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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

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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
  • Cost: Free
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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.

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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
  • Cost: Free
Learn More

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 Mexico’s 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 Duhamel’s 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
  • Cost: Free
Learn More

POETS BUILDING BRIDGES Series 2, December 2022 – San Luis Obispo, India, Rutherford NJ Red Wheelbarrow poets

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.

 

San Luis Obispo:  Kevin Patrick Sullivan  |  Benjamin Lawless  |  Dian Sousa  |  Kevin Clark 

Kevin Patrick Sullivan’s life has been guided by the stars – the ocean – the light falling through trees, having been on the Central Coast of California for 48 years and a retired landscaper from San Luis Coastal Unified School District. Sullivan’s books include, First Sight, The Space Between Things, Under Such Brilliance and Unimpaired. His poems have appear in such journals as Artlife, Askew, Solo, Solo Novo, Cafe Solo, Hummingbird, Lummox, Miramar ,Salt and several anthologies including,  Sometimes In The Open- Poems From California’s Poets Laureate: Great Weather for Media, and Other Voices International. He was the editor with his wife, Patti Sullivan of the anthology, Corners of the Mouth-A Celebration of Thirty Years at the Annual San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival. He was declared a “cultural asset” by the City Council of San Luis Obispo in 2001. Kevin is a Poet Laureate Emeritus (2003) of  the City of San Luis Obispo. In 1984 he co-founded and continues to curate the Annual San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival.

Benjamin Daniel Lawless is a friend to people and poetry. He runs Penciled In, a book design and publishing company, and has designed over 60 books since 2005, including founding a 4 issue literary journal called if&when. He wrote two collections of poetry: There is Nothing Poetic About Fish (2008) and The Last Spelling Bee (2011). His third collection, Everything Bubbles to the Surface is due to be released once he takes a breath. 

Dian Sousa is a poet and activist. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals; most recently including The Prairie Schooner, The Banyan Review, Great Weather for Media, American Poetry Journal, The Gavea-Brown Journal of Portuguese American Poetry, and Margins/Margens: A Teaching Anthology of Portuguese Migrant and Ethnic Literature in North America. She has been nominated for two pushcart Prizes. She is the recipient of a Fellowship to the DISQUIET  Literary Program in Lisbon, Portugal. She is a former San Luis Obispo Poet Laureate. She’s the author of four books of poetry. She lives and surfs in Los Osos California.

Kevin Clark’s third volume of poems The Consecrations is published by Stephen F. Austin University Press. His second book Self-Portrait with Expletives won the Pleiades Press prize. Clark’s poetry appears in the Southern, Antioch, Georgia, and Iowa reviews, as well as Crazyhorse, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, Hotel Amerika, Poetry Northwest, etc. 

 

India:  Pankhuri Sinha  |  Ratan Ghosh  |  Prasanna K Kumar

Pankhuri Sinha is a bilingual poet, story writer and translator from India. Two poetry collections published in English, two story collections published in Hindi, six poetry collections published in Hindi, and many more are lined up. Has been published in many journals, anthologies, home and abroad. Has won many prestigious, national-international awards, like the Girija Kumar Mathur Award, Chitra Kumar Shailesh Matiyani Award, Seemapuri Times Rajeev Gandhi Excellence Award, First prize for poetry by Rajasthan Patrika, awards in Chekhov festival in Yalta and in Premio Besio Poetry competition in Italy, Sahitto award in Bangladesh, and Premio Galateo in Italy for poetry in mother tongue. Has been translated in over twenty seven languages. She has studied in Delhi University, Symbiosis Pune, SUNY Buffalo, and  the University of Calgary, Canada. She has worked in various positions as a journalist, lecturer and a content editor. Has done writing residencies in Hungary and Bulgaria, and attended the Tranas Literature Festival in Sweden.

Dr. Ratan Ghosh, PhD, an Associate Editor of an International Literary Journal entitled “THE MIRROR OF TIME” (ISSN-2320-012X), Free Lance Writer, Poet, Short Story Writer and a Novelist from India. His poems have been featured in many National and International Magazines, E- Journals, Journals and Paper-Back Anthologies across the globe. He is the state president of Paschim Banga English Academy, an International Literary Organization. He has published three International Books entitled: MY LOVE, THE WEEPING SOUL: SELECTED POEMS by Ratan Ghosh and QUOTABLE QUOTES.

