***POETRY NEWS***
Here is your Poetry News for the month of December, 2016
Poetry News is now published monthly. Please send events as you normally do to lori@thepoetrynews.com. The site will be updated regularly.
To receive Poetry News in your email or to request posting of events write to lori@thepoetrynews.com.
Some Highlights of This Month in Western MA
Thu. Dec. 1 -Collected Poets Series: Tim Mayo, Mocha Maya’s, Shelburne Falls, 7pm
Fri. Dec. 2 – Dishonest Gabe features Tommy Twilite, Bing Arts Center, 716 Sumner Ave. Springfield, 8pm
Fri. Dec. 2 – Slate Roof Press Haiku workshop #1, Northfield. See below
Sat. Dec. 3 – Zoë Darrow and Jan Freeman, Music of the Heart, Smith College Campus Center, 4pm
Sat. Dec. 3 – Le Cirque de Pain au Levain, Meat for Tea journal release party and reading, Sonelab, behind 132 Pleasant St. Easthampton (next to Abandoned Building Brewery), 7pm
Mon. Dec. 5 – Wagon Wheel Word is Back! Xinef Afriam & Open Mic, Wagon Wheel Restaurant, Rt. 2, Gill, 6pm.
Tue. Dec. 6 – Ross Gay rdg at Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall, Smith College, 7:30pm
Tue. Dec. 6 – Straw Dog Writers Night Out: Michael Goldman & Open Mic, The Basement, Northampton, 7pm
Tue. Dec. 6 – Lewis M & Open Mic, The Deuce, Northampton, 8pm
Wed. Dec. 7 – Poetry open mic at Sam’s Pizza, Northampton, 7pm
Wed. Dec. 7 – Magdalena Gomez at HCC, Forum, 11am
Thu. Dec, 8 – Protest Poetry Marathon at Mt. Holyoke College Art Museum, S. Hadley, 7pm
Thu. Dec. 8 – Silkworm journal release reading, Florence Poets Society, Lilly Library, Florence, 7pm
Fri. Dec. 9 – Alice Barber & Carolyn McKeown, White Square Books, Easthampton, 7pm
Fri. Dec. 9 – Slate Roof Press Haiku publishing workshop, Northfield, see below.
Sun. Dec. 11 – Valley Writers Anthology release, Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall, Smith College, Northampton, 4pm
Tue. Dec. 13 – 30 Poems project for Center for New Americans reading at Smith! Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall, 7pm
Tue. Dec. 13 – UNBUTTONED 4th Anniversary! New City Radio Project features, Luthiers Coop, Easthampton, 7pm
Tue. Dec. 13 – TBA & Open Mic, The Deuce, Northampton, 8pm
Tue. Dec. 20 – Greenfield Third Tuesday Word: Lori Desrosiers & Open Mic, 9 Mill St. Greenfield, 7pm
Tue. Dec. 20 – TBA & Open Mic, The Deuce, Northampton, 8pm
Tue. Dec. 27 – TBA and Open Mic, The Deuce, WWII Club, Northampton, 8pm
POETRY EVENTS: PIONEER VALLEY AND BEYOND!
Two Fridays in December: Haiku Writing & Publishing Workshops
Slate Roof Press is glad to present Haiku: The Length of One Breath, a writing workshop with poet Jeanne Martin, followed by a haiku publishing workshop with master printer Ed Rayher.
December 2nd and 9th, 6:30-8 pm Dickinson Library, 115 Main St, Northfield, MA 01360
Friday, December 2: Poet Jeanne Martin presents Haiku: The Length of One Breath. Learn about haiku, its history and structure and try your hand at writing, using an easy writing prompt. Everyone is invited to this workshop, whether or not you have had experience with haiku poetry.
Friday, December 9: Return for a discussion about publishing poetry, and to print your haiku on antique hand presses. Ed Rayher of Slate Roof Press and Swamp Press presides.
For more information contact Ed at ed@swamppress.com or 413-498-4343
Writers Night Out
Join Zoë Darrow and Jan Freeman in
Music of the Heart:
A Fiddle and Poetry Call-and-Response
Saturday, December 3, 4:00 p.m.
Smith College Campus Center
100 Elm St (Rte 9), Northampton, MA
free and open to the public
This event is part of the Northampton Book and Book
Arts Fair, http://www.northamptonbookfair.com/events.
Come early to look at beautiful books from artists and dealers around New England.
Books by Jan Freeman and Zoë Darrow’s CDs will be available to purchase. For more info visit www.janfreeman.net or email janfreemanpoetry@gmail.com.
Poet and Paris Press publisher Jan Freeman, of Ashfield, and fiddler Zoë Darrow, of Northampton, will present a musical medley of poetry and original compositions for fiddle and voice in this unique “call and response.” Jan will read poems from Blue Structure, just published by Calypso Editions, and Zoë will perform and sing her compositions inspired by the poems in this new collection. The unique performance celebrates music of the heart.
