CELEBRATE WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

Resources for Women’s History Month   As part of our Women’s History Month celebration, we've curated a selection of poems, audio, video, essays, archival documents, and more from and about great contemporary and historic women poets, on ourWomen’s History Month page. For more Women’s History Month coverage, visit Stanza throughout the month of March.

poetry news - CHICAGO

Poetry Fellows Portfolio New poems by the recipients of the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship.   Robert Lax: Nothing Is Too Small Robert Lax: master minimalist. BY MICHAEL N. MCGREGOR   No Spell Broken A Discussion of CAConrad's(Soma)tic Midge.   Children’s Poetry Giving children the gift of language in all its forms. BY EILEEN MYLES   Ghazal for White Hen Pantry BY JAMILA WOODS

poetry NEWS/event - AMHERST, MA

November 5: Amherst Art Walk with upstreetliterary magazine The Emily Dickinson Museum's monthly Amherst Art Walk poetry reading tonight, November 5, features local writers published in upstreet, an annual literary journal published in the Berkshires. Howard Faerstein and Maya Janson, both of Florence, are included inupstreet 11, the latest issue. Amy Dryansky of Conway, published inupstreet 9, and Karina Borowicz of Belchertown, who has a poem inupstreet 8 titled "Emily Dickinson's Dress," will also read. Upstreet founding editor and publisher Vivian Dorsel will introduce each poet.  The Amherst Art Walk runs from 5 to 8 pm. The poetry reading, which is free to all, will begin at 6:45 pm in the Homestead parlor. $5 "Twilight Highlight" tours of the Homestead will also be offered from 5 to 6:30 pm. Cindy Dickinson in the Museum's poetry room.  November 20: Poetry Discussion Group with Cindy Dickinson It's a holiday homecoming at the November 20 meeting of the Emily Dickinson Museum Poetry Discussion Group, as former director of interpretation and programming Cindy Dickinson returns as discussion leader for "Till every spice is tasted": Spices in Emily Dickinson's Work and World. With the holiday season upon us, Dickinson will examine the roles that spices play in Dickinson's poems as well as in her life. The group will explore the theme in several poems, letters, and recipes. The discussion starts at noon at the Amherst College Alumni House, 75 Churchill Street, in Amherst. Cindy Dickinson is the director of education at Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, Mass, She started there earlier this year after spending nearly two decades working at the Emily Dickinson houses. Learn more about the poetry discussion group here.     Dec. 12: Celebrate Emily Dickinson's 185th birthday! The only question is: will we be able to fit that many candles on one cake? On Saturday, December 12, the Emily Dickinson Museum will celebrate Dickinson's 185th birthday with an open house featuring her newly restored bedroom. If you have yet to see the restored bedroom, we hope you will stop by and see the results of two years of work that returned Dickinson's creative space as closely as possible to how it looked when she lived there. All are invited to this free birthday celebration, which runs from 1 to 4 pm. No RSVPs are required, but save room for cake!.   Dec. 19: Join us for  A Dickensian Christmas with the Dickinsons  Revel in holiday traditions on Saturday, December 19, as we trace the history of Christmas celebrations in the two Dickinson households during our annual A Dickensian Christmas with the Dickinsons. Evocative decorations, seasonal music, and new objects on exhibit will delight your holiday senses, and the words of Emily Dickinson and her family will bring their Christmas experiences to life. A Museum guide will serve as your host for this special holiday trip through the Homestead and The Evergreens. Each visit concludes with an intimate reading in The Evergreens from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol by award-winning author and Dickens fan Tony Abbott! Tickets are $20 per person, $10 for Museum members, and $5 for students grades K-12. Find out more here.   Evergreens exterior repaired and painted Regular visitors to the Emily Dickinson Museum have likely noticed the new look at The Evergreens! Repair, painting, and exterior restoration of the home of Austin Dickinson and his family took place this past summer. A Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund grant enabled the Museum to make critical repairs and then paint the home in its 1880s color palette. The exterior now matches the period of design and finishes represented inside The Evergreens -- a late-century "time capsule" -- and provides visitors with a cohesive view of the home as it looked during that era.  Exterior repairs will continue in the spring, with the restoration of the original roof line and gutters.  "Sycamores at Old Shokan" restored and hung at The Evergreens A painting evidently owned by the Dickinsons since 1878 has been restored and returned to its place in the parlor after decades in storage. "Sycamores at Old Shokan," a scene of cows lingering in a stream beneath towering trees, was completed by American Luminist painter Arthur Parton in 1877. The next year, it was acquired by Austin and Susan Dickinson, and was said by contemporaries to have been one of the works that "made" Parton's reputation. The Dickinsons favored Hudson River School painters and filled their parlor with landscape paintings in gleaming frames. The painting had been removed from the parlor as long as 30 years ago.After more than 100 years in the same spot, the 4' by 3' canvas had weakened and was covered in soot, dust, grime, and mold. Its massive gilt frame was also in poor condition. William Myers, Chief Preparator at the Smith College Museum of Art, conserved both the painting and frame and in September re-hung them in a place of pride above Martha Dickinson Bianchi's Steinway piano.   Support the Conservatory Reconstruction Fund Originally built in 1855, Emily Dickinson's conservatory was her connection to the natural world during the frigid New England winters. Now, 100 years after it was dismantled in 1916, we're bringing it back. We hope you will support our Conservatory Reconstruction Fund drive, a year-long effort to raise the $300,000 needed to rebuild Dickinson's conservatory and establish an endowment for its upkeep and programming. Find out more about the project, and make your donation, here.   Save 20% at the Museum gift shop during Members Shopping Days   Get your holiday shopping done at the Emily Dickinson Museum during Members Shopping Days, running from Friday, November 27, through Wednesday, December 23. Museum members' usual 10 percent discount is boosted to 20 percent on most purchases at the Museum store during that time. Become a Friends of the Emily Dickinson Museum member and receive your discount by clicking here.   Calendar photo for April showing the Homestead garden in bloom. Emily Dickinson Museum 2016 calendar arrives for the holidays!   Looking for the right present for a special Emily Dickinson enthusiast as the holiday season nears? The Emily Dickinson Museum 2016 calendar features twelve months of Dickinson quotes, snippets of Dickinson family history, and photos - including favorites from our social media postings - showcasing the Homestead, The Evergreens, Museum grounds, and a variety of items from the Museum collections. The calendar will be available in the Museum store by Thanksgiving week. Reserve your copy by calling 413-542-2947 or emailing info@EmilyDickinsonMuseum.org.   Thanksgiving indeed...   On November 16, 1851, Emily Dickinson wrote to her brother Austin, then teaching in Boston: "We are thinking most of Thanksgiving, than anything else just now - how full will be the circle, less then by none - how the things will smoke, how the board will groan with the thousand savory viands - how when the day is done, Lo the evening cometh, laden with merrie laugh, and happy conversation, and then the sleep and the dream each of a knight or "Ladie" - how I love to see them, a beautiful company, coming down the hill which men call the Future, with their hearts full of joy, and their hands of gladness. Thanksgiving indeed, to a family united, once more together before they go away!" www.EmilyDickinsonMuseum.org                           Emily Dickinson Museum 280 Main Street, Amherst Massachusetts 01002  |  413-542-8161  |  info@EmilyDickinsonMuseum.org

