March 29th 5PM Poet Sergio Inestrosa

Sergio Inestrosa received his PhD in Literature from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, Mexico in 1998. Sergio was a Jesuit student for 8 years in Central America, living in El Salvador, Panama and Nicaragua. While in El Salvador he studied with Ignacio Ellacuria, a well known Jesuit scholar who was killed in 1988 by the military. When Professor Inestrosa returned to Mexico, he studied to receive a Masters in Communication and became a professor and researcher in the Communication field. He has presented many research papers in Mexico, Latin America, USA and Asia, and has published 6 books in Mexico. In 1999 he taught Spanish at the Estrella Mountain College in Avondale, Arizona, and in 2000 he conducted Postdoctoral research at Harvard, focusing on the works of Octavio Paz. Since coming to Endicott, Professor Inestrosa has been teaching Spanish and Mexican Culture and has been busy organizing a Spanish Cine Club on campus. He has also developed the Spanish minor and designed many new courses, including Spanish for Professionals, Spanish Cinema, Spanish Translation, Spanish Composition, Latin American History and Culture, and a Latin American literature course. Professor Inestrosa loves to read, write, meet people, learn new languages, cook, and play soccer. He is married and has two children.
Sergio Inestrosa's area of expertise includes: US/Mexico relations. His recent collection of poetry is Los Bordes del Placer

March 15, 2016 Poet, Musician, artist Gilmore Tamny

 

Gilmore Tamny

Gilmore Tamny is an writer, poet, artist, and musician living in Somerville, MA. She's been working on the drawing series Lines, Dots, Circles for the last several years and utilizing both right and left hand has now amassed in in the neighborhood of 450 drawings. In the 90’s she was in the band The Yips which released three full length records. Weather Weapon, her current band, released Weather Weapon on bandcamp in March 2015. She received an MFA from Emerson College in 2002. She has a story in Madison Smartt Bell’s Narrative Design, essays in Not A Rose by Heide Hatry and The Dan Clowes Reader. Her poetry, artwork and short fiction has appeared in various literary magazines. Her novel My Days with Millicent is being serialized online at Ohioedit. She was Somerville's (MA) November 2014 Artist of the Month. She is a committed artiste, feminist, rawk fan, old master painting junkie and audio book listener.

March 1, 2016 5PM Poet, publisher of Salamander Magazine: Jennifer Barber

Jennifer Barber

Jennifer Barber grew up in the Boston area, where she loved gymnastics and modern dance, and graduated as an English major from Colby College in Maine. She studied Old and Middle English at Oxford University and Québécois poetry in Montreal on a Watson Fellowship. She received her M.F.A. in poetry from Columbia University. Having worked in textbook publishing for several years in New York and Boston, she now teaches literature and creative writing at Suffolk University as a scholar in residence. Her books are Works on Paper (The Word Works, 2016, winner of the 2015 Tenth Gate Prize); Given Away (Kore Press, 2012); and Rigging the Wind (Kore Press, 2003, winner of the 2002 Kore First Book Prize). Her poetry has appeared in Agni, the Georgia Review, the Gettysburg Review, Ibbetson Street, Orion, the New Yorker, Poetry, Poetry Daily, Post Road, and elsewhere. Her husband is the fiction writer and translator Peter Brown and she has two children, Jeff, age 27; and Zoe, age 17.

Feb 22, 2016 5PM Michael C. Keith author of "Bits, Specks, Crumbs, Flecks"

Michael C. Keith

 Michael C. Keith is the author of over 20 books (mostly on media topics) and many articles and short stories. In 2003 his memoir, The Next Better Place, was published by Algonquin Books and received high praise from critics. Keith teaches Communication at Boston College and is the recipient of numerous awards for his scholarship in radio studies. We will be talking about Keith's latest collection of short, short fiction " Bits, Specks, Crumbs and Flecks."

Feb 16, 2016 4PM Poet Bridgit Brown

 



Bridgit Brown is a native of Boston and a graduate of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Emerson College. Bridgit has freelanced as a writer and her work has appeared in a number of publications, including the Boston Globe, Herald, Bay State Banner, Color Magazine, WGBH Arts, Huffington Post, and Ibbetson Street Magazine. She is a recipient of the Nadia Aisenberg Poetry Award from the Writers Room of Boston and a Fulbright Lecturing and Research Award. This spring, Bridgit will release her first book of poems, Singsongs, via Ibbetson Street Press. Singsongs, according to Bridgit, captures her life experiences in poetry and song.

Jan 19, 2016 Archivist/ Poet Paige Roberts 5PM

Paige Roberts  Poet and Archivist at Phillips Academy

Jan 12, 2012 Sydney Adams

Behind the scenes, high on the fifth floor of the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library (OWHL), is a vast collection peppered with relics from Andover’s past. As students pass unwittingly in the lower levels of the stacks, Garver Room and the OWHL lobby, leadership of this invaluable collection, the Phillips Academy Archives, has changed hands.

On January 3, 2012 Dr. Paige Roberts succeeded Timothy Sprattler as the School Archivist.
Andover’s archives hold several pieces of the school’s history, with articles ranging from early land deeds and financial records to old fire buckets from the former campus fire station.

