Science fiction poetry to be featured at Otis Library

Tenth anniversary of the event named for a local fan will have a new twist

Norwich — Organizers of the Jim Lafayette Memorial Series of Writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy will mark the 10th anniversary of the event named for a local fan, artist and writer Monday with a new twist, highlighting poetry and song.

Authors Erik Amundsen, C. S. E. Cooney, Carlos Hernandez and Julia Rios will read and sing their works, accompanied by series coordinator and moderator

Faye Ringel, at 6 p.m. Monday in the Otis Library Community Room. Admission is free and light refreshments will be served.

The series honors the memory of Jim Lafayette of Norwich, who died at age 26, three years after he graduated with honors in English from Connecticut College.

Lafayette was diagnosed with Duchanne Muscular Dystrophy at an early age and used a wheelchair. His parents, Ann and Patrick Lafayette, formerly of Norwich, donated his extensive science fiction collection to Otis and established the memorial fund for the author series.

Otis Library this month also launched a webpage for the author series, which features an illustration by Lafayette used by Otis as a book plate for the collection, said Julie Menders, the Otis community engagement and adult programming coordinator.

“Reading and writing science fiction allowed Jim to escape the confines of his wheelchair and travel to fantastic places in his mind,” his mother wrote in a biography on the webpage. “Upon his death in 2002 Jim’s family chose to establish a memorial fund to share and continue Jim’s love of science fiction and fantasy with generations to come.”

Ringel said she wanted to do something different for the 10th anniversary of the series.

“It’s the first time we’re featuring the poetry and music of the fantastic,” said Ringel, retired professor of humanities at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. “Besides all four being writers of poetry and prose, they are all great performers. Three of the four are professional-level performers, and Claire (Cooney) is as much an actress as a writer and makes her living doing audio books.”

Amundsen, a Connecticut resident, has had his poetry and prose published in Strange Horizons and other journals. Two of his poems have been nominated for the 2017 Science Fiction and Fantasy Poetry Association Rhysling Award.

Cooney of Westerly was a previous Lafayette Memorial lecturer. An audio book narrator, she has won the World Fantasy Award for Collected Fiction. Her poetry collection “How to Flirt in Faerieland and Other Wild Rhymes” features the Rhysling Award-winning piece “The Sea King’s Second Bride.” She also composes and records as Brimstone Rhine, and she will sing several of her compositions Monday.

Hernandez of Queens, N.Y., is the author of more than 30 works of fiction, poetry, prose and drama. An associate professor at the City University of New York, he teaches English at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and is a member of the doctoral faculty at The CUNY Graduate Center.

Rios of Boston is a writer, editor, podcaster and narrator. Her fiction, nonfiction and poetry have appeared in many journals. She was a fiction editor for Strange Horizons from 2012 to 2015 and is currently the poetry and reprints editor for Uncanny Magazine.

Copies of the latest books by the authors/poets will be available for sale and autographs Monday.

“Reading and writing science fiction allowed Jim to escape the confines of his wheelchair and travel to fantastic places in his mind.” ANN LAFAYETTE, MOTHER OF JIM LAFAYETTE