BBF is excited to host the Poetry of Science as part of this year’s all-outdoors Lit Crawl in Central Square, Cambridge!
The Poetry of Science is a project aimed at addressing the lack of representation for People of Color (POC) in both poetry and the sciences. Their session at Lit Crawl Boston 2021, “Poetry+Science: New Realities,” will be their first demonstration of the similarities between the sciences and humanities. Joshua Sariñana, their director, was able to answer a few questions about Poetry of Science ahead of June 10.
BBF: Could you tell us a little about your presenters for Poetry of Science?
Joshua: Our seven presenters, selected by Jean-Dany Joachim, Cambridge Poet Populist from 2009 to 2011, are local poets of color, each of whom has a connection to the City of Cambridge. We have a great selection that includes emerging talent and notable poets, each with their own style and voice. We believe our selected poets will find a deep running connection among the stories of their scientist collaborators.
[For the Poetry of Science project], poets will be meeting with scientists from fields that include quantum mechanics, social robotics, and radiology at the intersection of experimental design and neuroaesthetics; learning their motivations, research, and stories; and crafting original poetry about them. At the Lit Crawl, each will be presenting one poem that has, so far, come forth from this work.
BBF: What do you hope attendees and viewers at Lit Crawl Boston 2021 will take away from your “Poetry+Science: New Realities” session?
Joshua: In the true spirit of poetry, we are hoping to convey a great deal through a few strategically placed, powerful words. For one, and central to this project, is representation. Our mission as a project is to reveal and give voice to representation of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islander, and People of Color’s experiences in the fields of poetry, the sciences, and the arts. We also aim to create new and positive links between People of Color, the arts, and the sciences to counter the negative associations handed down by systemic racism. The larger goal is to create novel realities, an aesthetic to resist systems of oppression. This is our first public display of those efforts.
Our hope is that the community and various audiences will feel the underlying current that bridges poetry and the sciences. Both are fields of passion centered around intimate details and original viewpoints, and, we believe, understand the awe in the work of each other. Both observers, they teach us about the world and ourselves. We are excited for attendees to access a new language of that synthesis.
BBF: How does Poetry of Science plan to change the racial disparities associated in the arts and sciences?
Joshua: Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and People of Color lack representation in many settings as compared to the percentage of the population they represent. There is a profound lack of diversity in publishing, which means we miss out on the voices of these poets and creative writers. Photography and mainstream media are bereft of, or misrepresent, POCs. And the racial/ethnic disparities we see across the sciences—so near to the heart of Cambridge itself—are stark.
Our project gives contributing poets the opportunity to publish new work, and offer the scientists an avenue to understand their work in a new language, bridging the gap between the sciences and the humanities—an analogous gesture in linking and strengthening distinct communities of color.
BBF: Why has Poetry of Science decided to participate in Lit Crawl Boston 2021?
Joshua: Lit Crawl Boston is a celebration of literature, of culture, of voice. Sadly, the voices of poets and writers of color are often silenced when they should be heard and celebrated. To that end, we believe that participating in this effort helps rightly center the beautiful and talented voices of our local poets of color, and that by sharing their words with more members of the literary community, we can make a larger impact and progress toward our ultimate goals.
The BBF may have gone virtual over the last year, but the festival has remained as committed as ever to getting physical books in the hands of kids. Over the last few weeks, the BBF, in collaboration with Madison Park Development Center (MPDC) and the Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library made good on that commitment, delivering hundreds of new books and BBF swag bags to kids throughout the Roxbury community.
BBF’s founder and board chair, Deborah Z Porter, conceived of the Roxbury Book Giveaway after reading about how the principal at the Rafael Hernández K-8 Dual-Language School in Roxbury, the winner of BBF’s 2020 Shelf Help grant, emptied the library’s shelves at the beginning of the pandemic to ensure kids had something to read at home during the lockdown.
“That story really touched me deeply,” says Porter. “I thought that perhaps the BBF could mobilize to get books to more Boston school kids.”
“That story really touched me deeply,” says Porter. “I thought that perhaps the BBF could mobilize to get books to more Boston school kids.”
Several BBF board members stepped up and contributed to fund the book buy. BBF’s executive director, Norah Piehl, bought over 200 popular titles from First Book, a discounted book marketplace for educators and non-profits, as well hundreds more from Frugal Bookstore in Roxbury. Many of the book titles – from Nate the Great to Magic Mermaid – were provided by Philecia Harris, children’s librarian at the Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library, to ensure the books were popular with kids in the neighborhood.
The first delivery of books went to Madison Park. The housing development offers many community programs for resident families, but like most activities during the pandemic, the majority have become remote. However, thanks to the efforts of Leslie Stafford, MDPC’s health equity and wellness coordinator, the children were still able to receive the BBF tote bags filled with books and goodies.
