A Proud Member of the
SHAWNA FOUNDATION LIBRARY POETRY TOUR
IN Milford AND Uxbridge
The Shawna Foundation presents The Library Poetry Tour, bringing live poetry readings to the Milford Town Library and the Uxbridge Free Library quarterly throughout 2023. The readings will be held quarterly, hosted by Tony Brown, the winner of the 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal, endowed by the late U.S. Poet Laureate and Worcester native and awarded annually to a poet for lifetime achievement and service to the Central Massachusetts poetry community.
The April Readings for National Poetry Month features Catherine Marenghi and will be held on April 5, 7 p.m. at the Milford Town Library and April 6, 7 p.m. at the Uxbridge Free Library. The program is financed in part by the Milford Cultural Council, The Uxbridge Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Catherine Marenghi is an award-winning poet, novelist and memoirist. She is the author of Breaking Bread: Poems (2020), Glad Farm: A Memoir (2016), and Our Good Name (2022), an historical novel based on her immigrant ancestors. Her next poetry book, Unfurled: Love Poems, is forthcoming in 2023.
The granddaughter of Italian immigrants, Catherine was raised and attended public schools in Milford, Massachusetts, where she has deep roots and a lifelong connection. Among her awards, she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her poem “First Day of Kindergarten.” The acclaimed poets Richard Blanco and Jennifer Clement separately selected her poems as first-place winners of poetry contests sponsored by Crossroads Magazine. Her poems also twice received first-place honors from the Academy of American Poets university prize program. Her work has appeared in international publications including Sisyphus, Cider Press Review, Ruminate, High Shelf Press, Wingless Dreamer, Bangalore Review, Ekphrastic Review, Peregrine Journal, Crossroads, Solamente en San Miguel, Italian Americana, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, Phi Kappa Phi Forum, and Conclave. Her memoir Glad Farm, which President Jimmy Carter called “inspiring,” tells of a life rooted in poverty on a former gladiolus farm in Milford, and the power of a house to change our destiny. She received an M.A., B.A. Summa Cum Laude from Tufts University, where she studied with poets Denise Levertov and X.J. Kennedy.
She currently divides her time between San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Massachusetts. She has served on the board of the San Miguel Poetry Café and also co-founded Poetry Mesa, an international poetry community, along with poet Judyth Hill.
Continuing the April Readings for National Poetry Month, Tony Brown will be reading on April 13, 6:30 p.m. at the Jacob Edwards Library, 236 Main Street in Southbridge, MA 01550. The program is financed in part by the Milford Cultural Council, The Uxbridge Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Tony Brown has been writing for well over 50 years, and publishing and performing his work for over 40.
A seven-time Pushcart Prize and two-time Best Of The Net nominee, he has traveled the country, slammed for the Worcester Poets’ Asylum, and organized and hosted many readings and reading series.
He is the winner of the 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal, endowed by the late US Poet Laureate and Worcester native and awarded annually to a poet for life achievement and service to the Central Massachusetts poetry community.
His most recent eBooks and publications can be found through his Patreon site (https://www.patreon.com/TonyBrown).
His daily poetry blog is available at http://radioactiveart.blog. He resides in Worcester, MA.
For years, Tony performed his poetry with jazz/rock/funk/poetry band “The Duende Project” in collaboration with Steven Lanning-Cafaro on electric bass and classical guitar, Christopher Lawton on guitar, and Chris O’Donnell on drums. They released seven collections of their work, available on all the usual online streaming and download outlets.
More information can be found at their Website: http://theduendeproject.com
Previous Readings
Robin Ballou Boucher is the featured poet for February 2023. Robin is on the Board of Directors of the Worcester County Poetry Association and has studied with local poets, attended writing retreats and workshops and has taken classes through Grub Street and with Stanford University.