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Welcome to the schedule of poetry events happening in Massachusetts! This schedule contains events happening all over the state, as entered by our Poetry Partners and others. It is not limited to Mass Poetry events. To submit an event, click here. For more questions regarding our calendar, you can email marketing@masspoetry.org
or to bookmark your favorites and sync them to your phone or calendar.
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Monday, December 14
 

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Poetry in Spanish and Translations INTO ENGLISH AND INTO MUSIC
Monday December 14, 2020 TBA
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Pedro Granados, Lima, Perú, Ph.D (Hispanic Language and Literatures), Boston University. Poetry collections: Sin motivo aparente (1978), Juego de manos (1984), Vía expresa (1986), El muro de las memorias (1989), El fuego que no es el sol (1993), El corazón y la escritura (1996), Lo penúltimo (1998), Desde el más allá (2002), Poesía para teatro (2010), Poemas en hucha (2012), Activado (2014), Amerindios/Amerindians (2020), La mirada (2020) y Al filo del reglamento (2020). Currently he is president of “Vallejo sin Fronteras Instituto” (VASINFIN).

Leslie Bary teaches Latin American literature and culture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, centering on avant-garde poetics and representations of race, and is a prisoners’ rights activist outside class. Her translation of Oswald de Andrade’s “Manifesto antropófago” has become a classic; English versions of César Moro’s La Tortuga ecuestre and Pedro Granados’ Enredadera are forthcoming. Current writing includes “Border Trouble: Anzaldúa’s Margins” and “Field Notes on the Carceral State: From Death Row to ICE Detention in Louisiana.” Amerindios can be bought from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Amerindios-Amerindians-Spanish-Pedro Granados/dp/1940075882/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Amerindios&qid=1607355659&s=books&sr=1-2. La mirada (translated in Amerindios), can be bought from the bookstore Virrey: https://www.elvirrey.com/libro/la-mirada_70125027

Daisy Novoa Vásquez is a Chilean-Ecuadorian writer passionate about education, the arts, and intercultural understanding. She lives in Jamaica Plain and teaches at the Margarita Muñiz Academy. Daisy contributes to the Hispanic newspaper El Planeta and is the author of the poetry collection Fluir en Ausencia. Many of her writings have been published in print and online anthologies and literary magazines. Daisy was a writer in residence for the University of Massachusetts Boston and has participated in various literary festivals in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe. To purchase her book, go to https://www.artepoetica.com/book/fluir-en-ausencia/.

Alan Smith Soto, a resident of Jamaica Plain and a member of the Jamaica Pond Poets, was born in San José, Costa Rica. He is the author of three books of poems, Fragmentos de alcancía (Treasure Jar Fragments) (Cambridge: Asaltoalcielo editores, 1998), Libro del lago (Pond poems), (Madrid, Árdora Ediciones, 2014) and Hasta que no haya luna (forthcoming Feb. 2021, Huerga y Fierro Editores, Madrid).His translation of Robert Creeley’s Life and Death (Vida y muerte) was published in 2000 (Madrid: Árdora Ediciones). Libro del lago can be bought here: https://www.amazon.com/Libro-lago-Alan-Smith-Soto/dp/848802052X

Largely unknown today, Juana Borrero (May 17, 1877-March 9, 1896), one of Cuba’s early Modernist poets, delves deep into raw states of imagination, affliction, love, decay, and death, centering the subjective experience of the individual. She died of tuberculosis while in exile in Key West during Cuba’s war for independence at the age of 18.

Stephany Svorinić is a composer and vocalist. Her work has been premiered by the Radius Ensemble and International Contemporary Ensemble, and played on radio stations across the country. She obtained her undergraduate degree from NYU and a Master of Music in vocal performance at New Jersey City University. She graduated from the Longy School of Music in 2019 with a diploma in composition and is currently pursuing a master's in composition at Tufts University. Her Borrero project sets her translations of the poetry of 19th Century Cuban poet, Juana Borrero, to music. Stephany enjoys horror, animals, and all things numinous. If you’d like to tip the artist, please Venmo @stephanysvorinic.

To receive a Zoom invitation with a link to the reading, email your name and email address to SandeeStorey@fastmail.fm before 2 pm on Jan. 7. You will be emailed a Zoom invitation with the link by noon Jan. 8. For security reasons, please do not publicize, post, or broadcast the Zoom link itself. If people you know want to attend, you may send them the link, but please ask them also not to publicize, post, or broadcast the link itself.