Prasanna Kumar is a trilingual poet (English + Hindi+ Telugu) whose poetry appears in more than 20  National and International anthologies.A social worker by profession, Prasanna’ s poetry is translated into Arabic, Chinese, Hungarian,and assamese languages. Had a book to his credit “Pearl of Euphoria” co-written with Mari Felicis- Philippines.  He received many accolades from several poetry forums in Latin countries, France, Egypt, Morocco, Italy, and the US. He holds a Masters degree in Commerce and lives in Andhra Pradesh, India.

 

Rutherford NJ Red Wheelbarrow Poets:  Anton Yakovlev  |  Frank Rubino  |  Arthur Russell  |  Don Zirilli

Anton Yakovlev’s latest poetry chapbook is Chronos Dines Alone (SurVision Books, 2018), winner of the James Tate Prize. He is also the author of Ordinary Impalers (Kelsay Books, 2017) and two prior chapbooks. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The New Criterion, The Hopkins Review, upstreet, Poetry Daily, and elsewhere. His book of translations The Last Poet of the Village: Selected Poems by Sergei Yesenin came out from Sensitive Skin Books in 2019.

Frank Rubino co-hosts a poetry workshop and organizes readings at The Red Wheelbarrow Poets in Rutherford, New Jersey. Rubino’s poems have been published in Thimble, Chaleur, The Aesthetic Apostle, and DMQ Review, and he was the featured poet in The Red Wheelbarrow’s 2021 annual journal.

Arthur Russell is the winner of Brooklyn Poets Poem of the Year (2015) and a runner up for the same award in 2021. His poem “Jaime” placed second in the Allen Ginsberg Award (2021). For the Red Wheelbarrow Poets of Rutherford, NJ, he is the co-leader of the weekly workshop, co-director of the monthly reading series, and co-editor of the annual journal. His chapbook Unbent Trumpet was published by Nutley Arts Press (2017).  

Don Zirilli (zirealism.com) was a finalist for the James Tate Prize and a nominee for Best of the Net and the Forward Prize. He edited Now Culture and is on the board of Red Wheelbarrow Poets, Inc. His poetry was published in The 2River View, Anti- poetry magazine, ART TIMES, Nerve Lantern, Posit, River Styx, and other periodicals and anthologies. He and his wife live in a tranquil corner of New Jersey with two dogs and a cat. His chapbook Heaven’s Not For You was published in September 2018 by Kelsay Books.

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

Date: Saturday, December 10, 2022
Start Time: 12:00 pm EST
  • Cost: Free
Learn More

African American Voices Of Democracy: Intersection Of Contemporary African American Poetry And Hip Hop

As part of WWBA’s Intersections: African American Voices of Democracy Series, New York City-based performance poet Malik Work will offer an introduction to hip hop and perform his own works. In collaboration with Westbury High School, English Dept. Chair Dr. Nicolette James will coordinate with WWBA Trustee Dr. Susan Fishbein, working with students to create and perform their own hip hop poetry.

The Community is invited to perform their own hip hop poetry at the open mic.

Malik Work is a NYC based, born and raised actor-writer-musician. He is a founding member of The Real Live Show, a groundbreaking jazz/hip hop conglomerate. He’s written and performed a hip hop musical called Verses @ Work, a one-man show that toured last year with the Public Theater, and has garnered him a nomination for Best Solo Performance at the AUDELCO Awards. His recent television credits include Broad City on Comedy Central and Blacklist: Redemption on NBC. Malik is also the voice of Planet Word, an immersive museum of the English language in Washington D.C. He’s composed and performed poetry for Webby Award-winning project People Not Property, an historic preservation and educational website for Historic Hudson Valley. He’s recently created a film interpretation of the first published African-American writer Jupiter Hammon’s An Essay on Slavery. The piece is on exhibit at Preservation Long Island’s Joseph Lloyd Manor, which is recognized as a national Literary Landmark.

Register to come to the event: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1GYWV_IejXCGFCgb_Y7bNIORZbdcft_c1R21WM6HKlJk/edit

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81375087078

This event has a $5 suggested donation:

Sponsored by HNY SHARP Action Grant

Date: Saturday, November 12, 2022
Start Time: 6:00 pm EST
Suggested Donation: $ 5
Learn More

POETS BUILDING BRIDGES Boricua NYC, Costa Rica, NYC/.Brevitas

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.