As the School Archivist, Roberts will be in charge of sorting, organizing and digitizing these mementos from Andover’s history.

Elizabeth Tully, Director of the OWHL, said, “Paige is poised to lead the Archive as we plan for an increasingly integrated digital future.”


Beyond her proficiency in organizing and preserving records, Roberts was selected because of her potential to “engage with the curriculum and prepare materials and activities to support original archival research by students.”

Roberts has also been named the Associate Director of the OWHL, a position which extends her duties to other portions of the library.

Roberts brings classroom experience to the position, having served as an instructor of American Studies at the University of Southern Maine (USM). At USM, Roberts helped provide references to scholars and design archiving spaces for institutions.

Throughout her professional years, Roberts has developed new archival techniques to increase the accessibility and vitality of the archived collections. While she was the director of the Beverly Historical Society, she developed “model archival collaborations” which allowed for the exchange of materials between schools and public libraries.

Roberts also served as the head of special collections at the State Library of Massachusetts in Boston, an archivist at Springfield College, Director of the Beverly Historical Society and will soon be the President of the New England Archivists.

To reduce the time it would take for Roberts to adjust to Andover and the OWHL, Sprattler spent his final months as School Archivist orchestrating an enormous renovation of the school’s archives. Just a week into her position, Roberts has been able to successfully navigate through the historical resources.

Roberts received a B.A. from Bates College in Political Science, a MLS from Simmons College concentrating in archives management, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from George Washington University with an emphasis in New England culture

Alexis Ivy Jan 12, 2016

 

Poet Alexis Ivy

Alexis Ivy is an educator of high-risk populations in her hometown, Boston.  Her most recent poems have appeared in Main Street Rag, Off The Coast, Spare Change News, Tar River Poetry, The Santa Fe Literary Review, Eclipse, Yellow Medicine Review, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, J Journal and upcoming in The Worcester Review.  Her first poetry collection, Romance with Small-Time Crooks was published in 2013 by BlazeVOX [books].  She is  finding a home for her next collection, Taking the Homeless Census which has been a runner-up for University of Wisconsin's Brittingham & Felix Pollack Prize.  

Dec 8, 2015 5PM Richard Fox

Richard Fox

Richard H. Fox was born and bred in Worcester MA. He attended Webster University, as much artist colony as college, in the early 1970’s. These diverse cultures shaped his world view and love of words. He is a former President of Poetry Oasis, Inc., a non-profit poetry association dedicated to education and promoting local poets, and was Managing Editor of its journal Diner. Richard’s poems have appeared in numerous journals including Above Place, Boston Literary Magazine, OVS, Poetry Quarterly, Midstream Magazine, and Worcester Review. He is the author of two poetry collections: Time Bomb (2013) and wandering in puzzle boxes (2015). A cancer survivor, many of Richard’s poems focus on cancer from the patient’s point of view drawing on hope, humor, and unforeseen gifts. He seconds Stanley Kunitz’ motion that people in Worcester are “provoked to poetry.”

 

Dec 1, 2015 5PM Poet, Writer, Editor Laurette Folk

Laurette Folk received a semifinalist nomination and “Noted Writer” award from the Boston Fiction Festival and has been published in upstreet, The Boston Globe Magazine, Literary Mama, Narrative Northeast, Italian Americana, Talking Writing, among others. Ms. Folk is a graduate of the Vermont College MFA in Writing program and teaches at North Shore Community College.

Poet Laurin Macios Nov 3 5PM

Laurin Macios

Laurin Macios directs Mass Poetry’s programs, including Student Day of Poetry, Poetry on the T, Common Threads, U35, and Professional Development, and manages the crew of dedicated volunteers and interns who help make Mass Poetry run smoothly. She holds an MFA from the University of New Hampshire, where she taught on fellowship for three years, and has a background in publishing. Her publications and other personal poetic happenings can be found at www.laurinbeckermacios.com.

Laurin Becker Macios was born in Miami, Florida and raised just short of everywhere (Florida, Germany, North Carolina, Colorado, and Holland). She holds an MFA in Creative Writing Poetry from the University of New Hampshire and is Program Director of Mass Poetry. She previously worked in publishing and taught writing courses at UNH. She lives in Boston with six plants and one wicked awesome husband.

Thomas Lyons--Owner of the New England Mobile Book Fair Tues Oct 13, 2015

Thomas Lyons ( Owner of the New England Mobile Book Fair)

Thomas Lyons, the former insurance executive bought New England Mobile Book Fair (NEMBF), the largest independent bookstore in New England. From the parking lot, the squat cinderblock building nestled in a commercial strip in Newton Highlands, looks unremarkable. But step inside to a bibliophile’s dream. Its 32,000 square feet (more warehouse than shop around the corner) is piled floor to ceiling with books. Classics. Best sellers. Remainders and picture books. NEMBF, which is neither mobile nor a fair, is so named because the first lot of books was bought from a woman who sold books out of her car at school book fairs. With the books came the name, and it stayed. More than half a century later, the store still offers discounts to schools and libraries, and the less than accurate name has long been just one of the store’s endearing peculiarities. Until recently, all of the books (yes, one million plus) were arranged by publisher rather than by genre, as is done in the vast majority of bookstores.