For more information, check our website at http://jamaicapondpoets.com or email dorothy.derifield@gmail.com or call 617-325-8388. The next Chapter and Verse Literary Reading on Zoom in the 2020/2021 series will be at 7:30 pm on Friday, February 12, 2021.
Monday December 14, 2020 TBA
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Thursday, November 25
 

7:00pm EST

A Virtual Thirsty Lab Poetry Reading with David Surette
Thursday November 25, 2021 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST
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Hosted by Worcester County Poetry Association 

The WCPA is happy to help the Thirsty Lab poetry reading go virtual for their 4th (and occasional 5th) Tuesday reading. The next reading will be on Tuesday, November 24, 2020 when David Surette will be the feature.
Visit this link to register for the reading and Zoom will send you an e-mail with the meeting details and link.

David R. Surette’s new book of poetry is Malden, selected and new poems that feature his hometown Malden, Massachusetts. He is the author of five other collections: Wicked Hard, The Immaculate Conception Mothers’ Club, Young Gentlemen’s School, Easy to Keep, Hard to Keep In and Stable which was named an Honor Book at the 2005 Massachusetts Book Awards. He lives on Cape Cod
Thursday November 25, 2021 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST
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Thursday, June 1
 

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Bring Your Poems to Life: Using Concrete Details and Imagery to Enhance Your Poetry (Virtual/Zoom Class)
Thursday June 1, 2023 TBA
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Ever heard the writing advice “Show, don’t tell”? Typically we hear it often for fiction-writing and short stories, but it applies to poetry, too. Because the more you use concrete details and images in your poems (and the less you rely on generalizations), the better your readers will be able to picture what the speaker is experiencing . . . and the more emotion you'll evoke in your work.

Is this a technique you'd like to brush up on or learn more about? Then you're welcome to come to Bring Your Poems to Life: Using Concrete Details and Imagery to Enhance Your Poetry! It's hosted by award-winning poet, book editor, and writing coach Sara Letourneau; and it's happening via Zoom on Monday, November 6, 2023, starting at 6:30 p.m. ET. Sign up for it here: https://heartofthestoryeditorial.com/virtual-poetry-classes/

During this class, we'll talk about why it's so important to use concrete details and imagery in your poetry and what questions you can ask so you can master this skill. We’ll also do close readings and discussions of work by Natasha Trethewey, Andrea Potos, Layli Long Soldier, and other contemporary poets so you can see how they’ve incorporated specifics, imagery, and vivid metaphors in different ways. Each discussion will be followed by a writing period where you can practice incorporating this technique in your own work.When the class is done, you’ll come away with new work in progress and a clearer idea of how details and images make your poetry more evocative and powerful.

This class will be held over Zoom. If you choose to attend the live class, you'll receive within 24 hours the login information and a PDF handout of the poems we'll discuss.
Space is limited to 12 poets for the live Zoom class.

INVESTMENT:
 US $49 to attend the live Zoom class, receive the class materials, and be entered into a drawing to win a free ticket to one of Sara's upcoming virtual writing classes
Can't make it to the live Zoom class? There's a video replay option for approx. $US 42! DM Sara to inquire about this option and ask for the coupon code.
REGISTER NOW: https://heartofthestoryeditorial.com/virtual-poetry-classes/
Thursday June 1, 2023 TBA
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Saturday, August 5
 

10:00am EDT

Roxbury Poetry Festival
Saturday August 5, 2023 10:00am - 9:00pm EDT
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The Roxbury Poetry Festival is a biennial event centering poetry in Roxbury, MA. The inaugural festival is happening virtually with the exception of two evening events. The festival features several award-winning writers, panelists, and curators, and centers a keynote address from poet, essayist, and cultural critic, Hanif Abdurraqib. The day-long event culminates with a Publisher’s Poetry Slam sponsored by Button Poetry that yields a book contract for a local writer. The festival is free and open to the public, and the lunchtime craft talk comes with free lunch

Saturday August 5, 2023 10:00am - 9:00pm EDT
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Friday, January 26
 

7:00pm EST

Martín Espada with Luke Salisbury, Floaters
Friday January 26, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST
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Join Porter Square Books for a virtual reading from award-winning poet Martín Espada's latest collection Floaters!  The reading will be followed by a discussion with Luke Salisbury. This event is free and open to all, hosted on Crowdcast.

From the winner of the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize come masterfully crafted narratives of protest, grief and love.
Martín Espada is a poet who "stirs in us an undeniable social consciousness," says Richard Blanco. Floaters offers exuberant odes and defiant elegies, songs of protest and songs of love from one of the essential voices in American poetry.

