poetry

Notebooks Reading for Abortion Access

In Memory and Honor of Jennifer Martelli

We were honored to host a reading of Notebooks guests and other folks close to the poet Jennifer Martelli. This reading raised funds for the Eastern Massachusetts Abortion Fund, and through the generosity of the readers and guests, we raised more than $1000 in Jennifer’s name.

Readers featured: Kathi Aguerro (Jenn poem), Hannah Larrabee, Leah Umansky, Cindy Veach (Jenn poem), Anne-Marie Oomen (read by Lisa Allen), Danika Stegman, Brandel France de Bravo (Jenn poem), Wendy Wisner, Sarah Kain Gutowski, Cynthia Marie Hoffman, Frances Donovan (Jenn poem), José Angel Araguz (Jenn poem), Katherine Durham Oldmixon Garza, Richard Hoffman, Ellen Austin-Li (Jenn poem), Dorsía Smith Silva, Marcus Myers, Marjorie Tesser (Jenn poem), Lisa Allen (Jenn poem), Rebecca Kirk Connors.

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Katherine D. Oldmixon Garza and Octavio Quintanilla’s Conversation

We are excited to bring together two poets and artists from Texas, Katherine D. Oldmixon Garza and Octavio Quintanilla, introduced by friend Marcela Sulak. Octavio’s Book of Wounded Sparrows and Katherine’s Life Afterlife / A Book of the Hours have shared themes of grief, loss, and mourning. Katherine wrote about the two books as singing together, or rather, “By sing, I might mean keen, not as a wild wailing but sometimes as a wild ceremony, sometimes as a ceremony in the wild.” We then added an additional dimension: their multiple languages and modalities used to produce their work. Octavio added, “I am interested to see how our work converges and diverges in terms of how we write grief, joy, closure.”

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In Conversation: Nicole Callihan & Zoë Ryder White

On 11/11, longtime poetry collaborators, Zoë Ryder White and Nicole Callihan read from their collaborative works and discussed their process. The two began collaborating in 1999 and have two published chapbooks–A Study in Spring, winner of the Baltic Writing Residency Prize (2015) and Elsewhere, winner of the Sixth Finch Chapbook Prize (2020)–as well as many other works in progress.

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In Conversation: Jennifer Funk & Megan Pinto Video

Two poets interested in affairs of the heart and the abiding loneliness at the center of the human experience. Two poets who overlapped at Warren Wilson’s MFA program yet who have different styles of writing.

This conversation touches on maintaining a creative practice alongside life’s many competing demands (both in school and after it), what a first book changes and does not change, and the importance of literary/poetry friendships.

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In Celebration of Saara Myrene Raappana

An evening of poetry and remembrance hosted by Eric Doise, husband of late poet Saara Myrene Raappana. Eric was joined by Lauren K. Carlson and Halley Cotton, all of whom read from Saara’s collected work, Chamber After Chamber, which was awarded the Juniper Prize for Poetry. Saara was also the author of the chapbooks A Story of America Goes Walking (Shechem Press) and Milk Tooth, Levee, Fever (Dancing Girl Press).

A gifted poet and teacher, Saara left a legacy of not only powerful and award-winning poetry, but also as an educator, mental health pioneer and animal lover. Her great warmth, intelligence and kindness was evident to all who knew her and will be celebrated in this one-of-a-kind reading.

We invite you purchase her book. Please use the code CHAMBER at checkout to receive a 30% discount. A donor has offered to contribute $10 for every book purchased at a reading to her scholarship fund. If you already have her book, we also invite you to make a gift in her honor by donating to her scholarship fund by making a contribution and writing Saara’s name in the comments field.

The Reading

In Conversation: Marcus Myers & Rivka Clifton

Poets and co-founders of Bear Review, Marcus Myers & Rivka Clifton have grown together as poets, even as their own work is aesthetically different. As Marcus says, “This sharing and cheering each other on, discussing craft and aesthetics, swapping and giving books with and to each other has led, in some ways directly and in others indirectly, to our creating Bear Review.”

The Event