Massachusetts Statewide Poetry Calendar

Looking to add some creativity to your day? Want to meet other local writers and get started on some new writing? Join our Seaport Free Writes session on Wednesday, February 16th, from 12:30-1:15pm. You’ll meet fellow writers and get your creative juices flowing with some fresh writing exercises. Best of all, you’ll leave with some new ideas to ponder for the rest of your day and beyond. Please note that you must register ahead of time and provide proof of vaccination to attend this session.

Porter Square Books and GrubStreet are delighted to present the latest installment of the Grubbie Debut series with author and GrubStreet instructor Neema Avashia in celebration of the release of Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place. Neema will be joined in conversation by fellow author and GrubStreet instructor E. B. Bartels. This event will take place at Porter Square Books: Boston Edition- please RSVP for updates on venue and more.

Neema Avashia was born and raised in southern West Virginia to parents who immigrated to the United States. She has been a middle school teacher in the Boston Public Schools since 2003. Her essays have appeared in the Bitter Southerner, Catapult, Kenyon Review Online, and elsewhere. E.B. Bartels is a nonfiction writer, a former Newtonville Books bookseller, and a GrubStreet instructor, with an MFA from Columbia. Her writing has been published in Catapult, The Rumpus, The Millions, and The Toast. She lives in Massachusetts.

Porter Square Books is thrilled to partner with Mass Poetry in welcoming Jeffrey Yang and Fanny Howe for a reading and conversation about the poets' latest works! Hear from Line and Light, a multifaceted collection by Jeffrey Yang, whose poetry is “flexible, expansive, sonorously clever” (The Millions), and Indivisible, the conclusion of a radically philosophical and personal series of Fanny Howe novels animated by questions of race, spirituality, childhood, transience, resistance, and poverty.

Mass Poetry will also be hosting a day of poetic education and celebration in April for teens involved in the Team Slam competition. This lead-up event is aptly named “First Breath,” inspired by the concept of taking a pause to calm one’s mind and body before performing a poem. Teams will join together for a series of masterclasses, an open mic, and a group piece. It will be a non-competitive, poetry-filled day of fun and comradery. “First Breath” will take place on Saturday, April 6th, 2024, from 10:00-6:00.

Every year, Mass Poetry brings together professor-nominated undergraduate poets from over 15 colleges in the Greater Boston area. With a professor or faculty’s guidance in practicing and revising a poem, one young artist from each institution will perform an original set at our intercollegiate showcase. The event will include a keynote address from local Boston poet, Diannely Antigua, about developing craft, navigating life as a working artist, and understanding the larger role and responsibilities of poets in illustrating our shared future.

Mass Poetry will publish an accumulative anthology featuring pieces written by every student participant, which will be released at the post-show reception. The reception will be catered and include photo ops. This is a wonderful chance for college poets to build connections with peers, learn more about the post-grad artist life, gain performance experience, and have an original work published! We look forward to coming together with our university partners to celebrate, and we offer our thanks to Boston College, the former home of this program.

Join us April 11th to celebrate the voices of our future!

Mass Poetry is hosting its first ever Teen Spoken Word Festival, Write Here | Write Now | Speak Loud! on May 3-5, 2024 in Boston, MA. The Festival will take place in multiple locations around Boston’s Seaport District, as a means of encouraging youth to access and explore this part of the city. Our goal is to offer a space for young people to feel a sense of community centered around written and spoken word. Young people have so much to say and we want to hear it!

The weekend festival will kick off on Friday May 3rd with an opening showcase ceremony featuring Tim Hall, Brandy Blaze, José Olivarez, and Melissa Lozada-Oliva. After an exciting night of remarks and performances, teens will take the stage. Saturday, May 4th, will be a full day of Teen Team Slam competition, along with a series of non-competitive activities including open mics, workshops, and more! The day will close with the Team Finals, where a winner will be announced, followed by a dance party at the ICA. On Sunday, May 5th, a Post High School Resource Fair will be held for young poets to explore ways of continuing their creative practices beyond high school involvement. The Independent Finals will follow into the afternoon, and the festival will conclude with closing remarks.   

In the months leading up to the festival, Mass Poetry and partnering organizations will be putting on a series of individual preliminary slams, culminating in the Individual Slam Finals hosted on Sunday afternoon. The six winning poets will be invited to join Mass Poetry’s team to compete at the Brave New Voices Festival in Washington D.C. on July 17-21.