The WCPA is thankful to receive a $10,000 Community Grant from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation! GWCF operating support will help us focus on our mission to celebrate the rich literary history and creative energy of Central Massachusetts through poetry.
On behalf of the Stanley Kunitz bequest to the Worcester County Poetry Association, the Medal committee is pleased to announce the opening of nominations for the 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal, the eighth to be awarded since 2015.
The medal is presented annually to a person with a strong Worcester County (Massachusetts) connection who best exemplifies Stanley Kunitz’s life-long commitment to poetry and poets. The award recognizes an individual’s total commitment to poetry as Kunitz lived it: teaching poetry, mentoring poets, speaking poetry, publishing poetry, and supporting organizations which nurture poetry.
Letters of nomination should provide support explaining how the nominee nurtured poetry as defined above. Because the yearly award is singular and cannot honor all worthy applicants, past nominations may be reactivated for 2022 once the nominators notify the committee chair to keep the nomination active.
Nominations should be mailed to The Stanley Kunitz Medal, c/o Worcester County Poetry Association, P.O. Box 804, Worcester, MA 01613 between December 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022. The award announcement will be made in the late spring of 2022, with a ceremony at The Worcester Historical Museum coinciding with Kunitz’s birthday the last week of July. Please visit the Kunitz Medal page for more details.
The 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal committee wishes to recognize and thank the following volunteers who have served to bestow this honor in the past: Rodger Martin, chair (2013-2021), Kent Ljungquist (2017-2021), Karen Sharpe (2019-2021), Robert Steele (2015-2016), E. Robert Cronin (2015-2018).
Respectfully,
Judith Ferrara, Committee Chair – Judy@PaletteAndPen.com -508-757-0524
Joe Fusco, Jr.
John Hodgen
Heather J. Macpherson
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
An Evening of Poetry will be held on Saturday, November 20th at the GB & Lexi Singh Performance Center at Alternatives’ Whitin Mill, 60 Douglas Road, Whitinsville, MA. A celebration of poetic excellence, this event features readings from four regional poets and an open mic segment following intermission. Scheduled from 7:00 – 9:00 pm, the event is free and open to the public with donations welcome.
The poetry showcase will spotlight Candace Curran, Paul Richmond, Karen Warinsky, and Gerald Yelle, who will all read during the first hour. Curran has twice been named Western Massachusetts Poet’s Seat laureate, while Richmond was honored as Massachusetts Beat Poet Laureate (2017-2019) and National Beat Poet Laureate (2017-2019). Warinsky has been a finalist in the Montreal International Poetry Contest. Her debut collection, Gold in Autumn, was released last summer. Yelle’s publications include The Holyoke Diaries and No Place I Would Rather Be. He is a member of the Florence, Massachusetts Poets Society.
Following intermission, community poets from the audience will be able to participate in an open mic segment, with five minutes allotted to each poet. Participants will be able to sign up to read at the start of the event.
This event is being hosted by ValleyCAST, the arts and culture arm of Open Sky Community Services. Following Open Sky’s COVID safety protocol, all attendees are required to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status.
For further information about this program or to learn more about participating, email Karen Warinsky: karen.warinsky@gmail.com. To learn more about ValleyCAST and/or Open Sky Community Services, visit openskycs.org.
Plein air painter and Plein air writer Sam Lalos invites you to a retreat at the Marie Joseph Spiritual Center (10 Evans Road, Biddeford Pool, Maine 04005),
MAY 11-15. WEDNESDAY-SUNDAY 2022 FOUR NIGHTS arriving Wednesday 1ish leaving Sunday 15 after lunch
Contact Anne or Sister Kate at the Marie Joseph Spiritual Center directly 207 284 5671 and ask for Sam Lalos’ Worcester painters and poets group
or contact Sam. 508 753 4319 slalos@worcester.edu and mention dates.
100 per night with a private room and three meals included for 100 total per night. Book other dates, an option you have.
COVID concerns? refunds up to a week or two before stay; that is Sam’s understanding. There is the possibility of eliminating the weekend days; check out the possibilities of booking your own or other dates. Separate sections for women. Religious services are optional and not required.
The Worcester Review publishes literary fiction and poetry by new and established writers, as well as critical commentary on aspects of Central Massachusetts literary culture and history. The Worcester Review is a print journal published by the WCPA.
We welcome and encourage contributions from under-represented writers. For Fall 2021/ Winter 2022 submissions, TWR will have a waived-fee option for BIPOC writers.
TWR does not want to miss out on submissions from any writer; if our submission fee is a barrier for you, please email the editor for options.
