Opening night of the Festival
While much of the Festival remains in Lowell, this year we are taking the Festival across the state on Thursday evening. There will be kick-off events now in 8 locations on Thursday, October 15th. That has grown to 8 because poets in Martha’s Vineyard are now organizing a Festival kick-off event on the Island that evening. We will post more details of their event as they are set. But already set are great first events in Boston, Salem, Lowell, Worcester, Amherst, New Bedford, and the Berkshires. And in keeping with the spirit and approach of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival – each one of these events is quite different.
In Amherst, three great poets from Western Massachusetts will be reading their own work – and of course they range in age and approach from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award poet James Tate to Ellen Dore Watson with three books to James Haug who has just published his first book. Register to attend this event – Free! – today.
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Festival Schedule
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In Boston, a wonderfully diverse group of poets, David Ferry, Suji Kwock Kim, Jill McDonough, Gail Mazur, and Lloyd Schwartz join Christopher Lydon to read wonderful Massachusetts poets such as Emily Dickinson , Elizabeth Bishop, Phillis Wheatley and Frank O’Hara (New York doesn’t get to claim this Massachusetts native exclusively for themselves!). And they will also each read one of the poems of their fellow poets for the evening. Register to attend this event – Free! – today.
In Lowell the focus on poets from the wide range of ethnic backgrounds that has been the hallmark of that city for the last 150 years. Walter Bacigalupo, Partha Chowdhury, Ala Khaki, Lynne Lupien, LZ Nunn, Jeremiah Menyongai, Dave Robinson, Tony Sampas, Diana Saenz, Dimitrios Booras, Sophy Sam and others reading poems that reflect their roots and heritages as well as the theme of “Poetry in Hard Times.” Register to attend this event – Free! – today.
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What You Can Do
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The Berkshire County event will be held at The Mount, the beautiful home of Edith Wharton in Lenox and will feature local publishers discussing how they decide what to publish. The panel includes: Jeffrey Levine, Tupelo Press; Barry Sternlieb, Mad River Press; Vivian Dorsel, Ledgetop Publishing/ upstreet magazine; and Hannah Fries, Orion Magazine. The panel discussion will be followed by a reading by eight local poets including Leslie Harrison, Hannah Fries, Abbot Cutler, Lisken Van Pelt Dus, Aaron Beatty and Patty Crane. There will be a reception and book signing after the event which will be held from 5:30-7pm. Register to attend this event – Free! – today.
In Salem, North Shore poets will help initiate the Massachusetts Poetry Festival with a reading and celebration of poetry from the Commonwealth. J.D. Scrimgeour will host. Among the readers will be: Rufus Collinson, James Connatser, Bill Coyle, Amy Dengler, Diane Kendig, Claire Keyes, Ruth Maassen, Rich Murphy, January O’Neil, John Ronan, Dan Sklar, and Suellen Wedmore. Register to attend this event – Free! – today.
Whereas in Worcester there will be a mixing of local central Mass talent and poets from other parts of the state. Dara Wier, author of 9 collections of poetry will travel from Amherst to read in Worcester , while Charles Coe will set out from Cambridge and join Dara and Central Mass poets for an evening of music, poetry and dance. Register to attend this event – Free! – today.
In New Bedford there will be a focus on poets from the region with poets from the Cape Cod Poet’s Theater, Rehoboth’s Poetry in the Village Series, the Brockton Library Poetry Series, Whaling City Review LIVE, the Bartleby Scrivener Poetry Workshop, and other poetry groups in the region will be featured. Register to attend this event – Free! – today.
In each case the Poetry Festival is working with an amazing group of Poetry Partners from Whaling City Review to the Juniper Institute, from Worcester County Poetry Association to Ford Hall Forum and on and on. The Poetry Festival is a grand experiment in collaboration. And that collaboration is working to bring you a great celebration of poetry and poets.
Finally we need you to do your part – please:
- Go to www.masspoetry.org and sign up to reserve your seats so that we can make sure we have the right events in the right venues.
- If you can volunteer in Lowell on the day of the Festival – click here.
- Please spread the word about the festival to all your friends. You can download and print this flyer to post in a public place or insert in a handout.
- Make a donation – we are still $5,670 short – down from $6,500 last week – every single donation counts. We will finish paying for the festival one donation at a time! Please click to donate now.
Thank you for everything you do — for poetry!
The Massachusetts Poetry Festival Organizing Committee
PS: Every dollar counts — please donate today!