Youtube Event Video 11/12/2022:  https://youtu.be/vmLUG5iFo_Y

Boricua NYC:  Vincent Toro  |  Ana Portnoy Brimmer  |  Malcolm Friend

Vincent Toro is the author of two poetry collections: Tertulia and Stereo.Island.Mosaic, which won the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award. Vincent is a recipient of the Caribbean Writer’s Cecile De Jongh Poetry Prize, the Spanish Repertory Theater’s Nuestras Voces Playwriting Award, a Poet’s House Emerging Poets Fellowship, a New York Council for the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, and a New Jersey State Council for the Arts Writer’s Fellowship. His poetry and prose have been published in dozens of magazines and journals and has been anthologized in Saul Williams’ CHORUS, Puerto Rico En Mi Corazon, Best American Experimental Writing 2015, and The Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. He is an Assistant Professor of English at Rider University, is a Dodge Foundation Poet, and is a contributing editor for Kweli Literary Journal. His third poetry book, HIVESTRUCK, is forthcoming from Penguin Random House in 2024.

Ana Portnoy Brimmer is a poet and organizer from Puerto Rico. She holds a BA and an MA  from the University of Puerto Rico, and is an alumna of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Rutgers University-Newark. To Love an Island, her debut poetry collection, was originally the winner of YesYes Books’ 2019 Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest. The Spanish edition is forthcoming from La Impresora. Ana is the winner of the 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest 2020, and was named one of Poets & Writers 2021 Debut Poets. She is the daughter of Mexican-Jewish immigrants, resides in Puerto Rico and finds hope in the poetics of dance parties and revolution. (es poeta y organizadora de Puerto Rico. Obtuvo su bachillerato y maestría de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, y es egresada del MFA en Escritura Creativa de Rutgers University-Newark. To Love an Island, su primera colección de poesía, fue originalmente ganadora del premio Vinyl 45 Chapbook Contest 2019 de YesYes Books. La edición en Español del libro está próxima a salir con La Impresora. Ana es ganadora del premio 92Y Discovery Poetry Contest 2020 y fue nombrada una de les Poets & Writers 2021 Debut Poets. Es hija de inmigrantes Mexicanxs-Judixs, reside en Puerto Rico y encuentra esperanza en la poética del bailoteo y la revolución.)

Malcolm Friend received his BA from Vanderbilt University, where he was the 2014 recipient of the Merrill Moore Prize for Poetry, and his MFA from the University of Pittsburgh. He is the author of the chapbook mxd kd mixtape and the full length collection Our Bruises Kept Singing Purple, selected by Cynthia Arrieu-King as winner of the 2017 Hillary Gravendyk Prize. He has received awards and fellowships from organizations including CantoMundo, Backbone Press, the Center for African American Poetry & Poetics, The Frost Place, and the University of Memphis. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in publications including La Respuesta magazine, the Fjords Review’s Black American Edition, Vinyl, Word Riot, The Acentos Review, Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, and Pretty Owl Poetry. He is a Poetry Editor for FreezeRay Poetry, and together with JR Mahung is a member of Black Plantains, an Afrocaribbean poetry collective. He currently lives and teaches in Austin.

Costa Rica: Maria Sucerquia  |  Marisa Russo  |  Nidia Martina Gonzalez  |  Luissiana Naranjo Abarca

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.

Marisa Russo (Buenos Aires, Argentina). Poet, editor, cultural manager and professor at Hunter College, City University of New York.  Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Hispano-American and Peninsular Literature at Hunter College of the City University of New York.Doctoral candidate at La Salle University in Education, Costa Rica. Founder of Turrialba Literaria. Executive Director and Founder of New York Poetry Press, Editor-in-Chief of New York Poetry Review. Her work has been translated into English and appears in several anthologies and literary magazines. Director of the New York City Latin American Poetry Festival and president of FIP Turrialba, Costa Rica, Publications: El idioma de los parques / The Language of the Parks (2018) Honorable Mention International Latino Book Awards – Best Poetry Book, Jardines Colganes (2020) and El cielo comienza en las raíces (2020) and Del libro de cuentos inventados por mamá: La joven ombú (2020).

