Poet David Daniel Sunday April 14, 2021

 

David Daniel is the author of Seven-Star Bird, from Graywolf Press, winner of the Levis Reading Prize, and his new collection, Ornaments, in the Pitt Poetry Series. Critic Harold Bloom has called him “an authentic heir to Hart Crane” and poet Tom Sleigh writes that “No one in any generation is writing poems that are like this: smart, visceral, immensely pleasurable to read.” Former long-time poetry editor of Ploughshares, Daniel founded and produces WAMFEST: The Words and Music Festival, which has brought together Bruce Springsteen with Robert Pinsky, Rosanne Cash with C. D. Wright, Talib Kweli with Quincy Troupe, along with over forty major artists for collaborative performances and conversations. He’s been on the Core Faculty of the Bennington Writing Seminars, and he teaches creative writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University. He lives in Belmont, Massachusetts.

Doug Holder Interviews Poet Gary Margolis--Dec, 2020

 

Gary Margolis is the author of four poetry books: Raking the Winter Leaves: New and Selected Poems (Bauhan Publishing, 2013); Fire in the Orchard (Autumn House Press, 2002), which was nominated for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for poetry; Falling Awake (University of Georgia Press, 1986); and The Day We Still Stand Here (University of Georgia Press, 1983).

A Robert Frost Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and a recipient of a Vermont Council on the Arts award, Margolis has published his poems in Poetry, American Scholar, Poetry Northwest, and other literary magazines.

A licensed psychologist, Margolis is the former executive director of counseling and former associate professor of English at Middlebury College in Vermont. He lives in Cornwall, Vermont, where he is a volunteer firefighter.

Interview with Boston Playwright Debra Wiess

 

Debbie Wiess is a Boston-based writer, who writes in French and English. She has created a wide variety of projects for stage and screen, poetry and short stories, in both languages. Her work has been presented throughout the US and abroad, in traditional theaters and alternative venues (including in a moving trolley during the Somerville Open Studios several years ago), as well as on cable, radio and the internet. Many of her poems have been published. She is a proud member of the Bagel Bards and has had work included in its Anthology since joining the group in 2012.

Friday July 31 3PM writer Jacques Fleury

Jacques Stanley Fleury is a Haitian-American Poet, Author and Educator. He holds an undergraduate degree in Liberal Arts and currently pursuing graduate studies in the literary arts at Harvard University online. Once on the editing staff of The Watermark, a literary magazine at the University of Massachusetts, his first book Sparks in the Dark: A Lighter Shade of Blue, A Poetic Memoir was featured in and endorsed by the Boston Globe. His second book: It's Always Sunrise Somewhere and Other Stories is a collection of short fictional stories dealing with the human condition as the characters navigate life's foibles and is featured on Good Reads. His current book and hitherto magnum opus Chain Letter to America: The One Thing You Can Do to End Racism, A Collection of Essays, Fiction and Poetry Celebrating Multiculturalism explores xenophobia in America and is available at The Harvard Book Store, Barnes and Noble and Amazon. His work has been published by Poets Reading The News, Oddball Magazine, The Boston Haitian Reporter, Spare Change News, The Somerville Times, Patch News, Boston Events Insider, The International Network of Street Newspapers (INSP) reaching over 120 countries and languages, 'HOME Anthology' edited by Anne Brudevold of Eden Waters Press and the Cornell University Press anthology 'Class Lives: Stories from across Our Economic Divide' edited by Chuck Collins et al. He was the Official Poet for the Annual Urban Walk for Haiti and has made personal appearances at many Boston and Cambridge area venues including Harvard amf North Eastern Universities  and many others. His Cd A Lighter Shade of Blue as a lyrics writer in collaboration with the neo-folk musical group Sweet Wednesday is available on Amazon, iTunes & Spotify to benefit Haitian charity St. Boniface. He is Cantabrigian living in the great state of Massachusetts.  

Guest: Poet Steve Ablon Feb 18 5PM

Steven Ablon

see it live at  http://somervillemedia.org at 5PM

Steven Ablon is a psychiatrist whose main purpose as a poet is( in his words) “to break your heart.” Ablon, a Harvard Medical School faculty member who is well-seasoned in the practice of psychoanalysis, is acquainted with heart break. In his poetry he wants his words to be strongly evocative. He wants to reach the reader on a visceral level.  We will discuss his latest collection of poetry,  Dinner in the Garden.