POETRY WORKSHOPS - CHICAGO

POETRY WORKSHOP Forms and Features: Ode Saturday, November 14 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM Poetry Foundation 61 West Superior Street Please email library@poetryfoundation.org to register in advance. All experience levels are welcome to a discussion and creative workshop moderated by library staff. In November, Forms and Features focuses on the ode, a lyric poem that addresses, and often praises, a person, place, thing, or idea. Space is limited to 15 participants.   POETRY WORKSHOP Forms and Features: Line Saturday, December 12 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM Poetry Foundation 61 West Superior Street Please email library@poetryfoundation.org​ to register in advance. All experience levels are welcome to a discussion and creative workshop moderated by library staff. In December, Forms and Features focuses on the line, an organizing feature that shapes a poem’s sound and meaning. Space is limited to 15 participants.

AWARD DEADLINE

Walt Whitman Award Deadline: November 1   There’s just a couple of days left to submit your manuscript to the Walt Whitman Award, the country’s most valuable first-book prize in poetry. The winner receives $5,000; book publication by the award-winning Graywolf Press; and an all-expenses-paid, six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center in Italy. The winning title is also distributed to thousands of Academy members. Carolyn Forché will judge. Learn more about the Walt Whitman Award.

poetry CONTESTS - NYC

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AWARDS SEASON Annual Awards and Chapbook Fellowships Accepting Submissions until December 22nd Annual Awards judges include: Cyrus Cassells, Eduardo Corral, Elaine Equi, Yona Harvey, Rebecca Gayle Howell, Laura Kasischke, Jennifer Moxley, Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Carmen Giménez Smith, & others Chapbook judges: Rigoberto González, Linda Gregerson,Major Jackson, and Marilyn Nelson  Each year from October to December the Poetry Society offers contests for poets at all stages of their careers, from a prize for high school students, to our Chapbook Fellowships for poets who have not yet published a full-length collection, to our first book contest, and our award for a poet over forty who has published no more than one book.  We're thrilled to announce we're currently accepting submissions, which are free to members. Begin your submission today. Good luck!  Not a Member of the Poetry Society of America?

