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Walking With Whitman: Poetry in Performance –  Canio Pavone, Paula Curci, Linda Sussman

Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA) presents  “Walking With Whitman: Poetry in Performance,” hosted by Writer-in-Residence George Wallace. The signature series, now in its 13th season, continues to bring the most intriguing figures in contemporary literature on the national scene paired with local poets on the Walt Whitman Stage.

Friday, April 7th Walking With Whitman will feature poets Canio Pavone, founder of Canio’s Books in Greenport, New York, and Paula Curci, the 2022-2024 Nassau County, New York, Poet Laureate. The evening will also feature live music by Singer-Songwriter Linda Sussman.  Join us for this exciting event!

Refreshments will be served. No registration is required. There is a $10 entry fee for this event that will be collected at the door or can be paid in advance, see button below.

 


 

Canio Pavone is founder of Canio’s Books, an independent bookstore and one of Sag Harbor’s true institutions. He ran the bookstore from 1980-1999 and can still be found there on select Mondays. The bookstore features new, used and collectibles, is well known as a literary gathering place.

During his tenure at Harborfields High School in Greenlawn, Canio taught romance languages, including Italian and Spanish, and was the first teacher on Long Island to be accredited to teach Japanese.

In 1990, he retired from teaching to start his own small press, Canio Editions, dedicated to publishing Long Island Poets and and writers, a notable venture.  Canio received an honorary doctorate in letters from Southampton College.

 

Paula Curci was affirmed the 2022-2004 Nassau County Poet Laureate. She is an award-winning performance poet, radio broadcaster and counselor. Paula is a Journal to the Self™ Certified Journal instructor and co-hosts an open mic at the Long Beach, NY, Library where she spearheads the “It’s a Shore Thing” micro-memoir project.

Presently she hosts and produces Calliope’s Corner – The Place Where Poets and Songwriters Meet on WWW. WRHU.ORG and 88.7FM Radio Hofstra University.  Paula also produces What’s the Buzz ®, a public service announcement segment. She currently serves as  the Poet in Residence for WRHU.  Paula is a co-founding member of the poetry and music band, the Acoustic Poets Network ™ and is known for theg esthetic style of poetry she calls Posics™.

Paula has published three chapbooks: “One Woman’s Cathartic Release in Poetry”, “The Gift of Thanksgiving” and a print version of her CD lyrics called “Done That: Poetry and Posics™” and her work has also appeared in several anthologies. She has also produced three spoken word CDs with the Acoustic Poets Network ™.

As a School Counselor for more than thirty years, Paula directed several youth development service-learning programs. She is a Steer Clear of Bullies© elementary school presenter. Steer Clear is an anti-bullying and violence prevention program provided to schools from the Safe Center of Long Island.  She is also  a certified Journal to the Self ™ journal writing instructor and has presented Poetry as a Therapeutic tool to counselors at LICAC. She was also a presenter at the WWBA-Pow Wow.

Paula has worked in broadcasting for over twenty  years and was awarded a GRACIE from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, for her informational broadcast on the “Female Face of Alzheimers.”

Paula studied Psychology and Communications at Adelphi University, where she is a proud alumnus of both the WE CARE Crisis Hotline and WBAU.  She received her Master’s in School Counseling Education and an Advanced Professional Diploma in Educational Leadership from C.W. Post-Long Island University.

 

Linda Sussman (LindaSussman.com) is an award-winning singer-songwriter whose versatile vocals and guitar style cross boundaries of alternative-folk and blues. Her music, which has ranked #1 on the Roots Music Report’s weekly Alternative Folk Album Chart, spans universal topics from heartache and triumphs to calls for social justice and can be heard on radio programs in both the US and abroad. The many stages she has played range from the iconic New York City venue The Bitter End to Radio Bean in Burlington, VT. Over the past five years, Linda has released four full-length albums and several singles, all of which are available on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, etc.

 


 

Make a meaningful gift to support our poetry programs:  https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2197152

 

This program is made possible with funds from Poets and Writers, Claire Friedlander Family Foundation, NY State Parks, Suffolk County, Town of Huntington, and NYS Council on the Arts through Huntington Arts Council.

Date: Friday, April 7, 2023
Start Time: 7:00 pm EST

Cost: $ 10

ENTRY DEADLINE – Gwenn A. Nusbaum/WWBA Poets to Come Scholarship

Poetry Scholarship – Ages 25–35!

Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA) invites applications for the annual Gwenn A. Nusbaum / WWBA “Poets To Come” Scholarship Award. The $1500 scholarship is offered in the spirit of Walt Whitman’s poem of that title: “POETS to come!

Deadline April 3, 2023

Applications are sought from those poets at the beginning of their careers, ages 25–35 years. Finalist notified May 15, 2023.

Learn more >>

Date: Monday, April 3, 2023

WWBA & David Mills Present “Boneyarn” – Poems & Narratives About Slavery In New York City

Join us in-person or Livestream on YouTube @WaltWhitmanBirthplace – March 24th, 7:00 – 8:30PM

David Mills reads from his poetry collection, Boneyarn, and shares his poems and narratives about three prominent Black figures who are buried in New York’s City’s African Burial Ground, America’s oldest and largest slave cemetery. Through the voices of the departed slaves, Mills shares stories about George Johnson (the first negro recording star, recording songs with Thomas Edison’s record label), Victoria Matthews (writer for the NY Times), and Millie Tunnell and their historic legacies along with those of Jupiter Hammon (first published negro poet who was enslaved in Oyster Bay, NY).  The burial ground, opened from 1712 to 1795, is located in the vicinity of current day Wall Street and holds fifteen thousand enslaved and free Blacks, some Native Americans and poor whites.  Boneyarn includes writings about childhood chimney sweeps, sailors of the Atlantic, fighters in the Revolutionary War, and those who built the “wall” where Wall Street gets its name.

Mr. Mills holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and NYU. He’s published four collections: Boneyarn ( award -winning and first book of poems about slavery in NYC), The Dream Detective, The Sudden Country and After Mistic. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Brooklyn Rail, Colorado Review, Crab Orchard Review, Jubilat, Callaloo, The Common, Worcester Review, Brooklyn Rail, Rattapallax and Fence. He has received fellowships from NYFA, Breadloaf, the Poetry Society of Virginia Book Award, a Flushing Town Hall Grant, a Schomburg Library Scholar-in-Residence Fellowship, the Lannan Foundation, the Queens Council on the Arts, the Bronx Council on the Arts, Washington College and The American Antiquarian Society. He lived in Langston Hughes’ landmark home and was a recipient of the Langston Hughes Society Award. He wrote the audio script for the Whitney Museum exhibition: Reflections in Black:100 Years of Black Photography. The Juilliard School of Drama commissioned his play The Serpent and the Dove. He has recorded his poetry on ESPN and RCA Records and had a poem displayed at the Venice Biennale.

Admission is Free.

This program is made possible with funds from NY State Parks, Suffolk County, Town of Huntington.

Date: Friday, March 24, 2023
Start Time: 7:00 pm EST

ENTRY DEADLINE – Walt Whitman Birthplace Association Thirty-Seventh Annual Student Poetry Contest 2023

Calling All Students!

Use your poetic voice to tell us about the “multitudes” contained within you.

ENTRY DEADLINE: March 17, 2023

Awards Ceremony: Sunday, June 4, 2023, 12:00 noon at the Birthplace

Learn more >>

Date: Friday, March 17, 2023

POETS BUILDING BRIDGES Series 2, March 2023 – Santa Cruz CA/Sparring, Corsica, NYC/livemag!

George Wallace and Walt Whitman Birthplace proudly present season two of POETS BUILDING BRIDGES: A TRIANGULATION PROJECT, inaugurated in March 2022 with the purpose of enhancing dialogue between communities of writers across the US and internationally. Based on a shared small-group experience, these Saturday zoom sessions engage three distinct and well defined communities of poets with each other to share work and foster further interaction. THIS IS A ZOOM ONLY EVENT.

Season One triangulated groups by location — from the US, UK, Italy, South America, the Balkans, the Near East and India.

In Season Two, POETS BUILDING BRIDGES will build on that experience, triangulating national and international groups based not only on location but additionally offering key small press publications an opportunity to form a participating group.

Live on zoom. archived on Youtube.