Nidia Marina González Vásquez. Plastic artist, University of Costa Rica professor, and poet. She has exhibited artwork in mixed media, collage, drawing, and watercolor. Winner of poetry competitions. Included in: Antología de poetas ramonenses (Anthology of San Ramón Poets, 1990); Voces tatuadas, crónica de la poesía costarricense, 1970–2004 (Tattooed Voices, Chronicle of Costa Rican Poetry, 1970–2004, 2004); Sostener la palabra (Sustaining the Word, 2007); Mujeres poetas en el País de las Nubes (México)(Women Poets in the Land of Clouds, Mexico, 2008); Poesía del Encuentro (Poetry of the Encounter, 2010); Al hidalgo poeta (To the Noble Poet, XIX Meeting of Ibero-American Poets, Salamanca, 2017). Publications: Cuando nace el grito (When the Cry is Born, 1985); Brújula extendida (Extended Compass, 2013); Seres apócrifos (Apocryphal Beings, 2015); Objetos perdidos(Lost Objects, 2015); Bitácora de escritorio y otros viajes (Desktop Log and Other Journeys, 2016; La estática del fuego (The Static of Fire, 2019), Árbol de papel (Paper tree, 2019) Zurda (Left-handed, 2022) and Anamnesis (Anamnesis, 2022), winner of the Latin American poetry Fist Price Marta Eugenia Santamaría María Marín.

Luissiana Naranjo Abarca (1968) Costa Rica Poet and writer, editor, cultural promoter, workshop leader, Literary critic. Masters in  Educational Administration. Studied journalism, linguistics, and art. Founder of the Free words project to teach poetry to prisoners and former prisoners. Editor of literary publications for patients with cancer and children at high risk, on environmental conservation and mestization, promoted by PANIAMOR and UNESCO in the international year of peace. Author of educational texts Eduvision Publishing and children’s literature, with her poem “Blue Marble” for the EUNED Mapachin series. She has published five poetry books and has been translated and included in several Latin American anthologies. Currently, she organizes every year an international gathering named: The poet and the environment.

NYC/.Brevitas:  Ron Kolm  |  Austin Alexis  |  Amy Barone  |  Karen Neuberg

Ron Kolm is a contributing editor of Sensitive Skin. Ron is the author of Divine Comedy, Suburban Ambush, A Change in the Weather, Welcome to the Barbecue and Swimming in the Shallow End. He’s had work in The Café Review, Gathering of the Tribes, Great Weather for Media, Maintenant, Live Mag!, Local Knowledge, NYC From the Inside, the Poets of Queens anthology, The Red Wheelbarrow, the Riverside Poets Anthology, The Silver Tongued Devil anthology, Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts Omnibus and the Brownstone Poets anthologies. 

Austin Alexis is the author of the full-length collection Privacy Issues (Broadside Lotus Press, 2014, Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award) and two previously published chapbooks from Poets Wear Prada. He has work published in or scheduled to appear in Barrow Street, The Journal, Hawaii Pacific Review, Paterson Literary Review, The Pedestal Magazine, Plath Profiles, Mid-American Review, Poetica Review (UK), American Book Review, Poetry Pacific, Flash Boulevard, and elsewhere. He won Honorable Mention in the 2022 Writer’s Digest 91st Annual Writing Competition (playwriting category), and has received awards from Conceit Magazine, Great Weather for Media (flash fiction), and Vermont Studio Center.

Amy Barone’s new poetry collection, Defying Extinction, was published by Broadstone Books in 2022. New York Quarterly Books released her collection, We Became Summer, in 2018. She belongs to the Poetry Society of America and the Brevitas online poetry community. From Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, she lives in New York City.

Karen Neuberg is the author of the full-length poetry collection, PURSUIT (Kelsay Press) and three chapbooks including the elephants are asking (Glass Lyre). Her poems have appeared in several anthologies including I Wanna Be Loved By You: Poems on Marilyn Monroe, Great Weather for MEDIA’S 2020 anthology Escape Wheel, First Water: The Best of Pirene’s Fountain, A Slant of Light: Contemporary Women Writers of the Hudson Valley, and Child of My Child: Poems and Stories for Grandparents, as well as in numerous literary journals including Big City Lit, MAINTENANT 16 A Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing and Art, Nixes Mate, and Verse Daily. She holds an MFA from the New School, is associate editor of the online poetry journal First Literary Review-East, and lives in Brooklyn, NY.

