Omope explains that she and two other members of Dayton’s branch of the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History heard and answered the Dayton Aviation park’s “clarion call,” as she puts it, for volunteers to help re-open Dunbar’s house to the public at no charge.
“The mandate,” explains Ranger Gregg Smith of the National Park Service, “was to create a consistent schedule for the house to be open to visitors and to develop outreach to both school children and to the general public.” Gregg oversees the Dunbar House, which had been closed to the public for about a year before becoming part of the Dayton Aviation park.
That’s when, Omope says, she pitched her idea. “I had led many workshops in writing in the past. So, I thought, why not have a monthly gathering at the house for writers — whatever their level of experience — to learn from other writers and perhaps share their own work.”
Omope explains that she moved to Dayton in 2012 “after spending 30+ years in Cincinnati teaching at various levels, designing curriculum, and becoming an arts-in-education advocate and artist with various Ohio Arts Council programs and local arts organizations like CultureWorks and City Folk, the Urban Appalachian Council, Artworks Cincinnati and Cincinnati Museum Center, to name just a few.”
The circle meets from 2-4 p.m. the second Sunday of each month.
The format for the Dunbar Literary Circle is simple: the circle opens with a brief welcome and a reading of a poem by Dunbar. After that, attendees may hear from a visiting writer, or read their own brief works of poetry, essay or fiction. Appropriately enough, the event is brought full circle with a closing reading of a Dunbar poem.
The first Dunbar Literary circle was held in October of 2015, with just three people gathering to hear visiting Cincinnati writer Matthew Henson share his newest book, “The Maggie Boylan Stories.”
But Omope wasn’t in the least discouraged. She’s a firm believer in having faith in good ideas and trusting that they’ll bear fruit.
Indeed, the next circle, in November of 2015, drew 30 attendees. At that gathering, several of the contributors to an anthology of contemporary Appalachian literature, “Quarried: Three Decades of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel,” read their works from the publication. Then attendees discussed the readings and the traditions of Appalachian literature.
“Dayton has a great community of writers and spoken word poets,” Gregg says. “It’s only appropriate to find a way to bring together writers and poets — and anyone whose interested in the literary arts — together in Dunbar’s home.”
The next Dunbar Literary Circle meeting will be on Sunday, Feb. 14, from 2-4 p.m. Appropriate for Valentine’s Day, the theme is “Love is in the Air & the Age of Romance.” Attendees are invited to read their own poetry or a poem by a favorite poet or writer.
The program is free, and light refreshments will be served.
Gregg says that those interested in taking a house tour before the gathering of the Dunbar Literary Circle should arrive at 1 p.m.
Regular hours for the Dunbar House are Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., (Except for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day), with the last tour beginning at 3:30. Call 937-225-7005 ext. 224 for more information, or learn more about the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park at www.nps.gov/daav
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