Submissions Periods:
We will open for submissions of poetry and fiction on October 1, 2021.
POETRY:
October 1, 2021 – January 31, 2022
FICTION:
October 2021 and January 2022
For more guidelines, please visit TWR’s Submittable page: https://theworcesterreview.submittable.com/submit
Image information – The cover of the 2020 volume of The Worcester Review features artwork by Abu Mwenye.
Join host Joe Fusco Jr. for a poetry-packed evening this Thursday, October 28, 2021, at Root and Press (623 Chandler St., Worcester). The reading starts at 6:00 pm.
Join them for an open mike then their Feature performer, the extraordinary poet, Tony Brown.
Tony has been writing, publishing, and performing poetry for more than fifty years.
A seven-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he is also the front person for local poetry and music band The Duende Project.
Sign up for the open mike in advance at jfjr6969@gmail.com.
Support a local business and an awesome performer!
Doors open at 5:30 pm. The kitchen will be open.
Applications will be accepted until November 15, 2021, and all interested in applying, nominating, or learning more are encouraged to attend a virtual Application Workshop Tuesday, October 26 at 4:30 pm.
The City of Worcester is accepting applications for its next Youth Poet Laureate!
The Youth Poet Laureate program is an exciting opportunity for a young individual to serve as an official ambassador to Worcester’s historic and vibrant cultures of poetry and literary arts. This role is open to Worcester residents who will be between 13 and 19 years of age on January 1, 2022. Those interested may be nominated or apply on their own. Candidates will be reviewed on the literary merit of their work, impact on the community, contributions to the literature of Worcester, and more. Applications must be submitted by November 15, 2021. Click here to learn more about guidelines and submit an application.
The chosen individual will serve a two-year term from January 2022 through December 2023. During this time, the appointee will represent the City of Worcester as they develop their own work, act as an ambassador to literacy, the arts, and expression, perform public readings, work with the public, and capture life in Worcester for future generations. In Youth Poet Laureate will receive a $2,500 scholarship, as well as a $500 annual stipend honorarium.
Prospective applicants and anyone thinking of nominating a candidate is encouraged to attend the virtual Youth Poet Laureate Application Workshop on Tuesday, October 26 at 4:30 PM. This comprehensive workshop will provide an application walk-through and the opportunity to hear from current Youth Poet Laureate, Amina Mohammed. Click here to register for this workshop on Zoom.
Learn more about the role through the eyes of current Youth Poet Laureate Amina Mohammed in a recent interview on WorcesterCulture.org: Writing, Expressing, and Healing: An Interview with Amina Mohammed, Worcester Youth Poet Laureate.
For questions, please email Culture@WorcesterMA.gov.
The information in this post was provided by the Worcester Cultural Coalition (WCC).
Our community survey closes this Friday, October 22, 2021. Visit https://bit.ly/WCPA-survey to get started.
As part of our 50-year celebration, we’re reaching out to our members and the community to collect information about what we’re doing well, where we could use some improvement, and how you’d like us to expand and change so we thrive for another 50 years!
This survey will take between 5-10 minutes to complete. We encourage you to be open and honest with us, so we can learn and grow. All of your answers will be held in complete confidence. The only person who will see the answers is our consultant, who will share the answers – without names — with the WCPA board in a summary format.
Visit https://bit.ly/WCPA-survey to get started.
The WCPA is partnering with Sarah B. Lange on this process.
Individual artists are essential to a vibrant, thriving arts ecosystem! That’s why the Greater Worcester Community Foundation (GWCF) is partnering with MASS MoCA’s Assets for Artists to offer The Business of Art, a 6-month, entrepreneurial program for Worcester artists of color and artists or those who identify as low to moderate-income.
The program is part of the Creative Worcester Initiative, and the deadline to apply is October 18, 2021. For details and eligibility: https://www.greaterworcester.org/Grants/Grant-Opportunities/The-Business-of-Art.
Earlier this year we solicited short poems for a special public poetry project across Worcester which we called “A Walk in the Woo”. Over the past two weeks, a few volunteers painted stencils of the thirteen selected poems near bus stops (see the locations). What makes this public art project extra special is that the installed poems will only be visible when they get wet.
You don’t need to wait for the next rainy day to read the great work though. Visit the A Walk in the Woo page on our website.
Special thanks to our judges – Juan Matos, Poet Laureate, City of Worcester; Walter Molina, Clemente Alumnus; Elizabeth Bacon, Coordinator of Clemente Course in the Humanities; and Katherine Gregiore, WCPA Board Member.
