Dudley Laufman and Barbara Morrison

Tuesday, April 21, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.

Dudley Laufman, age 74, began calling dances in l948  He and his wife Jacqueline, a fiddle player, live on the edge of the woods in a little house they built themselves. Besides a dance hall, it has one main room, with a loft overhead, and a bedroom to one side. The house is heated with wood, no television, three cats. A big garden provides much of their food. They do have a car, telephone, electricity, video cassette player, a computer for their business, and a computer for Dudley's writing. They live this way by choice because it is fun and an adventure.

Portsmouth is their favorite city in New Hampshire but they enjoy visiting Quebec City, Canada, especially in winter. They like good books, movies, and special food at holidays. They often go hiking, cross country skiing, and canoeing. Dudley is interested in tornadoes, lacrosse and ice hockey. He has published several books of poetry including, Behind the Beat, In the Southwest Corner, Walking Sticks, and The Stoneman. He is currently editing another manuscript of his poems. Jacqueline Laufman accompanies some of his poems on her fiddle.

Barbara Morrison: After being active as a writer and writing teacher for some years, Barbara set writing aside to work, first as a teacher in urban public schools and then as a systems engineer specializing in communications networks and information security.  After 15 years of silence, she was able to take up writing again with a renewed commitment.  Her recent book of poems, Here at Least, came out of that period of transformation when she stood on the threshold of a new life.  She has also completed a memoir and has a technical book coming out in 2008. Check out her website and blog.

Her work has won prizes from the Society of Southwestern Authors, the National League of American Pen Women, and the Maryland Writers' Association. In recent news, her poem "City" has been published in New Lines from the Old Line State: An Anthology of Maryland Writers, in September 2008.