Floaters takes its title from a term used by certain Border Patrol agents to describe migrants who drown trying to cross over. The title poem responds to the viral photograph of Óscar and Valeria, a Salvadoran father and daughter who drowned in the Río Grande, and allegations posted in the "I’m 10-15" Border Patrol Facebook group that the photo was faked. Espada bears eloquent witness to confrontations with anti-immigrant bigotry as a tenant lawyer years ago, and now sings the praises of Central American adolescents kicking soccer balls over a barbed wire fence in an internment camp founded on that same bigotry. He also knows that times of hate call for poems of love—even in the voice of a cantankerous Galápagos tortoise.

The collection ranges from historical epic to achingly personal lyrics about growing up, the baseball that drops from the sky and smacks Espada in the eye as he contemplates a girl’s gently racist question.

Whether celebrating the visionaries—the fallen dreamers, rebels and poets—or condemning the outrageous governmental neglect of his father’s Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane María, Espada invokes ferocious, incandescent spirits.

Martín Espada has published more than twenty books as a poet, editor, essayist and translator, including Vivas to Those Who Have Failed and Pulitzer finalist The Republic of Poetry. His many honors include the Ruth Lilly Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Born in Brooklyn, he now lives in western Massachusetts.

Luke Salisbury is an award winning author and Professor of English at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston. His interests range from Shakespeare to baseball, with the latter including a book The Answer is Baseball, and time spent as both vice president and national secretary for the Society of Baseball Research (SABR). No Common War, published in 2019, is his latest work. Mr. Salisbury attended The Hun School, New College, and received an MA in Creative Writing from Boston University. He once taught third grade in the Bronx, and now lives with his wife Barbara in Chelsea, Massachusetts.
Register here to join the event on Crowdcast: www.crowdcast.io/e/floaters
Friday January 26, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST
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Sunday, January 28
 

7:00pm EST

Poetry Readings: Cheryl Savageau, David Surette, Ellen LaFlèche and Steven Riel
Sunday January 28, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST
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You are invited to a Zoom meeting.
When: Jan 27, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://maine.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlf-2upzkoE9H4Dv3L7KaQdI3N0JDHF5C9

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.


Sunday January 28, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EST
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Wednesday, February 7
 

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Patricia Cleary Miller
Wednesday February 7, 2024 TBA
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Readers/Speakers
Wednesday February 7, 2024 TBA
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Thursday, February 8
 

2:00pm EST

Temple Sinai’s Twelfth Annual Poetry Festival Featuring Marge Piercy
Thursday February 8, 2024 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST
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This year’s featured poet, Marge Piercy, is an American poet, novelist and social activist. She has published 20 books of poems and 17 novels including Women on the Edge of TimeHe, She, and It, which won the 1993 Arthur C Clarke Award, and Gone to Soldiers, a New York Times Best Seller, a sweeping historical novel set during World War II. Her book, The Art of Blessing the Day, focuses on poems with a Jewish theme. Born in Detroit, she is the recipient of four honorary doctorates. Marge Piercy is an active force in antiwar, feminist and environmental causes.
Thursday February 8, 2024 2:00pm - 3:30pm EST
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Saturday, February 10
 

6:30pm EST

Memoir Incubator Open House & Info Session - Remote!
Saturday February 10, 2024 6:30pm - 7:30pm EST
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Interested in taking your memoir to the next level? Join us for an informal Q&A session on our Memoir Incubator program. Instructor Alysia Abbott and alumni of the program will be there to answer any questions you have about the Memoir Incubator program. We'll give you all the information you need to know about the application process, what the program entails, the schedule, the philosophy behind our approach, and anything else on your mind. To find out more about the program, click here.

Covid-19 Update
GrubStreet is planning to hold all of its classes using Zoom video conferencing until it becomes safe to meet in person in Boston. We are monitoring the public health situation closely, and while we expect this program will be able to meet in person in Boston eventually, all applicants should be prepared to participate via Zoom for as long as necessary.

Prospective applicants should either be local to Massachusetts/Boston area, or able to relocate in the event that the class can at some point meet in person. GrubStreet will be following the lead of health experts and the city of Boston, and working alongside other arts organizations in our decision-making regarding in-person classes. In the event that it’s absolutely safe to meet again, the opportunity will be provided to our intensive programs to gather in person. We will of course offer the possibility to participate remotely if a student is unable to attend in person for health reasons, but as with previous years, local community building is an integral aspect of these programs.