Santa Cruz CA/Sparring:  Daniel Yaryan  |  Lynn Rogers |  Cathyann Cusimano

Daniel Yaryan is an American poet-author, publisher, editor and event producer. He is best known as the creator of the long-running Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts multimedia event series and literary anthologies. L.A. poet Wanda Coleman described Yaryan as “one of the new generation of poetry mavens.” (Poetry Foundation). He is founding publisher of the Mystic Boxing Commission imprint. Yaryan publishes avant-garde, counterculture books such as novelist Jerry Kamstra’s Weed: Adventures of a Dope Smuggler (new illustrated edition); the illuminated Sorcerers: Through Dimensions Infinite (a collaboration with artist Fitz); and the Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts Omnibus: Deluxe Edition (Vol. 1: Michael C Ford Edition)

Lynn Rogers MA is a novelist, artist and human rights advocate. She earned a BA In Transpersonal Psychology at Antioch San Francisco in 1988, with an MA In Transpersonal Studies at Atlantic University in 1991; her thesis focused on Women’s Spirituality. She is the author of 14 books beginning with Born in Berkeley (an underground classic including life as a teen on the 60s road with Beat icon Neal Cassady). She is well-reviewed, including by Gary Singh of Silicon Valley Metro, who said “she will one day put our area on the world literary map.” In 2011 she was awarded Woman of Achievement by the National League of American Penwomen in both literature and art. In 2017 she was a featured author at San Jose State in their Local Lit program for her 2016 novel, The Last Piano Bar. In 2019 she won art awards from the Triton Museum in Santa Clara. She has hosted and read at many Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts events including at the Beat Museum in San Francisco.
Cathyann Cusimano is a beat poet of energy and illumination. She shines a light on whatever catches her attention, puts the images in a blender and hits the gas. Cathyann enjoys creating works of art out of a multitude of media and making an adventure out of spontaneous experiences. Cathyann has been included in 2 Great Weather for Media anthologies, Fresh Hot Bread, Voices Israel, and Sparring With Beatnik Ghost anthologies. She has published 5 books of poetry: Being Myself on Fire, The Soul Made Visible, The Main Content, Ordinarily Divine and Walking Down The Street With the Sound of Life in Her Eyes. Her next book of poetry: Roadtrips, Fantasies, and Lava Flows is due to be released late 2022.

 

Corsica:  Catherine Sorba |  Jacques Fusina |  Stefanu Cesaru |  Patritzia Gattaceca 

Catherine Sorba is a Corsican movie & theater director, writer, actress, living between Paris, Bastia & NY. After studying at The Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique in Paris, she founded her own theater company. Her motto : push boundaries of fiction on stage and explore the reality in documentaries. Rewarded in 2018 by the Sundance Institute for her short film « DA E STELLE A E STELLE » ; she’s a long time fellow of the “Theatre Aleph” and his founder, the Chilean dramaturge Oscar Castro. Since 2013, she’s in artistic partnership with LAFAYETTE COLLEGE, Easton, PA.

Jacques Fusina, Emeritus Professor at the University of Corsica, was Chairman of the Conseil de la Culture de la Corse (1989-1991). A versatile writer, he is one of the most eminent spokesmen of Corsican poetry. List of publications : Lepetit soldat (Albiana 2015), Parlons corse,( L’Harmattan, 1999), E sette chjapelle, (Albiana 1986) Versu cantarcciu, (Albiana 1996) La fougère: onze poètes corses,( Editions Dell’Orso, Italy, 2005).
Stefanu Cesari was born in 1973. He devotes his life to French and Corsican poetry. He has also translated contemporary poetry and contributed to many magazines and anthologies. He stages poetic readings in the “Halo”, in Bastia, Corsica. During workshops, he blends his poetic production with electronic music and polyphonic songs. In 2019, he was awarded the “Prix Louis Guillaume du poème en prose” for his Bartolomeo in cristu. List of publications : Memoria di a notti/ Mémoire de la nuit, Albiana (2002) A lingua ‘lla Bestia/ Forme animale, A Fior di carta (2008) Genitori, Presses littéraires (2010) Le moindre geste/ U minimu gestu, Colonna (2012) Bartolomeo in cristu, éditions Eoliennes (2018) Prighera par l’armenti / Prière pour le troupeau, Cahiers de l ‘Approche (2019) Peuple d’un printemps/ pòpulu d’una branata, éditions Eoliennes (2021) Soleil en maison 5, Lektos éditions (2022).
 