For more information: https://waltwhitman.org/poets-building-bridges-boricua-nyc-costa-rica-nyc-brevitas

Zoom link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86820093771?pwd=aVZoWE94UGRXVGg2SS9xUFgvOGNDUT09

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

Date: Saturday, November 12, 2022
Start Time: 12:00 pm EST
  • Cost: Free
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Walking With Whitman – Live Poetry Reading with Writer-in-Residence George Wallace

Walt Whitman Birthplace Association (WWBA) presents  Poetry in Performance: Walking With Whitman, hosted by Writer-in-Residence George Wallace. The signature series, now in its 12th season, continues to bring the most intriguing figures in contemporary literature on the national scene paired with local poets on the Walt Whitman Stage. Join us for this season’s last Walking With Whitman on Friday, November 4th. It will feature Judy Turek, author of 24 in 24, Midnight on the Eve of Never, B is for Betwixt and Between, A is for Almost Anything, Imagistics, and They Come And They Go.  The evening will also feature an open mic.  Join us for this exciting event!

J R (Judy) Turek, Walt Whitman Birthplace 2019 Long Island Poet of the Year, Superintendent of Poetry for the LI Fair, 2020 Hometown Hero by the East Meadow Herald, Bards Laureate 2013-2015, is an internationally published poet, translated into Korean, Romanian, French, and Italian; editor, workshop leader, and 25 years as Moderator of the Farmingdale Creative Writing Group; she has 2 Pushcart Prize nominations and recipient of the Conklin Prize For Poetry. She was named a 2017 NYS Woman of Distinction.  She is the author of 24 in 24, Midnight on the Eve of Never, B is for Betwixt and Between, A is for Almost Anything, Imagistics, and They Come And They Go.  For many years she has been a key organizational force in regional poetry.  She hosts two events per month for Performance Poets Association (PPA); she’s the 1st Associate Editor for The North Sea Poetry Scene, PPA, and The Bards Initiative; she was the face of Princess Ronkonkoma Productions for 16 years. 2021 was her 17th consecutive year writing at least a poem a day, ending the year with 487 new poems.  J R, The Purple Poet, lives on Long Island with her soul-mate husband, Paul, her dogs, and her extraordinarily extensive shoe collection. msjevus@optonline.net

No registration is required, there is a $10 entry fee for this event that will be collected at the door.

Refreshments will be served.

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 the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and is administered by The Huntington Arts Council, Inc., Poets and Writers, and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

 

Date: Friday, November 4, 2022
Start Time: 7:00 pm EST
$10 entry fee collected at the door
Learn More

African American voices for democracy: intersection of community and literary voices

As part of our Intersections: African American Voices of Democracy Series, WWBA reprises the successful Favorite Poem Project created by US Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. Community members of all ages are invited to bring and read their favorite African American poetry. Additionally, WWBA Trustee Dr. Susan Fishbein coordinates with Dr. Nicolette James, the chair of Westbury High School’s English Department, to work with students who will read and offer comments about African American poetry. Lorraine Currelley emcees the afternoon.

Submit your favorite African American poem:  Poems will be randomly selected at the event and you may have the opportunity to read your poem. 15 poems will be selected, you must be here in person to do a reading.

 

Submit your poem:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1J6w2GUSgk5IUHFl1SAG_Md-I6nOc7bYHrHWfJLb1YYY/edit

Lorraine Currelley, poet, spoken word artist, Bronx Beat Poet Laureate 2020-2022 State of New York, multi-genre writer, Pearls of Wisdom storyteller, educator, art/literary curator and visual artist. Widely anthologized in numerous publications. The executive director for Poets Network & Exchange a multi-award winning literary organization, where she curates and produces featured poetry, spoken word readings, writing workshops, panel discussions, an open mic, a blog and a scholar lecture series. In 2017 she made herstory becoming the first female executive director for the Bronx Book Fair, the premiere and largest literary event in the Bronx.  She has curated exhibits for Mom Egg Review (VOX), Studio Theater in Exile and Hudson Valley MOCA among others. She is a board member at Pen to Mind Books & Child Development, Concepts Inc. and Blind Beggar Press Inc. and adviser for Writing for Peace. She has an MS in Mental Health Counseling, a graduate certificate in Thanatology (grief & bereavement). A former chaplain, she writes and works to change the present negative societal image and narrative on aging and mental health to a healthy paradigm on mental health, age and ageing. She resides in New York City. https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/lorraine_currelley

Register for the event: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1n7wV5F-wQdsNfbhPRwNaX57xrX8C8iBzWU0_Ms-FDoU/edit

Zoom link to view event: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83726065951

This event has a $5 suggested donation:
https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/2197152

Sponsored by HNY SHARP Action Grant

Date: Sunday, October 16, 2022
Start Time: 1:30 pm EST
Suggested Donation: $ 5
Learn More
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