This info session will be hosted using Zoom! You will be able to participate in the event via Zoom video conference from wherever you’re most comfortable. All you’ll need is a laptop or a phone! About 15 minutes before this event is scheduled to begin, everyone who has registered for the event will receive an email with a link to join the event via Zoom – no need to download anything or sign up for Zoom in advance! If you have questions about remote learning, please feel free to reach out to programs@grubstreet.org for more information.
Readers/Speakers
Saturday February 10, 2024 6:30pm - 7:30pm EST
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Monday, February 12
 

7:00pm EST

Shelter: The Art of Caring -- Virtual Poetry & Prose Reading
Monday February 12, 2024 7:00pm - 8:15pm EST
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Free event featuring Lowell writers & poets: Stephan Anstey, Diamond Asaneh, Suzanne Beebe, Douglas Bishop, MJ Bujold, Charles Gargiulo, Nancy Jasper, S.C. Thibodeau, and PJ Wamala. Their writings on the subject of “Shelter” were selected for inclusion in the community exhibit at the Arts League of Lowell, which this month (Feb 3rd-28th) is featuring an art show and sale with all proceeds to benefit the Lowell Transitional Living Center (LTLC). Hosted by Lowell poet Emily Ferrara, with special guest Alexis Ivy, homeless advocate and author of “Taking the Homeless Census.” Ivy will read poems from her book, followed by a Q&A on discussion topics on homeless advocacy, and what community members can do to better understand and make a positive impact for our fellow residents.
Monday February 12, 2024 7:00pm - 8:15pm EST
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Tuesday, February 13
 

7:00pm EST

Newton Library Poetry Reading and Open Mic (In person!)
Tuesday February 13, 2024 7:00pm - 9:00pm EST
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The poetry series meets in September, November, February and April. Each month three prominent, published poets give readings. An open mic follows with a limit of one short poem per person. The series is facilitated by Doug Holder of Ibbetson St. Press. This month the following poets will give readings: Michael E. Henry (MEH), Sarah Kensey, and Quintin Collins.
Tuesday February 13, 2024 7:00pm - 9:00pm EST
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Wednesday, February 14
 

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Tuesday, February 27
 

6:30pm EST

An Evening with Acclaimed Author Andres Debus III
Tuesday February 27, 2024 6:30pm - 8:00pm EST
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Come enjoy Tapas appetizers, drinks, and conversation in an intimate setting with novelist and short story writer Andre Dubus III.

Andre’s seven books include the New York Times’ bestsellers House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days, and his memoir, Townie. His most recent novel, Gone So Long, has received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Library Journal and has been named on many “Best Books” lists, including selection for The Boston Globe’s “Twenty Best Books of 2018” and “The Best Books of 2018”, “Top 100”, Amazon.

Mr. Dubus has been a finalist for the National Book Award, and has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, The National Magazine Award for Fiction, two Pushcart Prizes, and is a recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. His books are published in over twenty-five languages, and he teaches full-time at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Fontaine, a modern dancer, and their three children.

Tickets are $50, and all proceeds benefit the Gloucester Writers Center.
See website for details:
https://gloucesterwriters.org/event/an-evening-with-andre-dubus-iii/
Tuesday February 27, 2024 6:30pm - 8:00pm EST
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Friday, March 1
 

2:00pm EST

Open Mic Poetry
Friday March 1, 2024 2:00pm - 4:00pm EST
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Bring original or favorite poetry to share in a round robin style. Free and open to the public. Space is limited. To sign up to read call 508-949-6232 or email deb@bookloversgourmet.com

Friday March 1, 2024 2:00pm - 4:00pm EST
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Sunday, March 3
 

7:30pm EST

Monthly Open Mic!
Sunday March 3, 2024 7:30pm - 9:00pm EST
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The first Monday of (almost) every month, the Gloucester Writers Center hosts an Open Mic! Come read your written work in what was once the home of Gloucester poet Vincent Ferrini. Now a home – of sorts – to writers everywhere.

Bring your words. Get Heard.

5 minutes each.

Free to attend.

Donations are much appreciated, and help us keep our lights on and our programs running

Sunday March 3, 2024 7:30pm - 9:00pm EST
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Tuesday, March 12
 

7:30pm EDT

A Reading from spoKe six
Tuesday March 12, 2024 7:30pm - 9:30pm EDT
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A reading from spoKe six including David Rich reading from his essay on Gerrit Lansing, James Cook reading from his essay on Sam Cornish, poems by John Mulrooney, Jim Dunn and Amanda Cook. Hosted by Karina Van Berkum and Kevin Gallagher.

