Saturday, February 27: BONK! Plays On

Saturday, February 27 from 6-8pm, the Racine Public Library will once again host "BONK!", the free monthly performance series that has quickly become an established entertainment event in downtown Racine. Now being held at the Racine Arts Council, 316 Sixth St., the series was created to expose the public to both local and nationally-recognized artistic talents. Each event showcases poets, writers, musicians, film makers and other talented artists. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with seating available on a first come/first served basis. Each BONK! event features a short question and answer session with the artists. Gracing the stage this month will be a unique group of poets, musicians and writers. Join us for performances by musician Christina Colon, poet Richard Meier, and writer Katie O'Shaughnessy.

Christina Colon currently lives in Kenosha, WI, but works in Vernon Hills, IL as a massage therapist. Writing her own songs since the age of 12, music has been a part of her life since childhood. Colon has played a variety of shows from Milwaukee to Chicago.

Richard Meier is the author of two books of poems, Terrain Vague, selected by Tomaž Šalamun for the Verse Prize in 2000 and published by Verse Press, and Shelley Gave Jane a Guitar, published by Wave Books in 2006. His poems have appeared recently or are forthcoming in: Calaveras, 1913: A Journal of Forms, Letterbox, Conjunctions, and others. He is currently writer-in-residence at Carthage College. He lives in Madison and Chicago.

Katie O'Shaughnessy graduated from Carthage College in May and is now living in Cary, Illinois. She is currently applying for graduate programs in Creative Writing while working at the Elgin Community College as a tutor, and at the Crystal Lake Health Food Store. Katie's short story "Dust" won the 2008 Chapin-Tague Award for Fiction.

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 video of past performances please visit http://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.