Patrizia Gattaceca is a versatilE artist, poet, musician and actor from the Riacquistu cultural rivival. She is well know in and out of Corsica as singer-songwriter and poet. In addition to her extensive discography, Patrizia is the author of six poetry collections published in corsican, french and inglish. Her poems are also published in various journals and anthologiesGattaceca’s poetry holds all in an imagery of moons and mountains and sea and underneath it all, the taut sensation of loss and sorrow, the heartfelt exploration of loneliness of the human condition, and, as her mentor Ghjacumu Thiers describes, « the infinite within the finite. » His writing is rooted in the earth and everyday life, thus taking on a universal meaning.

 

NYC/livemag!: Jeff Wright  |  Greg Cosby |  Eve Packer

LiVE Mag! publisher and editor Jeffrey Cyphers Wright is author of 18 books of verse, including Blue Lyre and Party Everywhere. Recent poetry is in New American Writing, The Café Review, Stat-O-Rec, and Best American Poetry. He’s a Kathy Acker Award winner for poetry and publishing, and has had recent residencies at eMediaLoft and Howl! A book of sonnets and artwork called Doppelgängster is forthcoming. jeffreycypherswright.com

Gregory Crosby is the author of Said No One Ever (2021, Brooklyn Arts Press) and Walking Away From Explosions in Slow Motion (2018, The Operating System).

Eve Packer, a Bronx born poet and actor, has three books of poetry out from Fly by Night Press. Her latest book, no mask, no talk, is forthcoming from Autonomedia (2021). She won two Downtown Poet of the Year Awards, and a Time to Consider: the Arts Respond to 9/11 Award, among others. Packer holds degrees from the University of Michigan, the London School of Economics, and N.Y.U., and currently teaches English at Westchester Community College. She coordinates What Happens Next, a loose collective of poets and artists, and she swims daily.

 

Support Our Literacy Programs

POETS BUILDING BRIDGES is produced by Poetrybay Productions for the Walt Whitman Birthplace.

Date: Saturday, March 11, 2023
Start Time: 12:00 pm EST

Walking With Whitman: Poetry in Performance – Valery Oisteanu, Stefanie Maura, Josie Bello

Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA) presents  “Walking With Whitman: Poetry in Performance,” hosted by Writer-in-Residence George Wallace. The signature series, now in its 13th season, continues to bring the most intriguing figures in contemporary literature on the national scene paired with local poets on the Walt Whitman Stage.

Friday, March 3rd Walking With Whitman will feature Valery Oisteanu, author of 18 books of poetry, a book of short fiction “The King of Penguins” (Linear Art Press, 2000) and a book of essays (in progress)  “The AVANT-GODS and  Stefanie Maura, whose poems have appeared in anthologies and journals including Southword, Long Island Quarterly, Big City Lit, Silver Birch Press, and Token Entry: New York City Subway Poems. The evening will also feature live music by Josie Bello.  Join us for this exciting event!

Refreshments will be served. No registration is required. There is a $10 entry fee for this event that will be collected at the door or can be paid in advance, see below.

Valery Oisteanu is a poet, writer, and artist of the avant-garde. Born in USSR (1943) and educated in Romania. He debuted as a poet with the collection PROSTHESIS in 1970(Litera Press, Bucharest). At the age of 20, he adopted Dada and Surrealism as a philosophy of art and life and a few years later English as his primary language. Immigrating to New York City in 1972 he has been writing in English for the past 50 years. He is the author of 18 books of poetry, a book of short fiction:” The King of Penguins” (Linear Art Press, 2000) and a book of essays (in progress):” The AVANT-GODS.  Two new books are just out: In the Blink of a Third Eye (Spuyten Duyvil Press NYC 2020) and Perks in Purgatory (translated in Romanian) Itaca Publishing Dublin 2020 & was chosen best poetry book of the year in Dublin. Over the last 10 years he wrote art criticism for Brooklyn Rail, artnet.com, Whitehot Magazine, and NY Arts. He is also a contributing writer for French, Spanish & Romanian art and literary magazines (La Page Blanche, Art.es, Viata Romanesca, Observatorul Cultural, Artout.ro, levurelitteraire.com, etc) As an artist he exhibits collages and assemblages on a regular basis at galleries in New York and also creates collages as covers and illustrations for books and magazines. He has performed in theater and in poetry-musical collaborations with jazz artists from all over the world in sessions known as Jazzoetry. His work has appeared in international surrealist publications of the last four decades, including: Dream Helmet (1978), What Will Be (Brumes Blondes, 2014) Phala (Sao Paulo, Brazil), The Annual (Phasm Press, 2015) etc

Member of Poets and Writers, Inc. New York (1977-2022)

Founding member of PASS (Poets and Artists Surrealist Society) 1977-2022

“It’s the end of the World as we know it” Award (Vault Literary Society) 2000 award for exceptional cutting edge artists who constantly take risks with their art)

Awarded:  Gold Chivot order of the Chevalier of the Castel for the dissemination of Romanian Avant-Garde in Diaspora, 2010, Republic of Prose Readers, London

Recipient of the Kathy Acker Award, NYC, 2013, for contribution to the American avant-garde in Poetry Performance.