David Rich worked as the poet Gerrit Lansing’s archivist from 2017 to 2018, and as archivist for Lansing’s estate from 2018 to 2019. He co-edited and wrote the postscript for Arcana: A Stephen Jonas Reader (City Lights, 2019) and edited Charles Olson: Letters Home, 1949 – 1969 (Cape Ann Museum, 2010). He studied archaeology at Boston University and theology at Harvard Divinity School. Rich’s poems and essays have appeared in literary magazines such as The Doris, Kadar Koli, Let the Bucket Down, No Infinite, Rain Taxi and Polis.


Amanda Cook lives in Gloucester with her husband, James, and children Abigail and Samuel. She sees writing as an integral part of life. She knits, spins yarn, plays fiddle, feeds people and dances when she pleases. She teaches and works at the Gloucester Writers Center. Her book, Ironstone Whirlygig, was published by Bootstrap Press in 2017.


James Cook signifies and represents in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He fathers-forth but presents change. He husbands. He has worked in high school education for more than twenty years. He has been the co-editor of the literary magazine Polis, and his work has appeared in Wards of the Wards, Let the Bucket Down, Jacket2, Process, Gaff, and Underutilized Species


Jim Dunn is a poet and author of Soft Launch (Bootstrap, 2008), Convenient Hole (Pressed Wafer, 2004), and Insects In Sex (Falling Angel Press, 1995). His work has appeared in several publications, including spoKe, Polis, Bright Pink Mosquito, The Process, eoagh, Gerry Mulligan, Cafe Review, and The Battersea Review. He edited the poet John Wieners’ journal, A New Book From Rome, with Derek Fenner and Ryan Gallagher of Bootstrap Press.


John Mulrooney is a poet, filmmaker and musician living in Cambridge, MA. He is author of If You See Something, Say Something from the Anchorite Press and co-producer of the documentary The Peacemaker, from Central Square Films. He serves as poetry editor for Boog City. He records and performs regularly with a number of musical groups in the greater Boston area. He is Associate Professor in the English department at Bridgewater State University. His work has appeared in Fulcrum, Pressed Wafer fold’em zine, Solstice, the Battersea Review, Poetry Northeast, spoKe, Let the Bucket Down and others.
 
Tuesday March 12, 2024 7:30pm - 9:30pm EDT
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Thursday, March 14
 

7:00pm EDT

Adam Falkner reading, "The Willies"
Thursday March 14, 2024 7:00pm - 8:30pm EDT
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Dr. Adam Falkner is a poet, educator and arts & culture strategist. He is the author of "Adoption" (Winner of the 2017 Diode Editions Chapbook Award) and "The Willies" (forthcoming from Button Poetry, 2020), and his work has appeared in a range of print and media spaces including on programming for HBO, NBC, NPR, BET, in the New York Times, and elsewhere.

A former high school English teacher in New York City’s public schools, Adam is the Founder and Executive Director of the pioneering diversity consulting initiative, the Dialogue Arts Project, and Special Projects Director for Urban Word NYC, in which capacity he oversees the New York City Youth Poet Laureate program, and the organization’s partnerships with corporate and cultural institutions across the country. Adam has toured the United States as a guest artist, lecturer and trainer for thousands of students, educators and culture workers, and was the featured performer at President Obama’s Grassroots Ball at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. He holds a Ph.D. in English and Education from Columbia University.
Readers/Speakers
Thursday March 14, 2024 7:00pm - 8:30pm EDT
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7:30pm EDT

CANCELED - Chapter and Verse Literary Reading Series
Thursday March 14, 2024 7:30pm - 8:30pm EDT
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hapter and Verse is a free literary reading series sponsored by the Jamaica Pond Poets, usually on the second Friday of the month, from October through May. The events take place at the Loring Greenough House in Jamaica Plain at 7:30 PM. The operating committee members are  Dorothy Derifield, Sandra Storey, Susanna Kittridge, Jennifer Markell, and Alan Smith Soto
There are three readers followed by free refreshments. Open to all. Please join us. A $5.00 donation is requested but not required.For more information, contact dorothy.derifield@gmail.com
Thursday March 14, 2024 7:30pm - 8:30pm EDT
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Friday, March 22
 

7:00pm EDT

A virtual Thirsty Lab with JC Todd
Friday March 22, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
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The Thirsty Lab poetry reading, normally based out of Princeton, Mass., continues to meet virtually. On Tuesday, March 22, 2022, JC Todd 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.

