***POETRY NEWS***
Here is your Poetry News for Western Massachusetts for the month of January 2018.
Poetry News is published monthly. NEW EMAIL: Please send events to thepoetrynews@gmail.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.
Wishing you comfort, peace and great poetry.
Poetry Highlights of This Month in Western Massachusetts:
Thu. Feb. 1 – Collected Poets’ Series: Poets Kirun Kapur and Mary A. Koncel at Mocha Maya’s Coffee House, 47 Bridge St, Shelburne Falls, 7pm
Fri. Feb. 2 – Pulp Slam featuring Lewis M. & Open Mic, The Roost, 1 Market St. Northampton, 7pm.
Sun. Feb. 4 – Writers Read at the Inn at Norton Hill, with Erik Sherman, 10 Norton Hill Rd. Ashfield, 3pm.
Tue. Feb. 6 – Straw Dog Writers Night Out, Open Mic & Featuring Ruth Lehrer, The Basement, 21 Center St. Northampton, 7pm
Tue. Feb. 6 – Open Mic & Women of the World Poetry Slam Selection at “The Deuce” WWII Club, Northampton, 8pm.
Thu. Feb. 8 – Florence Poets Society meeting and poetry share, All welcome! Lilly Library, Florence, 6:30pm
Sun. Feb. 11 – Gallery of Readers: Janet Macfadyen & Cynthia Snow, Seelye Hall 106, Smith College, Northampton, 4pm.
Tue. Feb. 13 – UNBUTTONED is canceled this month. Back in March!
Tue. Feb. 13 – Open Mic & Nathalie Irmer at “The Deuce” WWII Club, Northampton, 8pm
Tue. Feb. 13 – Greenfield Word – Featuring Janet MacFadyen and Richard Wollman plus Open Mic, 9 Mill St. Greenfield, 7:30pm
Fri. Feb. 16 – Pulp Slam! Brandon Melendez & Open Mic, The Roost, Northampton, 7pm
Fri. Feb. 16 – Third Friday Poetry Open Mic at the Arms Library, Shelburne Falls, 7pm (sign up 6:30)
Tue. Feb. 20 – Smith poetry – Alumnae on the Cusp: Meredith Nnoka, Marney Rathbun, Abe Louise Young, Alumnae House Conference Hall, Smith College, 7:30pm
Tue. Feb. 27 – Open Mic & Sarah Mae at “The Deuce” WWII Club, Northampton, 8pm
Tue. Feb. 27 – Writer’s Read at the Lee Library: Cynthia Snow & Patrick Donnelly. Lee, 5:30pm
Wed. Feb. 28 – Teatro V!DA Youth Open Mic, Bing Arts Center, 716 Sumner, Springfield, 7pm
POETRY EVENTS: PIONEER VALLEY AND BEYOND!
NOW IN NORTHAMPTON! PULP SLAM:
Pulp Slam: Poetry & Music Open Mic!
Pulp Slam is a three-part poetry and music show at The Roost. Every 1st and 3rd Friday, it hosts a poetry slam, a poetry feature, and a “Can’t believe It’s Not Poetry” music open mic.
Music Open Mic sign-up begins when doors open at 7:00 pm.
No one will be turned away for lack of funds. For more information, visit pulpslam.com. This event is open to the public.
The Roost, 1 Market Street, Northampton, MA
Open Mic Night for Youth
Every last Wednesday of the month from 7-9 p.m. from September through April, youth ages 12-25 are invited to Ign!te the Mic, The Valley’s only open mic for youth by youth.
A safe and non-competitive space for youth to share poetry, spoken word, music, monologues, theatrical scenes, dance, visual art, puppertry, or whatever your imagination can conceive!
All languages welcome. Admission $5 (no one turned away for lack of funds) Come and experience the healing power of the arts!
Co-sponsored by Teatro V!da and the The Bing Arts Center
Every last Wednesday of the month from 7-9 p.m.
Performers sign up at 6:45 p.m.