 

Stefanie Maura is a poet, librarian, and founder of the Writing Yoga® method. Her poems have appeared in anthologies and journals including: Southword, Long Island Quarterly, Big City Lit, Silver Birch Press, and Token Entry: New York City Subway Poems. She has facilitated workshops at Hofstra University, Queens College, the New York City Open Center and at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies. She was the co-host of Poetry at Cedarmere for several years and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Queens College. Read more at www.StefanieMaura.com.

 

Josie Bello is a Singer-Songwriter from Huntington.  Her songs tell stories that are relatable, and explore issues that are both timely and timeless. Her newest release “Have Purpose Live Long” (2020) and her debut album “Can’t Go Home” (2018) have both had extensive U.S. & International radio play with the albums and individual tracks appearing on an impressive number of radio charts.  Josie performs solo and with her band, “The Kit House Band”.  Her music is available everywhere including Spotify, Bandcamp, iTunes and Amazon. For more information about Josie, you can visit her website at josiebello.com.

Make a meaningful gift to support our poetry programs:  https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2197152

This program is made possible with funds from Poets and Writers, NY State Parks, Suffolk County, Town of Huntington, and NYS Council on the Arts through Huntington Arts Council.

 

Date: Friday, March 3, 2023
Start Time: 7:00 pm EST

Cost: $ 10

NOMINATION DEADLINE – LI Poet of the Year

Now Accepting Nominations!

The Long Island Poet of the Year Award is an annual award given by Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA) to honor a notable and distinguished local poet who actively promotes poetry on Long Island.

Nominations must be received by February 15, 2023

The WWBA Board of Trustees Program Committee will choose the awardee by March 15, 2023. The award will be presented at a reception-reading in April 2023.

Learn more >>

Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2023

POETS BUILDING BRIDGES Series 2, February 2023 – Kansas City, Colombia, Florence MA / Silkworm

George Wallace and Walt Whitman Birthplace proudly present season two of POETS BUILDING BRIDGES: A TRIANGULATION PROJECT, inaugurated in March 2022 with the purpose of enhancing dialogue between communities of writers across the US and internationally. Based on a shared small-group experience, these Saturday zoom sessions engage three distinct and well defined communities of poets with each other to share work and foster further interaction. THIS IS A ZOOM ONLY EVENT.

Season One triangulated groups by location — from the US, UK, Italy, South America, the Balkans, the Near East and India.

In Season Two, POETS BUILDING BRIDGES will build on that experience, triangulating national and international groups based not only on location but additionally offering key small press publications an opportunity to form a participating group.

Live on zoom. archived on Youtube.

Kansas City:  Shawn Pavey  |  John Dorsey  |  Jason Ryberg

Shawn Pavey is the author of Talking to Shadows (Main Street Rag Press, 2008), Nobody Steals the Towels From a Motel 6 (Spartan Press, 2015), and Survival Tips for the Pending Apocalypse (2019, Spartan Press) – which was 1st runner up for the 2020 Thorpe Menn Literary Excellence Award – and co-author of Even If We Did, So What!? (2021, OAC Books).  He co-founded The Main Street Rag Literary Journal and served as an Associate Editor.
John Dorsey lived for several years in Toledo, Ohio. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Teaching the Dead to Sing: The Outlaw’s Prayer (Rose of Sharon Press, 2006), Sodomy is a City in New Jersey (American Mettle Books, 2010), Tombstone Factory, (Epic Rites Press, 2013), Appalachian Frankenstein (GTK Press, 2015) Being the Fire (Tangerine Press, 2016) and Shoot the Messenger (Red Flag Poetry, 2017),Your Daughter’s Country (Blue Horse Press, 2019), Which Way to the River: Selected Poems 2016-2020 (OAC Books, 2020), Afterlife Karaoke (Crisis Chronicles Press, 2021) and Sundown at the Redneck Carnival, (Spartan Press, 2022). His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and the Stanley Hanks Memorial Poetry Prize. He was the winner of the 2019 Terri Award given out at the Poetry Rendezvous.
Jason Ryberg is the author of eighteen books of poetry, six screenplays, a few short stories, a box full of folders, notebooks and scraps of paper that could one day be (loosely) construed as a novel, and a couple of angry letters to various magazine and newspaper editors. He is currently an artist-in-residence at both The Prospero Institute of Disquieted P/o/e/t/i/c/s and the Osage Arts Community and is an editor and designer at Spartan Books. His latest collection of poems is The Great American Pyramid Scheme (co-authored with W.E. Leathem, Tim Tarkelly and Mack Thorn, OAC Books, 2022). He lives part-time in Kansas City, Missouri with a rooster named Little Red and a billygoat named Giuseppe and part-time somewhere in the Ozarks, near the Gasconade River, where there are also many strange and wonderful woodland critters.

