Risk A Verse is like nothing else happening in Newtown, the event organizers say.

The fourth annual National Poetry Month event will return to Newtown Meeting House on Sunday, April 7, at 2 pm.

The hosts and organizers of the event are Newtown Poet Laureate Lisa Schwartz and NCAC member Tracy Van Buskirk.

“Where do you hear people from all walks of life coming together to share poetry?” Ms Van Buskirk said this week. “We have a fun and diverse group of Newtowners who have happily agreed to risk a verse. Everyone has picked poems that are personally meaningful to them.”

Two of the participants, she pointed out, will have musical accompaniment: Phil Crevier, composer and Newtown Congregational Church organist, has set a poem to music, which will be performed by Mary Andreotta, director of Newtown Choral Society; and Mark Murphy, owner of Murphy’s Pub, will be offering his reading with guitar accompaniment.

“We have several students of different ages also participating, from a kindergartener to a high school sophomore,” Ms Van Buskirk also mentioned. Sisters Vivian and Rusa Ellul, who are kindergarten and fourth grade students, respectively; Reed Intermediate School student Troy Silver; and Elise Beier, a Newtown High School sophomore, are all planning to read Sunday afternoon.

This year’s readers also include Barbara Andrews-Wood, manager of the Citgo Station at 47 Church Hill Road; Flagpole Radio Café Executive Producer and Performer Martin Blanco; John Boccuzzi, Sr, founder of Friends of Newtown Seniors; and Jennifer Cebry, the recently appointed program director for Newtown Community Center.

Also planning to read are Frank Lockwood, master brewer, Reverie Brewing; Frank Navone, owner, Panificio Navona; Sue Roman, former president, Taunton Press; Kirsten Strobel, a fifth grade teacher at Reed Schol; Sheila Torres, operations manager, Edmond Town Hall; Monsignor Robert Weiss, pastor, St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church; and Maureen Will, the director of Newtown Emergency Communications Center (“dispatch”).

There will be a free reception after the event with munchies and, new this year, beer from Reverie Brewing Co.

Admission is free to this community event, but any donations are used toward Newtown Cultural Arts Commission scholarship and grant funds. A donation of $5 or more will be rewarded with a “chapbook” containing all the poems read at the event.

The meeting house is at 31 Main Street, at the flagpole.