Co-Founder / Co-Host Readers/Speakers

Friday March 22, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
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Saturday, March 23
 

7:00pm EDT

Princeton Women’s Poetry Reading
Saturday March 23, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
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Join a gathering of 20+ women on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, for the annual Princeton Women’s Poetry Reading organized by Susan Roney-O’Brien. The event will start at 7:00 pm and will be held using a Zoom online meeting. The Princeton Public Library has agreed to co-sponsor the event along with the Worcester County Poetry Association.

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.

Expected to read are the following women (a * indicates a first-time reader at the event).
Kathleen Aguero *
Polly Brown
Devon Evans *
Kathleen Fagley *
Claire Golding
Sharon Ann Harmon *
Joyce Heon
Meg Kearney *
Andrea MacRichie *
Muriel Nelson *
Dolores Paljus *
Kyle Potvin *
Catherine Reed
Eve Rifkah
Susan Roney-O’Brien
Karen Sharpe
Nancy Strong
Francine Sterle *
Beth Sweeney
bg Thurston
Loretta Watts

Co-Founder / Co-Host
Saturday March 23, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
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Friday, March 29
 

7:00pm EDT

CANCELED - A virtual Thirsty Lab with Jenith Charpentier
Friday March 29, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
TBA
We regret that tonight's reading by Jenith Charpentier is being canceled.

Co-Founder / Co-Host Readers/Speakers
avatar for Jenith Charpentier

Jenith Charpentier

Jenith Charpentier is the author of three chapbooks, Bending the Water Between Us (2011), Bad at Gravity (2013), and 5 Poems by Jenith Charpentier (Damfino Press, 2015). She represented Worcester's Poets Asylum at the 2012 Individual World Poetry Slam and as a member of the 2013 National... Read More →

Friday March 29, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
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Tuesday, April 2
 

7:00pm EDT

Brandon Melendez & Courtney LeBlanc @ Porter Square Books
Tuesday April 2, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
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Join Write Bloody poet Brandon Melendez and Vegetarian Alcoholic Press poet Courtney LeBlanc as they kick off National Poetry Month with a reading from their newest books featuring poems about love, loss, home, violence, grief, family, and hope.


Tuesday April 2, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
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Sunday, April 7
 

7:00pm EDT

Haleh Liza Gafori, author of Gold, with Kythe Letitia Heller at Porter Square Books: Cambridge Edition
Sunday April 7, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
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Porter Square Books is delighted to welcome Haleh Liza Gafori for Gold, a new translation of Rumi that has been called "ecstatic and piercing." Gafori will be joined in conversation by writer, interdisciplinary artist, and doctoral candidate at Harvard University Kythe Letitia Heller. This event will take place in person at our Cambridge location on Thursday, April 7 at 7pm. It's free to attend, but space will be limited, so be sure to register for your free ticket below.

Rumi’s poems were meant to induce a sense of ecstatic illumination and liberation in his audience, bringing its members to a condition of serenity, compassion, and oneness with the divine. They remain masterpieces of world literature to which readers in many languages continually return for inspiration and succor, as wellas aesthetic delight. This new translation by Haleh Liza Gafori preserves the intelligence and the drama of the poems, which are as full of individual character as they are of visionary wisdom.

Marilyn Hacker praises Gafori’s new translations of Rumi as “the work of someone who is at once an acute and enamored reader of the original Farsi text, a dedicated miner of context and backstory, and, best of all, a marvelous poet in English.”

Sunday April 7, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
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Thursday, April 11
 

3:00pm EDT

The Cambridge Poetry MashUp: The KickOff
Thursday April 11, 2024 3:00pm - 6:30pm EDT
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YOU ARE INVITED to: The Cambridge Poetry MashUp in April 2021, a National Poetry Month celebration. The series of events will celebrate the poetic and cultural diversity of poets who live in Cambridge, MA & its neighboring cities. Artists from other states will join us. Poetry, Song, and Storytelling shall abound.

