for magazines such as Upscale, Black Enterprise and Milwaukee; her narrative essays appear regularly online including OnMilwaukee.com; her 2003 novel, All Fall Down, earned her a place in Written Word Magazine as one of the Top Ten Up-and-Coming Writers of the Midwest; she performed on the season six premiere of HBO presents Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam; she has released four recordings of her poems; her commissioned one-woman show, Anthems for Grown Folks, is being developed into a traveling production; and she works extensively as a keynote and motivational speaker. Dasha is working on a second novel and recently released a collection of poems, essays and short stories with Penmanship Books called Hershey Eats Peanuts. Locally, she is founder and director of Still Waters Collective, an outreach initiative utilizing creative writing as tool to build new models of leadership and empowerment. For more information visit her website at dashakelly.com.

TP Lucas has been in the comedy game both on and off the stage for more than 16 years, working with some of stand-ups hottest stars, including Damon Williams, Sommore, Shawn Morgan, and Chastisy Washington among others. Lucas has been a pioneer in the development of Midwest urban comedy, booking sell-out shows throughout Wisconsin. He currently runs the only full service entertainment company in Wisconsin, 3-M.C. ENTERTAINMENT, working to launch national careers for local talent. His current performance schedule can be found at myspace.com/racinecomedy.

Kelly and Lucas will be joined on stage by Stephen Kalmar, who will share his poetry, and by Chris Marvin, a local musician who has been featured in several performances at the 716 Gallery in Kenosha and other venues.

Local artists and performers are encouraged to consider sharing their talent/craft with the community via the BONK! series. For more information on how to participate or to view past performances, visit bonkperformanceseries.wordpress.com. You may also contact the Racine Public Library at 262.619.2571, Becky Spika at becky.spika@racinelibrary.info, or Nick Demske at nick.demske@racinelibrary.info.