Poetry News March 2, 2015

Smith Spring Reading Series
March 3, Tuesday, 7:30 pm
Stoddard Hall Auditorium, Smith College
Singer, artist, scholar, teacher, and poet, Bettina Judd takes an interdisciplinary approach as she weaves together history and experience to examine the use of black women’s bodies in research. Her book, Patient., winner of the Hudson Prize, navigates this complex moral landscape with lyrical grace, alliteration, and mysterious rhythm.
Judd is the recipient of three Cave Canem fellowships.

“From Zero to One: First Books and What We Wish We’d Known”
Sunday, March 1, 11 a.m. Panel and discussion:
Part of the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers
moderated by Karen Skolfield with Amy Dryansky, Susan Kan, Sarah Sousa, and Michelle Valois
Miss Hall’s School, Centennial Hall, 492 Holmes Road, Pittsfield. Free.

This event will be of special interest to writers submitting a manuscript or about to publish a first book. We’ll discuss the
happy but often bewildering aftermath of acceptance: book design, publicity, the vulnerability of being newly published, postpublication contests, second and beyond books, and the importance of continuing to write after a manuscript has been assembled or even published. We’ll also talk about prepublication editing, researching presses, and contests, realistic publishing expectations, and dealing with a difficult publisher. Although the panel will focus on life after an acceptance, we will have handouts that address the business side of preparing a manuscript. Panelists include a publisher/editor, poets, and a prose writer in various stages of their career. Discussion will be audience-driven—bring your questions! Afterward, the panelists and Perugia Press will have books for sale and will be available for some follow-up questions.
http://berkshirewomenwriters.org/event/from-zero-to-one-first-books-and-what-we-wish-wed-known/

jubilat/ Jones Reading Series
March 8, Sunday, 3 pm
Goodman Room, Jones Library
43 Amity Street, Amherst

Samuel Amadon is the author of Like a Sea winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize, and The Hartford Book from Cleveland State University Poetry Center. His poems have appeared recently in the New Yorker, Poetry, American Poetry Review, A Public Space,Denver Quarterly, Lana Turner, and elsewhere.

Matthea Harvey was born in Germany, spent her childhood in England, and moved to Milwaukee with her family when she was eight years old. She attended Harvard as an undergraduate and the MFA program in creative writing at the University of Iowa. Her collections of poems include Pity the Bathtub Its Forced Embrace of the Human Form (2000), Sad Little Breathing Machine(2004), Modern Life (2007), Of Lamb (2011), and If the Tabloids Are True What Are You? (2014).

“The Ones We Carry”
an evening of poetry with Lesléa Newman sponsored by Hospice of the Fisher Home will take place on Thursday, March 5th, 7:00 p.m. at the Amherst Women’s Club, 35 Triangle Street, Amherst. Lesléa will read and discuss her new poetry collection, I CARRY MY MOTHER  which explores a daughter’s journey through her mother’s illness and death and how she carries on without her. She will donate $1.00 per book sold to Hospice of the Fisher Home. More information can be found here: http://www.webharmony.com/fisherhome/new.html

Writers Night Out!
by Straw Dog Writers Guild.
Every first Tuesday of the month, 7-9 pm
March 3 – Jennifer Rosner, featured reader
The Basement, 21 Center St., Northampton.
Five minute open mike slots, then featured reader.

The Gallery of Readers Series presents
Michelle Valois and Sally Bellerose
reading from their recent work
Sunday, March 8, 2015, 4 PM
Neilson Library Browsing Room
Smith College, Northampton
Refreshments will be served

Michelle Valois lives in Florence with her partner and their three children. Her writing has appeared in The Massachusetts Review, Tri-Quarterly, Brevity, Fourth Genre, The Baltimore Review, The

Chronicle of Higher Education, Slipstream, Map Literary, The North American Review, and others. She earned an M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has received writing grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund.  She teaches writing and humanities at Mount Wachusett Community College.

Sally Bellerose is a retired RN, novelist, and poet who loves to give readings and play with her granddaughter in the garden. Her current project, a novel titled Fishwives, is about old women behaving badly.  She will read an excerpt from Fishwives that won the Saints and Sinners Literary Fiction Award. In her writing, Sally is interested in messy, confusing, complicated relationships. She is also drawn to humor and transcendence. Sally is author of the novel The Girls Club.