Join us for the first event in Cambridge Poetry MashUps National Poetry Month series! Details forthcoming.

https://www.poetrymashup.org/
Thursday April 11, 2024 3:00pm - 6:30pm EDT
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Friday, April 12
 

7:00pm EDT

Erika Meitner, author of Useful Junk, and Sarah Matthes, author of Town Crier, at Porter Square Books: Cambridge Edition
Friday April 12, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
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Just in time for National Poetry Month, Porter Square Books is delighted to welcome poets Erika Meitner and Sarah Matthes for a joint reading from their latest collections. Hear from Meitner's Useful Junk, lauded as "tragicomic-erotic-nostalgic with a twist of existential dread and a cherry of wit on top" and Matthes' Town Crier, a collection of Kabbalistic poems that recognize wit as a ritual of mourning and the winner of the 2020 Lexi Rudnitsky First Book Prize.
Readers/Speakers

Friday April 12, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
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Tuesday, April 16
 

7:00pm EDT

Rozzie Reads Poetry and Open Microphone
Tuesday April 16, 2024 7:00pm - 9:00pm EDT
TBA
Bruce Weigl is the author, editor or translator of over thirty books of poetry, poetry in translation, critical essays, and prose. His most recent poetry collection, On the Shores of Welcome Home, won the Isabella Gardner Poetry Award and was published by BOA Editions, Ltd. in 2019. This year BOA will also publish a collection of his short prose, Among Elms, in Ambush, and the Writers Association Publishing house in Ha Noi, Vietnam will publish his co-translation of Slaughterhouse, a book-length poem by Nguyen Quang Thieu, one of Vietnam’s most important writers.

Cammy Thomas’ first book, Cathedral of Wish, received the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. A fellowship from the Ragdale Foundation helped her complete Inscriptions. Her third collection, Tremors, is forthcoming in 2021. All are published by Four Way Books. Her work appeared recently in the anthology, Poems in the Aftermath. Two of her poems under the title Far Past War were set to music by her sister, composer Augusta Read Thomas. The work will premiere in 2022. Cammy lives in Lexington, Massachusetts.

To sign up for this Zoom reading, contact hguran@aol.com
Tuesday April 16, 2024 7:00pm - 9:00pm EDT
TBA
 
Friday, April 19
 

3:00pm EDT

The Cambridge Poetry MashUp Presents: The Poetry of Toni Morrison, a Workshop with The New England Poetry Club
Friday April 19, 2024 3:00pm - 4:30pm EDT
TBA
YOU ARE INVITED to: The Cambridge Poetry MashUp in April 2021, a National Poetry Month celebration. The series of events will celebrate the poetic and cultural diversity of poets who live in Cambridge, MA & its neighboring cities. Artists from other states will join us. Poetry, Song, and Storytelling shall abound.

Join us on April 18th for a workshop on the Poetry of Toni Morrison, with The New England Poetry Club. Details forthcoming.

https://www.poetrymashup.org/
Friday April 19, 2024 3:00pm - 4:30pm EDT
TBA
 
Sunday, April 21
 

7:00pm EDT

Kemi Alabi, author of Against Heaven, with Porsha Olayiwola
Sunday April 21, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
TBA
Porter Square Books is delighted to welcome Kemi Alabi for Against Heaven, called "a stunning debut from one of our most talented emerging voices". Joined in conversation by poet laureate for the city of Boston Porsha Olayiwola, Alabi will discuss magic, portals, spells, and altered states in their poetry. This event is free and open to all, hosted virtually via Crowdcast on Thursday, April 21 at 7pm.
Winner of the Academy of American Poets First Book Award, selected by Claudia Rankine.

Kemi Alabi’s transcendent debut reimagines the poetic and cultural traditions from which it is born, troubling the waters of some of our country’s central and ordained fictions—those mythic politics of respectability, resilience, and redemption. Instead of turning to a salvation that has been forced upon them, Alabi turns to the body and the earth as sites of paradise defined by the pleasure and possibility of Black, queer fugitivity. Through tender love poems, righteous prayers, and vital provocations, we see the colonizers we carry within ourselves being laid to rest.
Readers/Speakers
avatar for Porsha Olayiwola

Porsha Olayiwola

Porsha Olayiwola is the 2014 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and 2015 National Poetry Slam Champion. She bested more than seventy of the highest ranked slam poets in the world to earn these titles and is now one of the most sought after spoken word artists on the national circuit... Read More →

Sunday April 21, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
TBA
 
Tuesday, April 23
 

12:00pm EDT

2022 Bishop/Knight College Poetry Contest Reading
Tuesday April 23, 2024 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
TBA
Join us on Saturday, April 23, 2022, at noon for the 2022 installment of our annual College Poetry Contest where we will award the Elizabeth Manuscript Prize and the Etheridge Knight Performance Prize. In its fourteenth year, area colleges send representatives to compete for bragging rights, complimentary membership in the WCPA, cash prizes, and the publication of a poem by the manuscript winner in “The Worcester Review“.

Our 2022 event will be held via Zoom. 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.

