Become a Member of the Revolution!

This Advent we’re sharing a free prayer resource that can be used in families, schools, or Parish School of Religion classes. This short booklet includes original prayers that can be used with groups of people of all ages. Simply sign up for our mailing list, and we will send you a digital copy of the Advent Companion.

In Honor of Giving Tuesday, we invite you to subscribe to Revolution of Tenderness to receive exclusive content. This year we will produce more little booklets (similar to the Advent Companion) with seasonal prayer services for people who pray in groups with mixed ages. We’ll also create booklets with content/excerpts from Convivium Journal and some of our past Festival exhibits. We will share these with our subscribers.

Please choose from the following subscription levels:

1. Membership ($25 per month): Members will receive digital seasonal prayer resources and/or excerpted content from Convivium Journal comparable to the Advent Companion.
2. Sponsorship ($50 per month): Sponsors will receive the same digital content as members and will also receive beautifully-designed hard copies of these resources in the mail.
3. Companionship ($75 per month): Companions will receive all the benefits that Members and Sponsors receive. In additions, Companions will receive a subscription to Convivium Journal.

Below, please find a copy of our latest Newsletter to bring you up-to-date our the programs and offerings you will be supporting when you choose to sponsor Revolution of Tenderness:

A Beautiful Day

Homeward Literary Festival

We had a marvelous time at Convivium’s Homeward Literary Festival on Sunday (Convivium is the arts and literature journal published by Revolution of Tenderness). It was a feast for the heart and mind!

Lifetime Award for Samuel Hazo

What an honor it was to present Pittsburgh native Samuel Hazo with the Convivium Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry during the festival! Not only has Sam written vibrant, wry, and genuine works in prose, poetry, and drama for the last seven decades, he founded the International Poetry Forum, which he also directed for 43 years, drawing writers and actors from around the world to Pittsburgh to share their art. We are overjoyed that he was able to join us in person to accept the award. Sam’s poetry reading was the highlight of the afternoon!

Antiphons Release

We were also overjoyed to launch Antiphons: An Anthology of Poetry, the latest publication from Convivium Press during the festival. From the back cover:

This delightful collection joins together a diversity of poetic voices,

each responding to Homeward, a classical music piece by composer

Richard Danielpour.

In 2020, as Covid-19 swept the world, Richard Danielpour

approached Revolution of Tenderness to invite the nonprofit to commission a

new piece of classical music that he would call Homeward. Danielpour's aim

was to create a short hymn, "sung” on string instruments, that would provide

healing in the wake of the global pandemic.

The Antiphons project invited poets from around the world to listen to Homeward and then compose poems that either expressed the unspoken prayer

evoked by the music or provided a response to a message the poets had heard

in the piece. These collected poems are not "Iyrics" and they do not intend

to provide a "libretto." They are stand-alone artistic expressions made in

response to this unapologetically lovely piece of music. Visual artist, Dianne

Settino, created this volume's evocative cover image, Penelope's Journey,

using the same method.

We’re deeply grateful to all the poets, and our cover artist, who contributed masterpieces to Antiphons. Copies will be available for general sale soon!

Homeward Literary Readings

The festival featured an afternoon of marvelous poetry and prose readings. We are deeply grateful to our authors for traveling from points all over the country to share their work with us.

Earlier in the year, when our friend, Mike Aquilina, told us that Jane Greer would be available to give a poetry reading at a Revolution of Tenderness event, we knew we needed to organize a festivity worthy of her presence. This provided the seed for Convivium’s Homeward Literary Festival! Jane founded Plains Poetry Journal in 1981 and has published two critically acclaimed poetry collections.

Igor Vishnevetsky read his tribute to Estonian poet, Jan Kaplinski, as well as his poem for Antiphons, “Music of Homecoming,” which invokes the terrain of the steppes where he was born. Elisabeth Beasley Kramp read Stephen Kramp’s poem from Antiphons, “Caput Mortuum,” as well as her own work from her upcoming poetry collection, Some Changed Same. Ewa Chrusciel read poems from her new collection Yours, Purple Gallinule. About and from the perspective of birds, these poems explore the intersection between mental illness, artistic creation, and ornithology. Andrew Calis read from his book Pilgrimages and also shared some more recent poems. Sally Thomas read us the beginning of Works of Mercy, her debut novel described as “both ordinary and luminous.”

Next we announced the winners for our high school and university students who participated in the Homeward Literary Contest:

University Level Prose Grand Prize Winner:

“Ithaca” by Patrick Cavanaugh Koroly

University Level Poetry Grand Prize Winner:

“Driving Home’ by Anne-Marie Frisby

High School Level Prose Grand Prize :

“Just In Time” by Mariana Pacas

High School Level Poetry Grand Prize:

Julianna Rensi Gresko with "A Not Too Sweet Home"

Look for our grand prize winners' work in the next issue of Convivium, coming out this spring!

Workshop and Student Readings

Our festival ended with a poetry workshop given by Elizabeth Beasley Kramp, Convivium Editor, on Les Murray’s “An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow.” Students, writers, and guests gathered to discuss the themes, imagery, and form of the poem. Liz helped participants to tease out the meaning of this powerful, multi-layered work. The lively discussion was deepened by the students’ thoughtful participation.

At the end of the workshop, our grand prize winners read their pieces aloud.

Student Workshops

Prior to the festival, some of the students took part in a series of writing workshops with Suzanne to work on their poetry and fiction. These occasional workshops will continue for as long as the students come. What joy it has been to encourage these young writers in their craft!

A big thank you to all who came to Convivium’s Homeward Literary Festival: poets, students, friends, and guests! You each enriched us with your presence. We hope to see you again at our next Revolution of Tenderness event!