Colombia:  María Del Castillo Sucerquia  Adriana Hoyos  |  Miguel Iriarte  |  Anabel Torres

María Del Castillo Sucerquia (Barranquilla, Colombia – 1997). Poet, literary agent, tutor, eastern doctor (Neijing, Spain) and translator (French, English, Italian, Russian and Greek). She learned languages at the Universidad del Atlántico. Honorary doctorate in Transcendental Humanism from the Academy, Arts, Culture and Culture of Peace (AHCASA Morocco-Mexico Alliance, 2021). Hebrew language student. Winner of the Naji Naaman poetry prize, Creativity prize category, (Lebanon, 2022); the Kasi Nazrul Islam Birth Anniversary Award (Bangladesh, 2022); of the prize “A poem for Meira Delmar – 2022 (Meira Delmar Library, Barranquilla, Colombia); the Golden Heart award, granted by the Rahim Karim Karimov International Foundation (Russia – Kyrgyzstan, 2022), in recognition of her literary and translation work; of the first place in the VII “Jorge García Usta” Award (PoemaRío International Festival – Pilot Library of the Caribbean) with hir book “The Silenced Train”, among others. Director of Read Carpet Colombia magazine. Curator, translator and collaborator of national and international  literary magazines and journals.

Miguel Iriarte (Colombia, 1957) is a poet, cultural journalist, essayist and for twenty five years professor of Semiotics and Communications in Barranquilla. He’s considered one of the most representative poets of the Colombian Caribbean coast. He’s one of the founders of PoemaRío International Poetry Fest. He has published several books of poetry like Cámara de Jazz, Doy mi palabra, Semana Santa de mi Boca, Segundas intenciones, and others. He’s also the editor of the arts and culture review, Viacuarenta. He’s the current director of La Cueva, a distinguished cultural foundation from Barranquilla city.
Anabel Torres is a Colombia poet, writer, translator and interpreter. She was born in Bogotá and lived part of her childhood and adolescence in New York City. Torres was subdirector of Colombia’s National Library between 1983 and 1987 and lives abroad ever since. She has an official translation license from the Colombian Ministry of justice, earned an M.A. in Women and Development at the Institute of Social Studies, in The Hague, and has earned a certificate for science translation from the Institute of Linguists in London. She has won two national poetry awards in Colombia (Nariño and Antioquia Universities); first prize in a British Centre for Literary Translation’s literary translation competition, with her translation of poet Jose Manuel Arango´s “This Place in the Night”, published by Cambridge Press, and a Rei en Jaume first prize, in the Poetry in English category, for her book of poems “Human Wrongs” (Calvià, Mallorca). Torres has published short stories, essays and poems in various anthologies and periodicals. She has published 11 books of poetry, among these, one bilingual and one only in English, and two books in prose illustrated by her. She translates poetry from and to English and Spanish. Currently she lives in Sanlucar la mayor, Spain.

Florence MA/Silkworm:  Tommy Twilite  |  Howie Faerstein  |  Edward Bruce Bynum

Tommy Twilite is a poet, songwriter and performer who lives in Florence Massachusetts. He is the Co-founder and Director of the Florence Poets Society, and Executive Editor of Silkworm, the Society’s annual review. Tommy is the current Beat Poet Laureate of Massachusetts and the host of the Twilite Poetry Pub on WXOJ-FM Valley Free Radio. His first full length collection, Fifty Words for Rain was published in 2021.

