Massachusetts Statewide Poetry Calendar 2

Thinking of applying to the Novel Immersive for LGBTQ+ Writers? Novel Immersive for LGBTQ+ Writers is a program uniquely designed to fill this void and help queer writers complete or make significant progress towards completing a draft of their novel in a supportive community. GrubStreet will host an online Q&A session with instructor Milo Todd on Tuesday, February 22nd, from 6:00-7:00 p.m. Milo will answer any questions you have about the Novel Immersive, including the workload, the application process, what the program does and doesn’t entail, the schedule, the philosophy behind our approach, and anything else you have on your mind! Please note that the upcoming round of the Novel Immersive for LGBTQ+ Writers, which begins in June 2022, will take place online via Zoom.

Milo Todd is a writer, editor, and educator represented by Michael Nardullo of LGR Literary. His fiction focuses on trans and queer history, with additional works on the trans experience and the trans body. His fiction has appeared in SLICE Magazine, Hare's Paw Literary Journal, Response Magazine, Foglifter Journal, Home is Where You Queer Your Heart (Foglifter Press), and Emerge: The 2019 Lambda Fellows Anthology (Lambda Literary Press). His other works have appeared on Writer Unboxed, Dead Darlings, GrubWrites, and Everyday Feminism, among others. Milo was selected as a 2020 Pitch Wars Mentee and a 2019 Lambda Literary Fellow in Fiction for his novel Downhead and received a fellowship to attend the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices. He was additionally selected for the 2021 Tin House Winter Workshop and received a 2021 Monson Arts residency. Milo is an Assistant Fiction Editor for Foglifter Journal and a Fiction Reader for Split Lip Magazine. He's an instructor at GrubStreet, where he teaches courses on fiction, the novel, and trans and non-binary representation in literature. He is an alum of GrubStreet’s Novel Incubator Program, where he received a Pechet Fellowship for his novel The Falcon of Doves. He has been on the selection committee for the Novel Incubator Program and the Bisexual Book Awards. He is a speaker on writing, inclusion, and the queer and trans experience. Milo has presented regularly at the Boston Book Festival and The Muse & The Marketplace. He curates Writing Beyond Binaries, a panel series celebrating trans and non-binary writers’ experiences in various stages of their careers. He consults on fiction manuscripts and transgender inclusion in the classroom.

The Thirsty Lab poetry reading, normally based out of Princeton, Mass., continues to meet virtually. On Tuesday, February 22, 2022, Moira Linehan will be the featured reader.

Visit the Zoom registration link to receive information on how to join the reading. Zoom will send you an e-mail with the meeting details and a link to join.

Moira Linehan is the author of four collections of poetry. Her first two books, If No Moon (2007) and Incarnate Grace (2015), were published by Southern Illinois University Press. If No Moon had been selected by Dorianne Laux as the winner of the 2006 Crab Orchard Series in Poetry open competition. Both books were named Honor Books in Poetry in the Massachusetts Book Awards. In June 2020 Slant Books published her third book, Toward and at the end of that year, Dos Madres Press brought out her latest, & Company. She lives in the greater Boston area.

For her February 22, 2022, Worcester County Poetry Association reading, Linehan will read from Toward. Many of its poems are set in landscapes where she had been awarded a writer’s residency. In particular, she will highlight those begun at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre in County Monaghan and the Cill Rialaig Project in Ballinskelligs, County Kerry.

Join us for Canon, Canyon, Cannon, an evening of poetry and performance curated by Porsha Olayiwola, Boston Poet Laureate, Gardner Museum Artist-In-Residence, and Neighborhood Salon Luminary, and featuring leading local and national artists UGBA, Zenaida Peterson, Letta Neely, and Nikky Finney. These poets invite us to consider questions of influence and find new meaning through language and performance.

The Fourth Saturday Open Mic meets at Barnes & Noble on Lincoln Street in Worcester. Open mic at 7 pm, featured poets to follow. This month Curt Curtin will present work from his first full-length book of poetry, titled "For Art's Sake." Due to his low vision, Curt will introduce his poems which will be read by his wife, Dee.

After the featured poets read the gathered poetry lovers adjourn to the in-store coffee shop and chat about whatever comes up until management pushes us out the door at closing -- at about 10 pm. Please join us.

Join us for this foot-stomping, spirit-shaking concert version of an amazing new musical.From the pen of gifted poet/performer Regie Gibson comes this extraordinary adaptation of Euripides' classic tragedy.
Set in the small town of Crossroads, Mississippi, The Juke: A Blues Bacchae chronicles the fight between D'nysus, the divine son of the God of Blues, and his cousin Pent, defender of the Gospel faith, for the soul of the town.
With ear-popping poetic language and great music from gospel to jazz to funk to blues, this powerful human tale is guaranteed to thrill. Performed with a live band and some of Boston's most celebrated musical stars (including Elliot Norton Award Winner Davron Monroe and National Poetry Slam Winner and author Regie Gibson).

To reserve tickets ($10 general admission, $5 Somerville residents), go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-juke-a-blues-bacchae-tickets-92029000217/