2018 Massachusetts Poetry Festival: Full Schedule

10 YEARS OF MASS POETRY!

Our 2018 headliners: Sonia Sanchez · Kaveh Akbar · Duy Doan · Jeffrey Harrison · Dorianne Laux · Erika Meitner · Carl Phillips · Nicole Sealey · Sean Thomas Dougherty · Rhina P. Espaillat

Purchase your button today at masspoetry.org/festival2018!

12:15pm EDT

Headline Reading-Kaveh Akbar and Nicole Sealey

Limited Capacity filling up

Join us for an afternoon reading with two of the most engaging poets writing today, Kaveh Akbar and Nicole Sealey, with an opening reading by Mass Poetry 2018 Festival Reading Contest winner Hannah Larrabee.

Speakers

Kaveh Akbar

Kaveh Akbar's poems appear recently in The New Yorker, Poetry, The New York Times, The Nation, and elsewhere. His first book, Calling a Wolf a Wolf, is just out with Alice James in the US and Penguin in the UK. He is also the author of the chapbook Portrait of the Alcoholic. The recipient... Read More →

Hannah Larrabee

Nicole Sealey

Born in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. and raised in Apopka, Florida, Nicole Sealey is the author of Ordinary Beast and The Animal After Whom Other Animals Are Named, winner of the 2015 Drinking Gourd Chapbook Poetry Prize. Her other honors include an Elizabeth George Foundation Grant, the Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize from The American Poetry Review, a Daniel Varoujan Award and the Poetry International Prize, as well as fellowships from Cant... Read More →

Saturday May 5, 2018 12:15pm - 1:15pm EDT
PEM Morse Auditorium

Headline Event

2:00pm EDT

Headline Reading - Duy Doan, Jeffery Harrison, and Erika Meitner

Limited Capacity seats available

Join us for an afternoon headline event with Duy Doan, Jeffery Harrison, and Erika Meitner

Speakers

Duy Doan

Duy Doan is the author of We Play a Game, winner of the 2017 Yale Series of Younger Poets (Yale University Press 2018). His work has appeared in Poetry, Poetry Northwest, Slate, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. A Kundiman fellow, he received an MFA in poetry from Boston University.

Jeffrey Harrison

Jeffrey Harrison is the author of five full-length books of poetry, including THE SINGING UNDERNEATH, selected by James Merrill for the National Poetry Series in 1987; FEEDING THE FIRE, winner of the Sheila Motton Award from the New England Poetry Club in 2002; INCOMPLETE KNOWLEDGE... Read More →

Erika Meitner

Erika Meitner is the author of Inventory at the All-Night Drugstore (Anhinga Press, 2003), Makeshift Instructions for Vigilant Girls (Anhinga Press, 2011), and Ideal Cities (Harper Perennial, 2010), which was a 2009 National Poetry series winner. Her fourth book of poems, Copia, was... Read More →

Saturday May 5, 2018 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
PEM Morse Auditorium

Headline Event

11:30am EDT

The Edna Project

Limited Capacity seats available

The words of poet Edna St. Vincent Millay find new life in an eclectic, sublimely musical melding of folk, bluegrass, rock and jazz. The brainchild of singer/songwriter Liz Queler (guitar/mandolin) and her pianist/husband Seth Farber, this musical team boasts eight Grammy nominations between them. Rounding out the trio on bass, cajon and vocals, is their 18 year old son, Berklee College of Music freshman, Joey. With individual credits including appearances at Newport Folk Festival and Carnegie Hall (Liz), Saturday Night Live (Joey) and the conducting podium of numerous Broadway shows (Seth) - their family band presents a truly unique sound and soul. Heavy on harmonies with influences from Appalachia, bluegrass and gospel, their music is infused with a rock sensibility, creating a soulful cross between Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Emmylou Harris and John Mayer. https://soundcloud.com/liz-queler/sets/the-edna-project

Speakers

Joey Farber

Liz Queler

Liz QUeler / The Edna Project

I'm a singer/songwriter from NYC. Looking for some inspiration to break a spell of songwriter's block, I reached for a book of poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Two CDs and a theater piece later, her words have taken me from the Newport Folk Festival to Lincoln Center.

Sunday May 6, 2018 11:30am - 12:30pm EDT
PEM Morse Auditorium

Poetry with Music

1:00pm EDT

Reading with Martha Collins, Joan Houlihan, and Ellen Dore Watson

Limited Capacity seats available

You won't want to miss this reading featuring poets Martha Collins, Joan Houlihan, and Ellen Dore Watson.

Moderators

Joan Houlihan

Joan Houlihan’s most recent book of poetry is Shadow-feast (Four Way Books, March, 2018). Her four previous books of poetry include The Mending Worm (2006), winner of the Green Rose Award from New Issues Press; The Us (Tupelo Press, 2009), named a 2009 must-read by the Massachusetts... Read More →

Sunday May 6, 2018 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
PEM Morse Auditorium

Group Reading

2:30pm EDT

The Shakespeare Time-Traveling Speakeasy

Limited Capacity seats available

Close out the 2018 festival with Shakespeare's Speakeasy!

The Shakespeare Time-Traveling Speakeasy is a musical and literary concert focusing on the background, mysteries, works and impact of William Shakespeare. The Speakeasy uses American musical forms (blues, jazz, hiphop, country, etc…) as backdrop for stories, poems, songs and humor relating to “the Cat from Strat” (Stratford upon Avon, that is). Imagine a walking-tour through 16th century London narrated in “beat poet” style. Or, an Elizabethan sonnet liberated from the cage of its page and soulfully sang. Or, picture a verbal smackdown between characters from Shakespeare’s plays that you, as a member of the audience, will get to judge! Whether you are scholar or novice, student or teacher, Shakespeare lover or loather, the Shakespeare Time-Traveling Speakeasy will engage you and give you a new appreciation for “The Bard.”

Speakers

Regie Gibson

Literary performer, Regie Gibson has performed, taught, & lectured at schools, universities, theaters, & other venues around the world. He’s a Brother Thomas Fellow & has received several Mass Cultural Council Awards, two Live Arts Boston Grants to develop his first play, The Juke... Read More →

Sunday May 6, 2018 2:30pm - 3:30pm EDT
PEM Morse Auditorium

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