Howie Faerstein, a graduate of New England College’s MFA Program, is the author of the chapbooks: Play a Song on the Drums, he said and Out of Order (Main Street Rag) and two full-length collections: Dreaming of the Rain in Brooklyn and Googootz and Other Poems, both published by Press 53. His poetry and reviews can be found in numerous journals including Great River Review, Nimrod, CutThroat, Off the Coast, Rattle, upstreet, Nine Mile and on-line in Verse Daily, Nixes Mate, On the Seawall, Hole in the Head Review, Peacock Journal, and Connotation. A five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he’s co-poetry editor of Cutthroat, volunteers as a mentor at the Center for New Americans, and lives in Florence, Massachusetts.
Edward Bruce Bynum is the author of several books of poetry and the winner of the national Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Prize for Chronicles of the Pig & Other Delusions. He lives in the Amherst Massachusetts area.

Walt Whitman Birthplace Events & Media Director is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

 

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POETS BUILDING BRIDGES is produced by Poetrybay Productions for the Walt Whitman Birthplace.

Date: Saturday, February 11, 2023
Start Time: 12:00 pm EST

POETS BUILDING BRIDGES Series 2, January 2023 – New Mexico, Romania, South Florida

George Wallace and Walt Whitman Birthplace proudly present season two of POETS BUILDING BRIDGES: A TRIANGULATION PROJECT, inaugurated in March 2022 with the purpose of enhancing dialogue between communities of writers across the US and internationally. Based on a shared small-group experience, these Saturday zoom sessions engage three distinct and well defined communities of poets with each other to share work and foster further interaction. THIS IS A ZOOM ONLY EVENT.

Season One triangulated groups by location — from the US, UK, Italy, South America, the Balkans, the Near East and India.

In Season Two, POETS BUILDING BRIDGES will build on that experience, triangulating national and international groups based not only on location but additionally offering key small press publications an opportunity to form a participating group.

Live on zoom. archived on Youtube.

New Mexico:  John Roche  |  John Macker |  Catherine Strisik |  Anna Martinez

John Roche edits Poetry Playhouse Publications with Jules Nyquist and hosts the Poetry Playhouse reading series via Zoom, as well as live poetry events in Placitas, New Mexico. After studying at SUNY/Buffalo and University College Dublin, he taught English for four decades, retiring from Rochester Institute of Technology in 2019. His latest is Joe Rides Again: Further Adventures of Joe the Poet (FootHills Publishing, 2020). 

John Macker, poet, playwright and essayist, grew up in Colorado and has lived in northern New Mexico for 25 years. He has published 14 full-length books and chapbooks of poetry, 2 audio recordings, an anthology of fiction and essays, and several broadsides over 35 years. His most recent are Belated Mornings, Atlas of Wolves, The Blues Drink Your Dreams Away, SelectedPoems 1983-2018, (a 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards finalist), Desert Threnody, essays and short fiction, (winner of the 2021 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards fiction anthology prize), El Rialto, a short prose memoir and Chaco Sojourn, short stories, (both illustrated by Leon Loughridge and published in limited edition by Dry Creek Art Press.) For several years, he was contributor to Albuquerque’s Malpais Review. His one-act play, “Coyote Acid” was produced by Teatro Paraguas in Santa Fe in early 2022. He has just completed a trilogy of one-acts entitled “The Black Range.” He lives in Santa Fe with his wife Annie and two dogs.

Catherine Strisik, poet, teacher, editor, Taos, New Mexicos Poet Laureate 2020-2021; recipient of 2020 Taoseña Award as Woman of Impact based on literary contribution; is author of Insectum Gravitis (finalist New Mexico/AZ Book Award in Poetry 2020); The Mistress (awarded New Mexico/AZ Book Award for Poetry 2017); Thousand-Cricket Song; manuscript Aikaterina,(semi-finalist, Philip Levine Prize in Poetry, 2020); and manuscript- in- progress, Dear Unholy. She is co-founder and co-editor of Taos Journal of International Poetry & Art, on advisory board of Pocket Samovar, is a Pushcart nominee, and has over 30 years of publications with poetry translated into Greek, Persian, and Bulgarian. https://www.cathystrisik.com

Anna Martinez is a mother, grandmother, performance/competitive/slam poet, and civil rights attorney. Born in Los Angeles at the height of its civil rights movements, she was then raised from school age in Española, New Mexico. Anna Martinez has been named the 2022-2023 Poet Laureate of Albuquerque, NM. She is also the in-house poet at Las Pistoleras Instituto Cultural de Arte in Taos and has held titles as ABQ Chicano/a City Slam Champ, XXX Haiku City Champ, and 2019 City Slam Champ for team Mindwell Slam. She is also on the board of directors for Burque Revolt Poetry Slam and opens her home for free to touring poets. She lives in Albuquerque.