Children from Madison Park Development Corporation received BBF book bags with a new book and goodies.
“The books are being used to increase the brain development of our children that are being homeschooled,” says Stafford. She says the children specifically enjoy bedtime stories, gardening, and books about kids who look like them. “Most of the kids are avid readers. Sometimes I like to challenge those who are struggling to read a page to me aloud so I can encourage them that they can do it,” says Stafford.
The last stop on the BBF Roxbury Book Giveaway was the Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library. Although the library remains closed to in-person activities, Philecia Harris, the children’s librarian, still managed to distribute the books and goodies to local families. She loaded boxes of books into her car and dropped them at doorsteps, ensuring that even with a pandemic, the books were going to get to the kids who most needed them. Inside the boxes were books popular at the Roxbury branch, including Shuri: The Vanished by Nic Stones and the author Rick Riordan. Next month, Harris will be distributing books at Nathan Hale Elementary after reading to the children there.
“As an educator, it’s really exciting when you see a child hungry for a particular kind of knowledge and you can’t help but feed that and give them more,” says Harris.
“As an educator, it’s really exciting when you see a child hungry for a particular kind of knowledge and you can’t help but feed that and give them more,” says Harris.
She stressed the importance of childhood reading as knowledge the children own themselves and as something to share with their friends. She also talked about the importance of book ownership for a child’s education.
“Reading is the number one way that young people get information.… Every time they get another book, they’re adding to their home library,” she says. “We’re also creating a book culture with children.”
To learn more about how you can support providing books to kids through BBF programs, visit our Shelf Help page, where you can donate to bring books to school library shelves in need.
Edward Ganthier is an intern with the Boston Book Festival in 2021 and an Emerson College graduate student.
This year’s Shelf Help Program applications are now open for school librarians. We talked with one of last year’s winners, Dave Barry of the English High School, to learn more about what prompted him to apply for the grant program, how it benefitted the library, and what it was like to have author Jerry Craft visit the school (albeit virtually!).
What prompted you to apply for the Shelf Help grant?
Debbie Froggatt, the head of library services for Boston Public Schools, shared the grant application with the school librarians at the end of last year and encouraged us all to apply. Librarians can’t pass up an opportunity for free books!
How has receiving the ShelfHelp Grant helped you in your role as a librarian?
It has really done wonders, especially as someone still relatively new in this role. I have met some great people and had the opportunity to grow a lot through the process. Carlin Carr from the Boston Book Festival has been outstanding from start to finish in ushering us through the process. I learned about book ordering from the folks at Mackin and the Boston Public Library. Reaching out to my colleagues for book ideas and to recruit students for the Craft visit helped me to get to know the staff at English High School better. Pam Yosca from Wondermore was fantastic in co-planning the Jerry Craft visit and is a great resource for future author visits. And of course, we were able to meet Jerry Craft, which was exciting and a lot of fun.
Reaching out to my colleagues for book ideas and to recruit students for the Craft visit helped me to get to know the staff at English High School better.
How has the grant benefitted English H.S.’s library and the school more broadly?
We now have over $1,000 worth of new books for our library collection. Close to 80 of Jerry Craft’s graphic novels have been distributed to students for them to read and enjoy. As a school, we’ve seen how much fun an author visit can be. Hopefully students will now be that much more likely to get excited about the next author visit and about reading itself.
The English High School now has $1,000 worth of new books in its collection from the Shelf Help Program.
What were some of the highlights for you?
The Craft visit was a highlight of the year for sure. He was wise and funny and made great connections with the students. Also, collaborating with Carlin from the Boston Book Festival and Pam from Wondermore were great parts of a strange year.
As a school, we’ve seen how much fun an author visit can be.
Were there any challenges you had to face?
One challenge was getting the Craft books into the hands of students when most of them were not in school on a regular basis. Some students came to school for the books and many books were dropped off at students’ homes too.
Do you have any plans to build on the momentum from the new books and the Jerry Craft visit in the year to come?
Author Jerry Craft created this personalized drawing for English High School during his online school visit.
Absolutely! We have all the new books on display right now. Students who are in the building have already begun to borrow them. Those will be a treasure for years to come. We look forward to working with Wondermore on more author visits for next year. Here’s a fun one: Jerry Craft drew a picture of Jordan (the protagonist from New Kid) saying hello to English High School. We are dropping that off at the framer’s and can’t wait to have that on the wall in the library.
Do you know a school library in need? We are very excited to announce that this year’s Shelf Help School Partnership Grant application is now open!
Many area schools lack the resources to fully stock their school libraries with contemporary, high-quality books. BBF’s Shelf Help Program aims to change that.