Bing Arts Center
716 Sumner Avenue
Springfield, MA
In the Forest Park neighborhood: free on street parking
www.teatrovida.com www.bingartscenter.org
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/
FLORENCE POETS SOCIETY
This month’s Florence Poets Society meets Thursday, Feb. 8th. Socializing at 6:30, poetry s 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 at info@florencepoets.com.
3rd Tuesday of the month
27th Annual Poet’s Seat Poetry Contest
Open to residents and students in Franklin County.
Two categories: Adult and Young Poet (ages 12-18)
Guidelines:
Submit up to three poems. Number pages of multi-page poems.
Only unpublished poems may be submitted.
Previous winners (first place) may not submit poems.
Top-placing youth poets may re-submit when they enter a new age category.
Indicate “Adult” or “Young Poet,” and Young Poets write your age on the front of the sheet where the poem appears, lower right hand corner, circled.
No identifying information on front of sheet, where poem appears; no staples.
On reverse side of each poem, write your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address, if available. Poems will not be returned.
Submit on white 8.5 x 11 paper, printed clearly in ink or typed in plain typeface; no markers.
Notification of receipt of entry will be via email, unless SASE is included with entry.
Send poems to: Poet’s Seat Contest, Greenfield Public Library, 402 Main St., Greenfield, MA 01301
Deadline: March 5, 2018 (Postmark)
Write Like a River: Women’s Writing Workshops with Chivas Sandage
Jumpstart, restart, and develop your writing in a supportive circle of women. Discover and generate new material, explore and diversify, or make progress on an ongoing project. Expect intriguing prompts, short and long writing periods, regular opportunities to read your work aloud and receive helpful, inspiring feedback. Near the end of each workshop, we read and discuss one participant’s work-in-progress. Participants will offer a spring reading at Studio 413 in the Eastworks Building in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Genres: nonfiction, fiction, poetry, plays, & more.
“This room is like a laboratory for the triumph of the human spirit.” Nora Jamieson, author
6-Week Winter Series / Easthampton, Massachusetts
When: all workshops held on Wednesdays, 1:00-4:00 pm.
January 31, February 7 & 28, March 14 & 28, April 11
Where: Studio 413, Eastworks Building, 116 Pleasant Street, Easthampton, MA
Sliding scale fee: $270-240-210 (per series)
Registration: 2 openings left (8 participants max). For more information & registration, use the contact form at https://www.writelikeariver.com.
Chivas Sandage is the author of Hidden Drive, a finalist for the 2012 ForeWord Book of the Year Awards in poetry. Coming soon: her online column about emerging and established feminist poets for Ms. Magazine. Naomi Shihab Nye chose her work for an award and publication as runner-up for the Southern Humanities Review 2017 Auburn Witness Poetry Prize. Her essays and poems have appeared in Artful Dodge, Daily Hampshire Gazette, Drunken Boat, Equality Texas, Evergreen Review, Hampshire Life Magazine, Hartford Courant, Knockout Magazine, Ms. Magazine, Naugatuck River Review, The New Civil Rights Movement, The Rumpus, SmokeLong Quarterly, Southern Women’s Review, Upstreet, Verse, Manthology: Poems on the Male Experience (Univ. of Iowa Press, ‘06), Morning Song: Poems for New Parents (St. Martin’s Press, ’11), Paradise Found: A Walking Tour of Northampton, Massachusetts through Poetry and Art (Levellers Press, ’14), and Same-Sex Marriage: The Moral and Legal Debate (Prometheus Books, ‘04). She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, a BA from Bennington College, and has taught composition and literature at Westfield State University. Currently, she is at work on a second collection of poems and a narrative nonfiction book about the 2012 double shooting of a lesbian teenage couple in Texas. Chivas is a writing coach and editor. She lives with her wife in Easthampton, Massachusetts and San Marcos, Texas. Her website is http://www.csandage.com. Follow her on Twitter @ChivasSandage.
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
Cape Cod Poetry is under Barry Hellman’s Cape Cod Poetry Group on Facebook.
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 thepoetrynews@gmail.com. Please send your announcements in text only – do not format (no special fonts, left-align, no colors, etc.) and please check it for errors. Send by the end of the month for publication. Thank you, Lori Desrosiers – Publisher, Editor, wearer of all hats.
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