Massachusetts Statewide Poetry Calendar

Martín Espada has published more than twenty books as a poet, editor, essayist and translator. His latest collection of poems from Norton is called Vivas to Those Who Have Failed (2016). He is the editor of What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age Trump (2019). His many honors include the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Creeley Award, the National Hispanic Cultural Center Literary Award, an American Book Award, an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, the PEN/Revson Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His book of poems, The Republic of Poetry, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. A former tenant lawyer in Greater Boston’s Latinx community, Espada is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Readings by 3 poets, in 3 languages, featuring:
Marguerite Guzman Bouvard (Italian)
Marguerite was born in Trieste Italy. She is a former professor of Political Science and poetry workshops, and the author of 20 books in the fields of politics, women's rights, human rights, grief, illness, and spirituality. She has also written 8 books of poetry, her first won the Quarterly Review of Literature prize and her seventh "The Unpredictability of Light," won the MassBook Award for poetry. Her latest book was "The Invisible Wounds of War; Coming Home from Iraq and Afghanistan." She is a Resident Scholar at the Women Studies Research Center, Brandeis University.

Mirlande Butler (Haitian-Creole)
A native of Haiti, Mirlande Butler has performed a mix of Jazz, Pop and Gospel genres in the States, France, Brazil, and China. She links singing with the foundation she co-founded to promote education and a renewed Haiti. She often says that education, especially that of children, should be a human right matter, not a privilege. She holds a Ph.D. in Public Administration from Walden University and a Master's degree in Social Work from Boston University. The lyricist and guitarist John Elder says of her: 'Mirlande sings beautifully and with emotional power in four languages, French, Spanish, English and Haitian Creole. Her style is the human heart.'

Messou Youvina Fofana (French)
Born in the United States and raised in Guinea-Conakry, Messou is a Brockton High School student introduced to poetry writing from her English and poetry classes. Early on, she realized the impact of her voice and invested more into writing when she became aware of its range limit. She also realized that with her words she had a new way of expressing herself, more trustworthy than she sometimes could with her voice. Messou thus believed she could transcend time and better convey her emotions and thoughts to future generations. Her poems are often the results of her childhood memories and her sudden inspirations on themes of all kinds, ranging from love to her family, to her life as a sixteen-year-old, experiencing both African and American societies.

Readings by 3 poets, in 3 languages, featuring:

Ines Figueroa (Spanish)
Ines came to the United States in 1956 from Puerto Rico where she settled with her family in Newark New Jersey. In the early sixties, she married and had four daughters unfortunately during that period in her life she suffered from spousal abuse. At that, time there was nowhere to escape her surroundings and she suffered in silence. She finally summoned the courage to leave her husband and in 1984 found her way to Brockton with her daughters. Since then Ines has dedicated all her time educating the community about domestic violence and sexual assault. Ines graduated from Massasoit College in Human Service and from Boston University for Social Work. Ines has received numerous awards and in 1997, was named woman of the year for her contribution to the Hispanic Community.

Philip Hasouris (Greek)
A proud Brockton Poet and author of three books of poetry, Philip is the poetry coordinator and host of the Brockton Library Poetry Series, “Everyone Has a Voice.” He is also the poetry coordinator for the art/poetry exhibit "Soar without Limits, Healing through the Arts," bringing together, artists with disabilities and poets who, inspired by their artwork, create poetry, validating the artist. He is a facilitator of expressive healing workshops throughout the state for support groups coping with medical crisis and bereavement.
Zvi A. Sesling (Yiddish)
Poet Laureate of Brookline, MA. Zvi has published poetry in numerous magazines both in print and online in many countries. He has been nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize and was awarded First Prize in the Reuben Rose International Poetry Competition. He was the 2019 Feature Reader at the 10th Brookline Jewish Poetry Festival. His poetry book The Lynching of Leo Frank was nominated for the National Jewish Book Award. He is also the author of War Zones, Fire Tongue, King of the Jungle and three chapbooks, Simple Game, Poems From Hell and Across Stones of Bad Dream. Zvi has taught at Boston University , Emerson College and Suffolk University.