poetry NEWS - AMHERST, MA

Support the Reconstruction of Emily Dickinson's Conservatory   Architect's rendering of the rebuilt conservatory. Emily Dickinson's conservatory was removed in 1916. 100 years later, we're bringing it back. The bedroom, the garden, the kitchen: all are essential spaces that quickly spring to mind when thinking about the physical locations that inspired Dickinson's poetry. The conservatory, built by her father when the family returned to the Homestead in 1855, is another. In this diminutive greenhouse Dickinson maintained her link to the vibrant natural world during the frigid New England winters. She tended flowers "near and foreign," as she wrote to Elizabeth Holland in March 1866, in a space six feet deep and seventeen feet wide where she had "but to cross the floor to stand in the Spice Isles." The deep connection between Dickinson and her horticultural pursuits permeated her poetry and daily life. Imagine dirt under the poet's fingernails as she wrote the poems that immortalized flowers blooming in her garden, home, and Amherst wilderness. The conservatory allowed her to follow this passion year round. Through its windows, Dickinson could view the gardens and orchard that she frequented in the warmer months. From the native species and fragile exotic specimens she grew inside would come the blooms and bouquets sent with letters and poems to her beloved friends in even the coldest months of the year. To tell the Dickinson story more fully we need to restore the conservatory. Donate online to the Conservatory Reconstruction Fund here.     A photograph of the      conservatory taken in 1916. Dismantled in 1916, many of the conservatory's original architectural elements - including its window sash and original door - survive. In the past two years archaeological investigations of the southeastern corner of the house where the conservatory stood have unearthed its foundations and other important historical details. With photographic, documentary, archaeological, and even poetic evidence in hand, we're ready to bring Emily Dickinson's conservatory back to life. But we'll need your help to do it. Our fundraising goal for reconstructing and maintaining the conservatory is $300,000, of which over $100,000 has already been raised. Since its founding in 2003, the Emily Dickinson Museum has undertaken several projects that provide visitors with a more authentic understanding of the world inhabited by the Dickinsons. The restoration of Emily Dickinson's bedroom and library, return of the hedge and fence that connect the Homestead and Evergreens properties, repainting of the homes in their historic colors, and, coming soon, an heirloom orchard allow visitors to step back in time through a personal encounter with the poet's world possible nowhere else. The conservatory will add another critical detail to that immersive experience. In her letter to Mrs. Holland, Dickinson also wrote that "We do not always know the source of the smile that flows to us." We hope that this project provokes many joyful smiles among those who care about the Museum's mission of interpreting and sharing the story of Emily Dickinson and her family. You can express a bit of that joy by contributing to making the conservatory a reality. We thank you in advance for your support of this latest step in returning the Museum grounds to a place Emily Dickinson would have recognized and in which she would have felt at home. Donate to the Conservatory Reconstruction Fund by contacting the development office at 413-542-5084 or development@EmilyDickinsonMuseum.org. About the Emily Dickinson Museum The Emily Dickinson Museum: The Homestead and The Evergreens is dedicated to educating diverse audiences about the poet's life, family, creative work, times, and enduring relevance, and to preserving and interpreting the Homestead and The Evergreens as historical resources for public and academic enrichment.   The Emily Dickinson Museum is owned by the Trustees of Amherst College and overseen by a separate Board of Governors. The Museum is responsible for raising its own operating and capital funds. The Emily Dickinson Museum is a member of Museums10, a collaboration of ten museums linked to the Five Colleges in the Pioneer Valley--Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