The Gallery of Readers series, which began in 1990, takes its name from its first location, in Northampton’s Forbes Library art gallery. Most readers in the series are participants in Robin Barber and Carol Edelstein’s Vernon Street Writing Workshops.  Carol and Robin have recently launched the Gallery of Readers Press, a new nonprofit venture intended to provide workshop participants with an opportunity to publish their work.

For more information on other events in the series, and for more of our work, please visit<http://www.galleryofreaders.org/galleryofreaders/current.html>http://www.galleryofreaders.org/.

Writing to Reinvent Yourself: 8-week Shutesbury writing workshop.

Whether you are a beginning or advanced writer, looking to jumpstart your creative process or wanting feedback on a manuscript, come try us out! Poetry & prose, all levels welcome. Depending on participants, activities may include writing prompts to get creative juices flowing; journaling; sharing work in an accepting atmosphere; reading selected contemporary poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction; structured feedback; manuscript reviews; and help with submitting work to publishers. 8 three-hour sessions in Shutesbury beginning 3rd or 4th week in March.$275 in advance or $38 per session, sliding scale available. Call 413-259-1985 or emailmacfadyen@crocker.com

Janet MacFadyen has been published widely, including in The Atlantic, Poetry, The Malahat Review, The Southern Poetry Review, The Christian Science Monitor, Yankee, and elsewhere. The author of three works of poetry, she is a Puschcart nominee and has held a seven-month residential fellowship at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, as well as residencies at Cill Rialaig (Ireland) and the Fowler and C-Scape dune shacks in Provincetown. She has taught writing, literature, and creative writing at the college level, worked as a freelance writer/editor for many years, and participated in workshops and peer-run groups for decades.

Write Like a River: Women’s Writing Workshops with Chivas Sandage (Northampton, MA)
Jump start, reboot, develop, and deepen your writing in a supportive circle of women. Generate new material and/or make progress on an ongoing project. Count on intriguing prompts, time to write, supportive feedback, and discussion of craft, strategy, and writing as a practice. The end of each session features a balanced manuscript critique for rotating participants. Nurture and connect with your work and a lively community of writers. This multi-genre, generative workshop is appropriate for all levels. Space is limited.

Chivas Sandage’s first book, Hidden Drive (Antrim House, 2012) was a finalist for the 2012 ForeWord Book of the Year Awards in Poetry and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. MSNBC just released a mini-documentary in which she speaks of her current work on a nonfiction book about the 2012 double shooting of a young lesbian couple in south Texas. Sandage holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA from Bennington College.

When: March 12 & April 16 on Thursdays / 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Where: Writers in Progress Studio, a literary arts center located in the Arts & Industry Building on 221 Pine Street in Florence, MA (http://artsindustryopenstudios.blogspot.com)
For more info: http://www.writelikeariver.com

Call for Submissions: Slate Roof Press,
a member-run, not-for-profit collaborative, is pleased to announce our 3rd Annual Poetry Chapbook Contest. The winner becomes an active member of the press and will have his/her chapbook published by Slate Roof. We publish limited-edition, art-quality chapbooks with letterpress covers — beautiful books by an award-winning book designer and printer. Winners make a 3-year commitment to the press, including monthly meetings in Greenfield, MA, and share work responsibilities for many aspects of publishing. Submit no more than 28 pages of poetry. $25 reading fee. Deadline (upload/postmark): May 15, 2015. For full contest guidelines, visit www.slateroofpress.com  or  http://slateroofpresscontest.submittable.com/submit.

24th Annual Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest
sponsored by the Friends of the Greenfield Public Library.
For for details, see
https://www.facebook.com/FriendsGPL.

Open to residents of Franklin County
Two categories:  Adult and Young Poet (ages 12-18)
Deadline:  March 9, 2015 (postmark)
Awards Ceremony:  Tuesday, April 29, 7 p.m., Capen Room,
Stoneleigh-Burnham School, 574 Bernardston Road, Greenfield
https://www.facebook.com/FriendsGPL

The Poetry of Growing Older: the Joys and Challenges of Aging
Wed., March 11th, 2-4pm,
Northampton Senior Center, 67 Conz St.
and
Thu., March 26th,  2-4pm
Amherst Senior Center,
30 Boltwood,Dr.,  Amherst
{Snow dates:   Thurs., March 12, 27}
Sliding scale donation: $2-$5
John Berkowitz and Daisy Mathias will read their own and others’ poetry about living fully, aging gracefully, dealing with grief and loss, and befriending death.
–Area poets welcome to submit their work.  Due to time and space limitations, not all poems submitted by area poets can be included.
–Audience will receive a photocopied packet of the poems to read along with and take home, and for others unable to attend to request and receive by mail.
–Audience response and comments will be invited several times during the program
— Audience encouraged to bring chair pillows.
More Info:   John Berkowitz,  johnpberk@gmail.com

