Jennifer Burd and Laszlo Slomovits

Jennifer Burd has published lyric poetry and haiku in a variety of print and online journals. She is the author of a book of poems, Body and Echo, a book of creative nonfiction, Daily Bread: A Portrait of Homeless Men & Women of Lenawee County, Michigan, as well as Receiving the Shore, a book/CD collaboration with Laszlo Slomovits, featuring her poems which he has set to music. She has co-written a children’s play based on Patricia Polacco’s picture book I Can Hear the Sun, which was produced in 2015 by Ann Arbor’s Wild Swan Theater. Jennifer received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Washington, and she teaches online courses through the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis and at Jackson Community College. She is also an editor and writer for HighScope Educational Research Foundation in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Laszlo Slomovits is one of the twin brothers in Ann Arbor’s  nationally-known children’s folk music duo, Gemini (GeminiChildrensMusic.com).  A fine singer and multi-instrumentalist, Laszlo has given concerts throughout the U.S., and a number of his award-winning songs are featured in songbooks music teachers use throughout the country.  In addition to his music for children, Laszlo has set to music the work of many poets. His recordings of these song-settings include five CDs of the poetry of ancient Sufi mystics Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks) and Hafiz (translated by Daniel Ladinsky), as well as “Cry of Freedom,” the poetry of contemporary American poet Linda Nemec Foster. His most recent work is Receiving the Shore, a book/CD collaboration with Michigan poet Jennifer Burd.