Poet Brad Rose on Poet to Poet Nov. 19 5PM

 

Poet Brad Rose

see the show live at 5PM  http://sommedia.org



 Brad Rose was born and raised in Los Angeles and lives in Boston. Brad is a sociologist, and is the author of a collection of poetry and flash fiction, Pink X-Ray (Big Table Publishing, 2015,  http://pinkx-ray.com and Amazon.com.) Brad has three forthcoming books of poems: Momentary Turbulence and WordinEdgeWise, from Cervena Barva Press, and de/tonations from Nixes Mate Press. He is also the author of five chapbooks of poetry and flash fiction. Four times nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and twice nominated for Best of the Net Anthology, his poetry and micro fiction have appeared in, The Los Angeles Times, The American Journal of Poetry, Clockhouse, Hunger Mountain, Folio, decomP, Lunch Ticket, The Baltimore Review, Cultural Weekly, Into the Void, and other publications. His story, “Desert Motel,” appears in the anthology Best Microfiction, 2019.  Brad’s website is: www.bradrosepoetry.com Selected readings can be heard at https://soundcloud.com/bradrose1 A list of publications is available at: http://bradrosepoetry.com/2019/03/a-list-of-publications/

Oct. 1, 2019 5PM Michael C. Keith author of Stories: In the Key of Me

see it live at 5PM at   http://somervillemedia.org

In the tradition of the of the classic short stories of Lydia Davis, Kurt Vonnegut, and Joy Williams, this singular collection explores the full range of human experience and behavior . . . both good and bad. At once compelling and provocative, Keith's writing takes the reader to places that only a truly vivid and original imagination could. Frequently disquieting in theme and plot, the stories within these covers invariably contain meaningful truths and lessons, and just as frequently do so in an uproariously humorous and deeply compassionate manner.

Poet Ravi Teja Yelamanchili May 21, 2019 5PM

see it live at  http://somervillemedia.org

                                    Ravi Teja Yelamanchili 

Ravi Teja Yelamanchili is currently working at Vision33 as a Technical Business Analyst. His writing has previously been published in the Muddy River Poetry Review, the Somerville Times, Sahitya Akademi’s Indian Literature, Muse India, and several other journals. He also won the Boston Mayor’s Poetry Program Contest, and the University of Pittsburgh Undergraduate Poetry Contest.

Poet George Ellenbogen Nov. 6, 2018, 5PM

George Ellenbogen

See it live at 5PM  http://scatvsomerville.org

George Ellenbogen, a native of Montreal, Canada, studied literature at McGill University and Tufts University in Massachusetts. Between degrees, he worked in the Arctic and lived for extended periods in Mexico and in England. Until his retirement in 2004, he taught poetry at Bentley College in Massachusetts. His poems have appeared in several anthologies and in magazines such as The Literary Review, Partisan Review, Boulevard, Revue Europe and Queen’s Quarterly as well as in the following collections of his work:

• Winds of Unreason (1957)
• The Night Unstones (1971)
• Along the Road from Eden (1989)
• The Rhino Gate Poems (1995)
• Portes aux rhinos et autres poemes (1997)
• Winterfischer (2002)
• Morning Gothic (2007)
• Matin d’horreur (2008)

Most recently he has published a memoir of his childhood and adolescence in Montreal’s Jewish district, A Stone in My Shoe: In Search of Neighborhood (Vehicule, 2013).
Ellenbogen’s work has been supported by the Whiting Foundation, the Montalvo Foundation, the Karolyi Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Canadian Department of External Affairs, Gesellschaft fur Kanada Studien, the Canada Council, United States Information Service, and Canadian International Cultural Relations. He has read his poems on both sides of the Atlantic, was featured in a 1990 documentary, “George Ellenbogen: Canadian Poet in America,” and in a graduate dissertation,“Postmodernism and the Travel Motif in the Poetry of Adrienne Rich and George Ellenbogen” (Brigitta Wallenberg, University of Salzburg). He is also one of several poets featured in Jean Tobin’s Creativity and the Poetic Mind (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2004).

Oct. 2, 2018. Poet, Cook, Entrepreneur -- Joshua Lewin

Josh Lewin

Joshua Lewin is a cook, entrepreneur, and storyteller, who mixes technique and mediums into a unique and immersive experience, whether at the table, on the page, or beyond. 

Exploring new styles of narrative through poetry, prose, and mixed media applications, Lewin also owns and operates Juliet, with Katrina Jazayeri. Juliet is home to Somerville’s most unique dining experience, open morning through night, showcasing a combination of culinary and service excellence alongside bold storytelling, and trailblazing a new paradigm of supportive and professional restaurant careers. 

In addition to Doug Holder's locally focussed poetry columns for The Somerville Times and online, Lewin’s writing has appeared in EATER Boston, Chefs Feed, The Huffington Post, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, Food Arts, and more, as well as in the print publication, a combination of literary journal and food interest magazine, Of Juliet, produced by the team of the restaurant since January 2018. 


see the show live at 5PM on http://scatvsomerville.org

Novelist Beth Castrodale Feb 27 5PM

Novelist Beth Castrodale

Beth Castrodale’s début novel, Marion Hatley, was a finalist for a Nilsen Prize for a First Novel from Southeast Missouri State University Press, and it was published by Garland Press in 2017. Garland will also be publishing Beth’s latest novel, In This Ground, in 2018. Beth recommends literary fiction on her website SmallPressPicks.com, and she has published stories in such journals as Printer’s Devil Review, The Writing Disorder, and Mulberry Fork Review. She lives in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts.