Poetry Critique Group Seeks Members
A Belchertown based poetry critique group is seeking members who actively write poetry, have previously published their work, and can commit to meeting the second and fourth Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.Contact: dcfontaine @yahoo.com

Poetry in Praise of Trees 

“Poetry in Praise of Trees”
Thurs, March 5, 7pm,
Rocky Hill Co-Housing
Black Birch Trail, Florence
Sliding scale donation: $2-$10

John Berkowitz and Daisy Mathias will read their own and others’ work on the awe and wonder inspired by trees.
–Area poets welcome to submit their work.  Due to time and space limitations, not all poems submitted by area poets can be included.
–Audience will receive a photocopied packet of the poems to read along with and take home, and for others unable to attend to request and receive by mail.
–Audience response and comments will be invited several times during the program
— Audience encouraged to bring chair pillows.
More Info:   John Berkowitz,  johnpberk@gmail.com

“In Our Nature” writing workshops
~ Winter 2015 ~
Thursday mornings, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm 10 weeks ~ Jan. 13 – Mar.  19
New members can join after the first week, as long as there’s room. Occasional members are also welcome.
Workshops are held in my airy, comfortable Ashfield home. Access from all directions is via paved roads.
$28/week (Or save $30 by paying $250 in 2 installments ~ at least half by Dec. 31, the balance by Feb. 19.  If you can’t come to all 10 meetings, you can still get a discount ~ ask for details.)

To keep our group writing experience feeling safe, we follow guidelines developed by Amherst Writers and Artists.
Occasional critiques for those who want them are included at no extra cost. Not sure? Try a meeting at no cost to see if you like it.
For more information, contact Susan Middleton at  smiddle@crocker.com

Advanced Poetry Writing Workshop led by Tom Daley
Eight Mondays, March-April 2015
For poets working at an advanced level, particularly those preparing to apply to MFA programs, and for those ready to begin submitting poems to journals and magazines. Also useful for graduates of MFA programs who wish to continue to work at their craft in the workshop format at an advanced level.

With optional exercises based on the poetry of James Dickey
At the instructor’s house in West Cambridge (free parking, accessible by three bus routes from Harvard Square)
Eight Mondays from 7:45-9:45 pm starting March 2, 2015.
Dates: March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, April 6, 13, 20, 27.

Cost: $200
For more information, contact the instructor at tom.daley2@verizon.net

To apply, send 3-5 recent poems in the message box of an e-mail (no attachments, please) to tom.daley2@verizon.net

Tom Daley serves on the faculty of the Online School of Poetry and teaches poetry writing at the Boston Center for Adult Education and poetry and memoir writing at Lexington Community Education. His poems appear in a number of journals including Fence, Massachusetts Review, Denver Quarterly, Crazyhorse, Harvard Review, Barrow Street, Prairie Schooner, 32 Poems, In Posse Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Diagram, and Rhino and have been anthologized inHacks: The Grub Street Anthology, Unlocking the Poem, and the Poets for Haiti anthology. His manuscript, Shim, was a finalist for the Emily Dickinson First Book Award. He is a recipient of the Charles and Fanny Fay Wood Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets and the Dana Award in Poetry. His book,  House You Cannot Reach—Poems in the Voice of My Mother and Other Poems, will be published this summer by FutureCycle Press.  He is the author of two plays,  Every Broom and Bridget–Emily Dickinson and Her Irish Servants, and In His Ecstasy—The Passion of Gerard Manley Hopkins, both of which he performs as a one-man show.

GREENFIELD, SHELBURNE FALLS AND NORTH

Writers Read
Thursday, February 26 at 5:30pm
at the Good Purpose Gallery
40 Main Street, Lee, MA
~ Welcome back to Writers Read!
Come hear two terrific poets from one family:
It costs money and time to keep the Gallery space open, lit, and warm (or air-conditioned), so  Gallery personnel have asked that Writers Read ask a suggested donation of $3.00 per person.  $1.00 will go to the gallery for expenses, and each reader will receive $1.00 also.  I want to emphasize that this is a suggested donation.  Those who can’t donate or can’t donate $3 will not be turned away, frowned at, or cajoled.  We want you to attend and enjoy the readings!  Do what you can.