Co-Founder / Co-Host
Tuesday April 23, 2024 12:00pm - 1:00pm EDT
TBA
 
Wednesday, April 24
 

7:00pm EDT

Memorial Reading for Jane Kenyon
Wednesday April 24, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
TBA
Wednesday April 24, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
TBA
 
Thursday, April 25
 

3:00pm EDT

The Cambridge Poetry MashUp Presents: Poets in the Garden
Thursday April 25, 2024 3:00pm - 6:30pm EDT
TBA
YOU ARE INVITED to: The Cambridge Poetry MashUp in April 2021, a National Poetry Month celebration. The series of events will celebrate the poetic and cultural diversity of poets who live in Cambridge, MA & its neighboring cities. Artists from other states will join us. Poetry, Song, and Storytelling shall abound.

Join us on April 24th for Poets in the Garden. Details forthcoming.

https://www.poetrymashup.org/


Thursday April 25, 2024 3:00pm - 6:30pm EDT
TBA
 
Friday, April 26
 

7:00pm EDT

A virtual Thirsty Lab with Joe Fusco Jr.
Friday April 26, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
TBA
The Thirsty Lab poetry reading, normally based out of Princeton, Mass., continues to meet virtually. On Tuesday, March 29, 2022, Joe Fusco Jr. 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.

Joe Fusco Jr. is a well-seasoned poet and humorist from Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the author of four books of semi-amusing poems and essays: Pondering the Pandemic During the Rust Years (2021); Hmm…That’s Different (2020); Three Score (2014); and The Lost and Found Essays (2012), all available on Amazon. Joe’s musings have appeared in Damfino PressBallard Street PoetryWorcester ReviewAsinine Poetry, and the naughty ezine Clean Sheets. He was a co-winner of the Jacob Knight Poetry Award in 2002 and was named Best Poet by Worcester Magazine readers in 1999 and 2002. Joe is still a frequent contributor to Worcester Magazine and the last Worcester Mega-Slam winner in 2017. Joe has lived in lovely Worcester with his better half Cyndi and their large family for thirty-five years. He is a registered Independent and sleeps with one eye always open. More info on Joe can be found at joesyellowpad.com.
Co-Founder / Co-Host Readers/Speakers

Friday April 26, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
TBA
 
Thursday, May 2
 

TBA

The Cambridge Poetry MashUp Presents: Future Leaders Read - youth & teen poetry
Thursday May 2, 2024 TBA
TBA
YOU ARE INVITED to: The Cambridge Poetry MashUp in April 2021, a National Poetry Month celebration. The series of events will celebrate the poetic and cultural diversity of poets who live in Cambridge, MA & its neighboring cities. Artists from other states will join us. Poetry, Song, and Storytelling shall abound.

Join us on May 1st for Future Leaders Read: youth & teen poetry. Details forthcoming.

https://www.poetrymashup.org/


Thursday May 2, 2024 TBA
TBA
 
Sunday, July 7
 

7:00pm EDT

NEPC Poetry at Magazine Beach Park: Jane Attanucci, Charlot Lucien, Lawrence Kessenich
Sunday July 7, 2024 7:00pm - 9:00pm EDT
TBA
Please join the NEPC as they continue their summer programming at Mass Audubon’s Magazine Beach Park Nature Center in Cambridge! The event is free of charge and the venue is accessible.
Sunday July 7, 2024 7:00pm - 9:00pm EDT
TBA
 
Thursday, July 25
 

12:00am EDT

Slate Roof Press Chapbook Contest/Elyse Wolf Prize
Thursday July 25, 2024 12:00am - 11:30pm EDT
TBA
Slate Roof Press announces its Annual Poetry Chapbook Contest. The winner receives publication, $500, and will become an active member of the press. Slate Roof’s award-winning bookmaker produces beautiful books with letterpress covers and high-quality papers. DEADLINE JULY 31, 2020.

Based in Greenfield, MA, Slate Roof is a member-run, not-for-profit collaborative, which has published the best new voices in poetry in art-quality chapbooks since 2004.

Thursday July 25, 2024 12:00am - 11:30pm EDT
TBA
 
Wednesday, September 18
 

2:00pm EDT

Brookline Poetry Series
Wednesday September 18, 2024 2:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
TBA
Wednesday September 18, 2024 2:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
TBA
 
Saturday, September 28
 

7:00pm EDT

Michelle Hoover, Patricia Horvath, and Sam Witt Poetry Reading
Saturday September 28, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
TBA
Saturday September 28, 2024 7:00pm - 8:00pm EDT
TBA
 


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