Recently, book enthusiasts enjoyed visiting C.S. Miller Book shop and tonight, a unique literary event of “Bad Poetry Reading” will be held at 7 p.m., located at 14 Adams Street in Norwich at C.S. Miller Book Shop. (Photo submitted by C.S. Miller Facebook)

NORWICH — A unique literary event of “Bad Poetry Reading” will be held at 7 p.m. tonight, November 17, located at 14 Adams Street at C.S. Miller Books. All are invited to join.

Book shop owner and organizer Jason Miller said this will be his first-ever “Bad Poetry Reading” event and he is gathering a motley crew of wordsmiths and verse-makers with hopes to encourage them to share their most rogue verses.

He said the night will be an ode to poetic missteps and unpolished gems of unconventional poetry. Each participant will have five minutes to read their poem and judges will award prizes to standout poets in a friendly, supportive atmosphere. He added finalists will have up to ten minutes to showcase their work.

“This gathering is about bridging a gap in the lyric arts, uplifting our community, and addressing common feelings of self-doubt and mental health through the act of shared expression,” said Miller. “There's a cathartic and therapeutic power in writing, rhyming, or even attempting to rhyme.”

Miller said, “It's an evening dedicated to capturing the spirit of creative freedom and communal support.”

He said the event will celebrate not just poetry, but the joy and whimsey of creative expression in its most unfiltered form and his aim is to breathe new life into the local literary scene.

His hope is to have a resonating impact on the community, providing a little cultural education along the way.

Miller has his sights set on becoming a hub for the literary arts with events such as bad poetry reading, writers' workshops, local author signings, the art of letter writing, making notebooks, publishing workshops, and hosting bookclubs.

For further information contact the shop @csmillerbooks on Instagram or Facebook or 607-373-0033