 

Romania:  Claudia Serea  |  Andrei Codrescu |  Carment Firan

Claudia Serea is a Romanian-born poet with poems and translations published in Field, New Letters, Prairie Schooner, The Malahat Review, The Puritan, Oxford Poetry, Asymptote, and elsewhere. She is the author of six poetry collections and four chapbooks, most recently Writing on the Walls at Night (Unsolicited Press, 2022). Serea won the Joanne Scott Kennedy Memorial Prize from the Poetry Society of Virginia and the New Letters Readers Award. Her poems have been translated in French, Italian, Russian, Arabic, and Farsi, and featured on The Writer’s Almanac. Her collection of selected poems translated into Arabic, Tonight I’ll Become a Lake into which You’ll Sink, was published in Cairo, Egypt, in 2021. She is a founding editor of National Translation Month, serves on the board of The Red Wheelbarrow Poets, and co-hosts their monthly readings.

Andrei Codrescuwas born in Sibiu, Transylvania, Romania, and emigrated to the United States in 1966. He is the author of over fifty books of poetry, fiction, critical essays, and commentary on art, life, and literature. Codrescu’s latest poetry collection, Too Late for Nightmares, was published by Black Widow Press in September 2022. A fantasy fiction novel, Meat from the Goldrush, is also slated for Fall of 2022. He is a recipient of the Ovid Prize for poetry, the Heritage Award from the American Immigration Council, a National Book Award Finalist, and two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize. His poetry, stories, essays, and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Harper’s, and The Paris Review. More at www.codrescu.com.

Carmen Firan, born in Romania, has published twenty eight books in her native country and in the United States. Since 2000 she has been living in New York. Among her recent books are The Lost Shadow (New Meridian Arts), Changing Your Sign, Changing your Destiny – An Immigrant’s Horoscope (New Meridian Arts, 2019), Interviews and Encounters (Poems and Dialogue with Nina Cassian, Sheep Meadow Press, 2016),  Rock and Dew (poems, Sheep Meadow Press, 2013), and other collections of poetry: Afternoon With An Angel, The First Moment After Death, and Accomplished Error.  Her work appears in translation in France, Israel, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Poland. Firan is a member of the Poetry Society of America. The Romanian Academy published her collection One Hundred and One Poems (with a Preface by Andrei Codrescu, 2020). www.carmenfiran.com

 

South Florida:  Lenny Dellarocca  |  Michael Mackin O’Mara |  Denise Duhamel  |  Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bello

Lenny Dellaroccais founding editor and co-publisher of South Florida Poetry Journal. His collections include the winner of the Yellowjacket Press chapbook contest- Things I See in the Fire, a full-length- Festival of Dangerous Ideas and a new chapbook online at 2River.org– One Hundred Moving Parts of Love.His poems have appeared in Poetrybay, Long Island Quarterly, Fairy Tale Review, and others.

Michael Mackin O’Mara, queer, POZ, born in Brooklyn, lives in West Palm Beach & is managing editor and co-publisher of SoFloPoJo (South Florida Poetry Journal) with work published in The Body, The Complete HIV/AIDS Resource, and Indolent Book’s HIV Here and Now Project among others. www.michaelmackinomara.com

Denise Duhamels most recent books of poetry are Second Story (Pittsburgh, 2021) and Scald (2017). Blowout (2013) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. A recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, she teaches at Florida International University in Miami.

Marci Calabretta Cancio-Bellois the author of Hour of the Ox, winner of the Donald Hall Prize, and co-translator of The World’s Lightest Motorcycle by Yi Won. A Kundiman fellow and NEA fellowship recipient, she is a program manager for Miami Book Fair. Visit www.MarciCalabretta.com.

POETS BUILDING BRIDGES is produced by Poetrybay Productions for the Walt Whitman Birthplace.

 

Date: Saturday, January 14, 2023
Start Time: 12:00 pm EST