Photo by Bruce Frisch

Last month’s Coffee House in Battell Chapel was a warm and convivial evening. Conceived as a different kind of fundraiser for the Congregational Church, the event offered a warm, candlelit setting, delicious homemade desserts and coffee and also storytelling and poetry reading by local authors. Gloria Gourley, a member of the church’s fundraising committee, says the idea was modeled in part on the Moth Radio Hour, which presents stories told live before an audience. “We have so many interesting people around us,” Gourley says, “why not give them an opportunity to tell their stories?” All three writers at this inaugural Coffee House are well known to Norfolk audiences. Jude Mead started the evening off with two short stories, the first autobiographical; Susannah Wood followed, reading some of her recent poems; and Rosemary Gill finished the entertainment with a selection from her memoir in progress. Gouley is hoping that March’s Coffee House will be the first of a series, and she’s encourages people to volunteer or to suggest other storytellers in town.