Massachusetts Statewide Poetry Calendar

George Abraham’s highly anticipated debut Birthright (Button Poetry, 2020) constructs a dialogue in which “every pronoun is a Free Palestine.” Through poems of immense emotion, and the use of alluring form, Abraham crafts work that examines what we come to own by existing. As trauma seeps through generations, can the body deconstruct its own inheritance? In a world that only takes, what is owed?

George Abraham is a Palestinian American poet and writer from Jacksonville, FL. Their debut Birthright won the Big Other Book Award and the Arab American Book Award in Poetry, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Bisexual Poetry. He is a board member for the Radius of Arab American Writers (RAWI), a recipient of fellowships from Kundiman and The Boston Foundation, and winner of the 2017 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational's Best Poet title. Their work has appeared in The Nation, American Poetry Review, The Baffler, The Paris Review, Mizna, and elsewhere. A graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard University, Abraham currently teaches at Emerson College and is a Litowitz MFA+MA Candidate at Northwestern University.

This virtual poetry workshop is a vehicle for critique, a time of close reading and thoughtful responses that help craft the written word so that it says exactly what the author intends. The focus is the work itself. Poets are respectful of each other, value the craft, understand the courage it takes to have work critiqued, and make the final decisions about their own writing. Please join us. Writing prompts will be shared with registrants one week before the workshop, and we request you submit your work at least three days before the workshop to give attendees time to read your poem.

Susan Roney-O’Brien earned her MFA at Warren Wilson College and is the author of five poetry collections. She hosts monthly poetry readings, teaches workshops and coordinates the Stanley Kunitz summer writing series.

This virtual poetry workshop is a vehicle for critique, a time of close reading and thoughtful responses that help craft the written word so that it says exactly what the author intends. The focus is the work itself. Poets are respectful of each other, value the craft, understand the courage it takes to have work critiqued, and make the final decisions about their own writing. Please join us. Writing prompts will be shared with registrants one week before the workshop, and we request you submit your work at least three days before the workshop to give attendees time to read your poem.

Susan Roney-O’Brien earned her MFA at Warren Wilson College and is the author of five poetry collections. She hosts monthly poetry readings, teaches workshops and coordinates the Stanley Kunitz summer writing series.

Joe Fusco Jr. is a well-seasoned poet and humorist from Worcester, Massachusetts. He is the author of four books of semi-amusing poems and essays: Pondering the Pandemic During the Rust Years (2021); Hmm…That’s Different (2020); Three Score (2014); and The Lost and Found Essays (2012), all available on Amazon. Joe’s musings have appeared in Damfino Press, Ballard Street Poetry, Worcester Review, Asinine Poetry, and the naughty ezine Clean Sheets. He was a co-winner of the Jacob Knight Poetry Award in 2002 and was named Best Poet by Worcester Magazine readers in 1999 and 2002. Joe is still a frequent contributor to Worcester Magazine and the last Worcester Mega-Slam winner in 2017. Joe has lived in lovely Worcester with his better half Cyndi and their large family for thirty-five years. He is a registered Independent and sleeps with one eye always open. More info on Joe can be found at joesyellowpad.com.