Massachusetts Statewide Poetry Calendar 2

Selected by President Obama as the fifth inaugural poet in U.S. history, Richard Blanco is the first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role. Born in Madrid to Cuban exile parents and raised in Miami, the negotiation of cultural identity characterizes his four collections of poetry: How To Love a Country, City of a Hundred Fires, which received the Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press; Directions to The Beach of the Dead, recipient of the Beyond Margins Award from the PEN American Center; and Looking for The Gulf Motel, recipient of the Paterson Poetry Prize and the Thom Gunn Award. He has also authored the memoirs For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey and The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood, winner of a Lambda Literary Award. His inaugural poem “One Today” was published as a children’s book, in collaboration with renowned illustrator Dav Pilkey. Boundaries, a collaboration with photographer Jacob Hessler, challenges the physical and psychological dividing lines that shadow the United States. And his latest book of poems, How to Love a Country, both interrogates the American narrative, past and present, and celebrates the still unkept promise of its ideals. Blanco has written occasional poems for the re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, Freedom to Marry, the Tech Awards of Silicon Valley, and the Boston Strong benefit concert following the Boston Marathon bombings. He is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and has received numerous honorary doctorates. He has taught at Georgetown University, American University, and Wesleyan University. He serves as the first Education Ambassador for The Academy of American Poets.

Susan Donnelly's newest poetry collection is The Maureen Papers and Other Poems, from Every Other Thursday Press. She is also the author of Capture the Flag, Transit, Eve Names the Animals, and six chapbooks. Her poems have been published in the New Yorker, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Agni, and many other journals, anthologies, textbooks, and online. Susan teaches poetry in classes and consultations from her home in Arlington, Massachusetts.

James R. Whitley's poetry has been widely published and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. His most recent collection, Songs for Solo Voice, won the 2021 Red Mountain Press Poetry Prize. His prior collections include Immersion (winner of the 2001 Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award), This Is the Red Door (winner of the Ironweed Poetry Prize and the Massachusetts Book Award) and The Goddess of Goodbye. Currently, Whitley is a Dean at Post University in Waterbury, Connecticut.