see it live at  5PM:  http://scatvsomerville.org

Poet Allen West -Oct 17, 2017 5PM

Allen West's sense of loss informs the elegies in Allen West’s new poetry collection, Keeping Night at Bay, is countered by the tenderness they express, the beauty of their lines, and the resilience with which the poet continues to sing.  These are deeply personal poems and at the same time deeply universal in their humanity, allusiveness, and the exquisite way they intertwine with the poet’s Chinese translations accompanied by Gundi Chan’s original calligraphy.  Seldom do we encounter work that is as unabashedly emotional as the poems in Keeping Night at Bay, while also displaying such rare intelligence.  

     
Allen West was born in Beirut, Lebanon in 1930, and came to the U.S. with his family after the 1941 invasion of Greece by Germany. Educated at Phillips Academy and Princeton University, he served three years in the U.S. Army, then earned a PhD in chemistry from Cornell University in 1960.  He taught at Williams College and Lawrence University until 1994, when he and his wife Emily moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. While there he was a tutor at Cambridge Rindge & Latin High School and a volunteer at Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. His wife died in 1999, his son in 2014. He has two daughters and three grandchildren. Since 2007 he has lived in Lexington, Massachusetts.  He began writing poetry in 1983, was a runner-up for the 1992 Grolier Poetry Prize, and won the 2000 chapbook competition of the White Eagle Coffee Store Press, which published The Time of Ripe Figs in 2002.  His full-length poetry collection, Beirut Again, was published in 2010 by Off the Grid Press

Poet Kate Hanson Foster: Aug 8 5PM Poet to Poet SMC TV

Kate Hanson Foster

 

 

Author's Bio

Kate Hanson Foster's first book of poems, Mid Drift, was published by Loom Press and was a finalist for the Massachusetts Center for the Book Award in 2011. Her poetry has appeared in Comstock Review, Harpur Palate, Poet Lore, Tupelo Quarterly and elsewhere. She was recently awarded the NEA Parent Fellowship through the Vermont Studio Center. She can be found on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/khansonfoster and Twitter https://twitter.com/khansonfoster

May 9 5PM Poet Wendy Drexler

 

Poet Wendy Drexler

 see it live at 5PM  at  http://scatvsomerville.org




Wendy Drexler’s third poetry collection, Before There Was Before, was just published by Iris Press in April 2017. She is the author of Western Motel (Turning Point, 2012), and a chapbook, Drive-ins, Gas Stations, the Bright Motels (Pudding House, 2007), which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her poems have appeared in Barrow Street, Ibbetson Street, Nimrod, Off the Coast, Prairie Schooner, Salamander, The Mid-American Review, The Hudson Review, The Worcester Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, and other journals; featured on Verse Daily and WBUR’s Cognoscenti; and in the anthologies Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust and Burning Bright: Passager Celebrates 21 Years. A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, she grew up Denver, Colorado, and now lives in Belmont, Massachusetts, with her husband. She is a free-lance editor and has been a poetry editor and a cavity-nest monitor for the Massachusetts Audubon Society. In 2016 she co-authored her first children’s book, Buzz, Ruby, and Their City Chicks.

Journalist, Memorist, Novelist, Dan Gewertz Dec 10, 2013 5PM

Dan Gewertz

Daniel Gewertz made a living as a Boston-based freelance journalist for 28 years, writing largely about music, theater and movies. From 1995 to 2005, he wrote a weekly Boston Herald column on folk and blues music. Over the years, Gewertz has written for periodicals ranging from Harvard Magazine, Boston Globe Magazine and  New York Times, to the Cambridge Chronicle and The Tab.  

In the last 10 years, Daniel turned his attentions toward more creative writing, namely personal essays, short memoir pieces, story-telling and fiction. Recently, he completed his first novel, "Ghost To Genius." He frequently performs his work on stage.  He has taught writing at Cambridge Center for Adult Ed.,, Brookline Center for Adult Ed., Lesley University and Bay State Community College. He holds a B.S. from Boston University in journalism. Or rather, he keeps it in a bottom bureau drawer

Poet and bon vivant Steve Glines April 14 2009 5PM

My guest:

April 14, 2009: Steve Glines, in addition to being the editor of Wilderness House Literary Review, is an essayist, journalist, storyteller, occasional poet and bon vivant. His motto is, “The best is barely good enough.” Steve has published six books, only one of which might be considered even remotely “literary,” a travelogue about Fiji. He has been published in Ibbetson Review, the Belmont Citizen, the Littleton Independent, Unix Review, Technology Review and the Boston Globe among others. He has never been published in the Paris Review, the AntiochReview, Crazyhorse, The Atlantic Monthly and the Kenyon Review. To these awesome credentials it should be added that he has never received a McArthur Award nor been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Still, for some reason, people like what he writes and, on occasion, even pay him for it.