Poetry Reading at Stephan G Stephansson House by Nancy M Bell

Nancy reading from her work and the work of Stephan G Stephansson.

Sunday July 12, 2015 I had the privilege of attending a poetry reading at the Stephan G Stephansson House north of Markerville, Alberta. Stephan G was an Icelandic settler who lived and homesteaded in the area. He was a prolific poet with hundreds of verses to his credit. Incredibly, he wrote most of his poems at night after the work of the day was done. The house is lovingly restored to the way it was in 1926. Stephan's writing desk still stands in the lovely front room with the bow window. The inkwell and pen still waiting for his hand.

The reading took place outside on the long front lawn with the herd of cows lazing under the spruce trees in the field beside us. The MC commented that since they hooked up the audio system for the readings last year that the weather had co-operated and not blown up a storm. She felt that Stephan wanted to hear the poetry and without the amplification in the earlier years he had called up the storm to chase them inside where he could hear. It is true that you can feel his presence, especially in the room with the writing desk. Poets were invited to read from their own work and to share some of their favorite Stephansson poems. Poets included: Margrit DeGraff, Melle Huizinga, Alvin Boragar, Nancy Bell- that's me!, Rebekah Branson and two other local poets who dropped in. Brian came up from the Markerville museum to share his poetry. Kate McIver treated us to some beautiful harp music and the Branson Family regaled us with some inspiring songs. I am so happy the organizers reached out and invited me to join this event. It was a lovely way to spend a July Sunday afternoon. The lovely ladies of the house gifted me with a hand bound personalized journal which they made themselves using Stephan G's bindery tools.

The poets standing in front of Stephansson House July 2015

Some lovely photos of the house.

Beautiful writing set

The room as you enter by the front door.

The wind up record player still makes beautiful music.

The front room where Stephan G wrote.



To learn more about Stephan G Stephansson and Stephansson House please click here.

To learn more about the man himself, please click here.

If you'd like to read some of my poetry, you can find Through This Door by clicking on the title.

The poems I read on Sunday were:

By Stephan G Stephansson

Evening written in 1899

The Prophet's Son written in 1914

At Close of Day written in 1883

Toast to Alberta written in 1893

From Through This Door by Nancy M Bell

Never Linger

Summer Evenings

Maybe When

Twenty-Six

The Last Breath

Until next month, enjoy your summer and stay safe!