Zoë Darrow is an accomplished fiddler, composer, and singer — a musician of rare intensity and expressive range. She grew up playing Cape Breton and other Celtic music on a sheep farm in Blandford, MA. At the age of 12, she released her first recording, with her band the Fiddleheads.The Valley Advocate named them “Best Celtic Band” and Celtic Heritage Magazine acclaimed Zoë as an artist “destined to add savory spice to the global mix.” A graduate of Mount Holyoke College with a degree in music and anthropology, she is a much sought after collaborator, touring and recording with luminaries, including Tim Eriksen and percussionist Peter Irvineand banjo innovator Tony Trischka, Bela Fleck’s primary banjo guru and instructor at the Berklee College of Music.
Jan Freeman is poet, photographer, and publisher. She is author of Blue Structure,Simon Says (nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award), Hyena, and Autumn Sequence. She is co-editor of Sisters: An Anthology. About Blue Structure,poet Robin Becker says in The Women’s Review of Books: “Freeman speaks as if stunned or clarified by a vision…. The notion of story falls away. In its place, Freeman offers spectral, almost hallucinatory glimpses of relationships…. This speech, colloquial, fresh, has the taste of reality, but without reality’s accompanying furniture. Freeman achieves what few accomplish: she asks readers to step away from familiar scaffolding and trust: we do…” (Sept/Oct 2016). She founded Paris Press in 1995 to publish groundbreaking yet overlooked literature by women. Paris Press books are by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Bryher, Muriel Rukeyser, Ruth Stone, Adrian Oktenberg, Virginia Woolf, and Emily Dickinson and Susan Huntington Dickinson, and others.
Weekly Poetry Open Mic at The Deuce
Every Tuesday Night 8pm – 10pm
Open Mic Signup starts at 7pm.
World War II Club, Conz St. Northampton,MA
Please bring a 3-5 minute selection of your work to share
Fabulous website with featured poets
http://www.northamptonpoetry.com/
Emily Dickinson International Society
(EDIS) presents: “Poetry Conversation”
Jones Library, 43 Amity Street, Amherst, MA; in the Amherst Room, 2nd floor 1st Friday of each month — 2pm – 3:30pm 2nd Thursday of each month — 5:45pm – 7:15pm All who are interested in sharing thoughts and ideas in a group discussion based on selected poems/letters by Emily Dickinson are welcome.
FLORENCE POETS SOCIETY
Silkworm journal release party and reading is Thursday, December 8, 2016 at 7:00pm. Please consider joining the Florence Poets Society. Your $20 membership dues (Sept. – Aug.) support our annual journal, Silkworm, as well as public readings and events. We meet monthly at the Lilly Library in Florence on the 2nd Thurs. of each month, and all are welcome. Please visit our web site for more information: http://www.florencepoets.com or contact us atinfo@florencepoets.com.
GREENFIELD, SHELBURNE FALLS AND NORTH
3rd Tuesday of the month
ALBANY, NY POETRY
There’s a vibrant and active poetry community in the Albany area.
Go to http://www.albanypoets.com/ for schedules and events!
WORD IN WORCESTER
The Hangover Hour Poetry Salon
is every other Sunday afternoon, with a poet from the community reading the works of a poet from history. The open mic before the feature is a tight 5 minutes, for poems, stories or other spoken word propaganda. Spread the word nerd! The future is a drag, man!!! We start promptly at 5:00 p.m. every other Sunday, so come early, have a tasty beverage and be cool cats. 18+ Nicks (124 Millbury Street, Worcester)
The Little “a” Poetry Series
Every Thursday night at 7pm, with an open mic preceding the feature. It is free and all ages, and will be held at The Strange Attractor, 97D Webster St, Worcester MA. Hosted by “Cowboy” Matt Hopewell, who also does the booking and can be reached at themadcowboy@gmail.com or by phone at (508) 479 8311 .
CONNECTICUT POETRY
CT has a wonderful and comprehensive newsletter online. Write toctpoetnews@yahoo.com to get the CT Poet newsletter in your email, or the CT Poetry Calendar is online at http://www.ctpoetrycalendar.com
BOSTON/CAPE COD POETRY
If you want more events in the Boston area (and there are many more!) write to Dan Bouchard to get his poetry calendar in your email at bouchard@MIT.EDU
VERMONT POETRY
Poetry Slam
Every first and third Wednesday of the month. First, Poetry Slam, then is an open mic Equilibrium 14 Elm Street sign-up at 7:30 event is 8-10pmhttp://www.facebook.com/BrattleboroPoetry For a VT poetry events calendar go to: http://www.phayvanh.com/ For info on Brattleboro poetry and Write Action visit their website – http://www.writeaction.org Poetry readings at the Putney Library 55 Main Street, Putney VT (802) 387-4407
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News for Poetry News should be sent to lori@thepoetrynews.com. Please send your announcements in text only – do not format (no special fonts, left-align, no colors, etc.) and check it for errors. Send by the end of the month for publication. Thank you, Lori Desrosiers – Publisher, Editor, wearer of all hats.
Poetry News 