Poet Mary Buchinger Oct 6, 2015

  Poet Mary Buchinger

Mary Buchinger’s poems have appeared in numerous journals including AGNI, Booth, Cortland Review, DIAGRAM, Fifth Wednesday, Ibbetson Street, New Madrid, Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry, Slice Magazine, The Massachusetts Review; her work also has been published internationally—in Canada, England, France, Germany, Sweden, and The Netherlands. She has read her work locally in Cambridge and Boston, as well as in Amsterdam and at the Library of Congress. Mary was the recipient of both the Daniel Varoujan Award, judged by Marge Piercy, and the Firman Houghton Award from the New England Poetry Club. Her collection, Roomful of Sparrows (2008), was a semi-finalist in the New Women’s Voices Series.

Mary Buchinger (Bodwell) holds a doctorate in Applied Linguistics from Boston University and is Associate Professor of English and Communication Studies at MCPHS University in Boston. More about where she has published poetry can be found in the Poets & Writers Directory:http://www.pw.org/content/mary_buchinger.

Sept 25, 2015 5PM Poet Christopher Reilley

Poet Christopher Reilley

Christopher Reilley is the current poet laureate of Dedham, MA and founder of the Dedham Poet Society and a contributing editor of Acoustic Ink. He is the author of Grief Tattoos, and the upcoming One Night Stanza from Big Table publishing, his work has appeared in a wide variety of places, like Frog Croon, Word Salad, and Chaos Writers, and in such anthologies as “Sanctuary,” “Silent Consciousness,” and “Hot Summer Nights.” He is also the host of the Dedham version of 100 Thousand Poets for Change event in late September.

Sept 15, 2015 Michael Gerhard Martin 5PM

Michael Gerhard Martin

Michael Gerhard Martin holds an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh. He teaches first year rhetoric at Babson, and fiction for the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth. His work has appeared in the Ocean State Review, The Museum of Americana Lit Review, Bayou Magazine, The Rust Belt Chic Pittsburgh Anthology, and on Salon.com. He has been a finalist for the Dzanc Disquiet International Literary Festival short play contest, the Nelligan Prize, the Iowa Short Fiction Award & John Simmons Short Fiction Award, a Glimmer Train New Writers contest, and the Hudson Prize. He won the 2013 James Knudsen Prize for fiction from the University of New Orleans, and he is the author of the short story collection, Easiest If I Had A Gun.​

Aug 4, 2015 Poet, Actor, Playwright George MacDonald 5PM

George MacDonald   (Watch the show live at  http://scatvsomerville.org)

George MacDonald is an accomplished writer, actor and comedian. George has over 23 years sober and spreads his recovery message through the gift of comedy. George has performed with such stars as Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Dane Cook, and Dennis Miller, just to name a few. George is also a playwright, some of his works include: At The Funny Factory, Waiting for Whitey, and Whistling Past The Graveyard. George is a member of The Dramatist Guild of America, Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild and The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

July 14 5PM Poet Afaa Michael Weaver

Afaa Michael Weaver

 

Afaa Michael Weaver

In 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland, Afaa Michael Weaver, formerly known as Michael S. Weaver, was born to working class parents. He attended public schools and graduated as a National Merit finalist at the age of sixteen. After two years at the University of Maryland, he entered the world of factory life alongside his father and uncles and remained a factory worker for fifteen years. These years were a literary apprenticeship during which he wrote and published poetry, short fiction, and freelance journalism. During that time he also started 7th Son Press and Blind Alleys, a literary journal.

His first book of poetry, Water Song, was published in 1985 as part of the Callaloo series. He received a NEA fellowship for poetry six months after signing the contract for the collection and left factory life to attend Brown University’s graduate writing program on a full university fellowship, where he completed an MA with a focus on theater and playwriting. Concurrently, he completed his BA in literature in English at Excelsior College.

Tess Onwueme, the Nigerian playwright, gave him the Ibo name “Afaa," meaning “oracle," while Dr. Perng Ching-hsi, of National Taiwan University has given him the Chinese name “Wei Yafeng," derived from “Wei” for flourishing or blossoming, and “Yafeng," the title of a section of poems from the Book of Songs, the oldest anthology of Chinese poetry.

Since Water Song, Weaver has published several more collections of poetry, including City of Eternal Spring (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014); The Government of Nature (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013), for which he received the Kingsley Tufts Award; The Plum Flower Dance: Poems 1985 to 2005 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007); Multitudes (Sarabande Books, 2000); and The Ten Lights of God (Bucknell University Press, 2000). His full-length play Rosa was produced in 1993 at Venture Theater in Philadelphia. His short fiction appears Children of the Night: The Best Short Stories by Black Writers, 1967 to the Present (Little, Brown, 1997), edited by Gloria Naylor, and Identity Lessons: Contemporary Writing About Learning to Be American (Penguin Books, 1999), edited by Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Jennifer Gillan .

Weaver has been a Pew fellow in poetry and taught in National Taiwan University and Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan as a Fulbright Scholar. He teaches at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.