The featured panel of distinguished NVCC faculty then read their work:

Prof. William H. Foster III has been a writer since the age of eight and was first published at age 12. At present he has 10 collections of poetry to his credit. His latest book is an extended essay on a collection of black and white photos paying tribute to African Americans who served in the military in World War II. It is titled, Proud to be in the Service.

Assistant Professor Steve Parlato, a teacher at NVCC since 2001, is faculty advisor to the school’s newspaper, The Tamarack. An actor and illustrator, Steve’s poetry appears in journals including Freshwater, Margie and Borderlands. His debut novel, The Namesake, was published in 2013, by Merit Press, and he recently completed his 2nd book, The Precious Dreadful.

Julia Petitfrere is an avid reader, fiction writer, sometimes poet and frequent journal keeper. Born in Barbados, she moved to Bridgeport, Conn. as a teenager. She received her bachelor’s degree in English literature and writing with a minor in women’s studies from Fairfield University and her MFA in fiction writing from Sarah Lawrence College. Julia is a full-time faculty member at NVCC, teaching in the English and Developmental Writing departments.

Dr. Pamela Tolbert-Bynum is a Waterbury-based writer, educator and researcher who writes in a number of genres, including the novel, short story and academic writing. Her research interests are nontraditional adult students of color and low-income adult learners’ college persistence rates. She has contributed to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, is a recipient of the Puffin Foundation literary prize, created NEH curriculum for the teaching of writing, and served as a SAKS teacher fellow for the University of Mississippi’s annual Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference.

Held four times per academic year, Confluencia was established in October 2008 by Daisy Cocco De Filippis, Ph.D., NVCC’s president, who was appointed in July of that year. “It is a way to honor talented writers and all they have achieved in their life’s work and a way to share their personal experiences with others,” De Filippis said. “The literal meaning of the title ─ a coming or flowing together, meeting or gathering at one point ─ describes what we envision when our community becomes part of the excitement on our campus. It is an opportunity for the College to affirm the centrality of community in all that we do and to underscore our intent to remain an essential part of the literary heart of the region.”