poetry NEWS/EVENTS - AMHERST, MA

A great Amherst Poetry Festival and Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon weekend! Thank you to everyone who came out last weekend for the annual Amherst Poetry Festival and Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon! The four-day event, led by the reading of all of Dickinson's nearly 2,000 poems, drew hundreds of people (among them longtime marathon participant Steve Fratoni, right, who dressed as Emily Dickinson's father Edward for opening night), included a wide variety of offerings includingpoetry readings, workshops, panels, open mics, and musical performances. We also send our thanks to the many poets, artists, and performers who made this weekend so memorable, our festival co-sponsors, the Amherst Business Improvement District, and our media sponsors, the Daily Hampshire Gazette and the Valley Advocate. See you again next year!     October 16: Poetry Discussion Group with Bruce Penniman The monthly Emily Dickinson Museum Poetry Discussion Group meets Friday, October 16, at noon at the First Congregational Church at 165 Main Street in Amherst. The fee is $12 for Museum members, $15 for non-members. The October discussion, "After Great Pain: Responses to Grief in Emily Dickinson's Late Poems and Letters," will be led by Bruce M. Penniman. For the discussion, the group will begin with the death of Dickinson's eight-year-old nephew Thomas Gilbert "Gib" Dickinson in October 1883 and look at several of the letters and poems that she wrote in response to that catastrophe over the next two years. Participants are encouraged to bring along for examination other Dickinson poems about grief, as well as related poems by other writers. The site director of the Western Massachusetts Writing Project and lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Bruce M. Penniman taught writing, speech, and literature at Amherst Regional High School from 1971 until 2007. He has served as a teacher curriculum mentor in all three NEH Emily Dickinson: Person, Poetry, and Place workshops and has facilitated discussions in the Poetry Discussion Group on topics ranging from Emily Dickinson and the Bible to Emily Dickinson and Science.  Find out more about the Emily Dickinson Museum Poetry Discussion Group here.   October 20: Teacher Tuesday at the EDM The Emily Dickinson Museum's first Teacher Tuesday takes place Tuesday, October 20, from 4 to 6 pm.  All educators are invited to this free program to learn about the resources we can provide for them and their students and to explore the Museum! Make an herbarium, read poetry in Emily's bedroom, try your hand at our reverse scavenger hunt, and enjoy some gingerbread and cider. Let the museum inspire your next project with your students. Learn more about our Teacher Tuesday series here.   A Halloween happening at The Evergreens  Get into the spirit of Halloween with The Aspect of the Place, a storytelling celebration of ghosts and all things Gothic at The Evergreens October 28 through November 1 from 6:30-8:30 pm. Co-produced by The Emily Dickinson Museum and TheatreTruck, a roving collaborative, The Aspect of the Place takes the audience through The Evergreens, the home of Austin Dickinson's family and a 'time capsule' of prosperous nineteenth-century life in a small New England town. The piece honors the house, the spooky delights of Victorian ghost stories, and the idea that phantoms walk within.  Tickets are $15, $10 for Museum members. Reserve your tickets here.    November 5: Amherst Art Walk with upstreetliterary magazine The Emily Dickinson Museum's monthly Amherst Art Walk poetry reading on Thursday, November 5 will feature local writers published in the literary magazine upstreet. Howard Faerstein and Maya Janson, both of Florence, are included inupstreet 11, the latest issue. Amy Dryansky of Conway, published inupstreet 9, and Karina Borowicz of Belchertown, who has a poem inupstreet 8 titled "Emily Dickinson's Dress," will also read. Upstreet founding editor and publisher Vivian Dorsel will introduce each poet.  The Amherst Art Walk runs from 5 to 8 pm. The poetry reading, which is free to all, will begin at 6:45 pm in the Homestead parlor.    Dec. 12: Emily Dickinson birthday celebration On Saturday, December 12, the Emily Dickinson Museum will celebrate Dickinson's 185th birthday with an open house of her newly restored bedroom. All are invited to this free open house, which runs from 1 to 4 pm. Stay tuned for more holiday-themed events the Museum will be offering throughout December!    Book your autumn group tours now! The leaves are changing colors, the New England air is brisk, and Emily Dickinson's bedroom restoration is complete - it's a perfect time to book a group tour at the Emily Dickinson Museum! The museum accommodates groups from varied backgrounds who wish to visit the museum, ranging from K-12 field trips to family reunions and alumni groups. Find out more about tours here.  So much grieved for the Little Boy...   Emily Dickinson had a deep love for her nephew Thomas Gilbert "Gib" Dickinson, the youngest of her brother Austin and sister-in-law Susan's three children. The whole family doted on the precocious boy, and were crushed when, on October 5, 1883, Gib died shortly after contracting typhoid fever. "'Open the Door, open the Door, they are waiting for me,' was Gilbert's sweet command in delirium." Dickinson wrote to her friend Elizabeth Holland in the days after his death. "Who were waiting for him, all we possess we would give to know - Anguish at last opened it, and he ran to the little Grave at his Grandparents' feet - All this and more, though is there more? More than Love and Death? Then tell me it's name!" Dickinson had gone to The Evergreens to sit by Gib's bedside the night before he died. Her health deteriorated shortly after, and some scholars believe the grief over Gib's death contributed to her own less than three years later on May 15, 1886.   www.EmilyDickinsonMuseum.org                           Emily Dickinson Museum 280 Main Street, Amherst Massachusetts 01002  |  413-542-8161  |  info@EmilyDickinsonMuseum.org