Our competitive grant program provides two winning school libraries (one K-8 and one 9-12) with new, locally relevant books to expand and update their collections. In addition, each school will have a memorable visit by an author or illustrator curated by Wondermore, a local organization dedicated to inspiring young readers.
Last year’s winners, the Rafael Hernández K-8 Dual Language School in Roxbury and the English High School, were treated to virtual visits by award-winning authors Juana Medina and Jerry Craft, respectively. Dave Barry, librarian at English had this to say after receiving the award, “To have Newbery and Coretta Scott King award winner Jerry Craft visit us in October will be a joy and a fantastic way to get everyone talking about reading.”
If you know a library professional at a school that needs some Shelf Help, please forward them this Request for Proposals, which has links to an online application. Applications will be open until May 31, 2021.
Eligibility:
A school with a dedicated library space
A school located within Greater Boston
A school with a dedicated library professional (paid or volunteer)
A school that has shelf space for at least 50 new books
A school that has the capacity to host an author/illustrator visit or the capacity to collaborate on an online event (coordinated by the Boston Book Festival and Wondermore)
Like books? Interested in going behind the scenes at New England’s premier literary event? The Boston Book Festival is seeking interns to help us prepare and execute the festival in October 2021. Given the circumstances of this year, we do not yet have all the details about what BBF 2021 will look like, so we are looking for interns who can be flexible as we determine how to host this beloved signature event in the city.
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For this year, we are looking for self-starters who have experience with the following: copywriting and editing; creating and maintaining documents and spreadsheets using Word, Excel, Google Drive, and Google Forms; and familiarity with website content management systems.
It would also be wonderful if you have familiarity with or a willingness to learn about: graphic design; social media marketing (on behalf of a brand, not just you!); communicating with media outlets and community organizations; and distributing marketing collateral.
We hope that you have excellent written and oral communication skills, are highly organized, motivated, project-oriented, willing to work on a team, and knowledgeable about and/or interested in some or all of the following: event production, logistics, project management, and (of course) literature! We really hope that you are fun, friendly, and eager to work with a small, committed group of people in a casual office environment. The good news/bad news is: everyone does everything! Some of it is boring but all of it is important.
The ideal candidate will be able to join the team in March and work through Thanksgiving 2021. Candidates can expect to work between 8 and 12 hours per week through May, and 12-15 hours per week through October. Hours and schedules are flexible; there may be evening hours for special events (plenty of advance notice will be given). We will be able to determine whether hours will be remote or in-person as we get closer to the internship start date.
We anticipate one evening event per month from March through August (some of these will likely be remote, so a good internet connection at home is key). You will also be expected to check your BBF email daily and respond as needed, even when you are not in the office. Boston Book Festival offices are located in Central Square, Cambridge.
Please send a cover letter and resume to Carlin Carr, carlin@bostonbookfest.org, and please specify any restrictions. Candidates who are invited to interview will be asked to provide a writing sample. Applications are due February 15th.
The Boston Book Festival has had a long-time partnership with Simmons University, especially its Department of Children’s Literature, with whom we collaborate on programming, volunteer opportunities, internships, session hosting, and more. We wanted to ask Cathryn Mercier, chair of the department, about what this partnership means for Simmons, especially this year.
What does a sponsorship of the BBF mean to Simmons and the Children’s Literature Department? How do Simmons faculty and students get involved with book festival events?
Our sponsorship invests in the reading lives of the youngest and future generations as they listen to keynote speakers, talk with artists, and meet writers. Our graduate students volunteer and become an immediate part of the reading lifeline of the city. Our faculty moderate conversations where authors share their creative process or give insight to some of the knots of writing. These are opportunities for illumination—of literature, of self, of community. Finally, we are so proud of the BBF and its work; we’re particularly proud that the event was imagined and founded by one of our graduates, Deborah Porter. The whole event celebrates the things our program values: readers and reading, young people and creativity, civic engagement and responsibility, familiar and new friends.
How is Simmons University engaged as an active member in civic conversations around Boston? Besides the BBF, how else do you see Simmons engaging with the community?
At Simmons, commitment to community based learning and research cultivates civic agency in students and faculty, promotes socially responsible leadership, and sees that the futures of the University and our city are inextricably connected in co-creating a just future. Students participate in everything from JumpState to middle-school pen-pal programs, and work at 826Boston and develop curriculum for graduate programs in social work, health studies, and library science, which all help place them in work and internship positions throughout city agencies, hospitals, and public service organizations. One example of faculty engagement includes scientists who study the health and ecology of the Muddy River.
What efforts have you seen at Simmons in general, and in the Children’s Literature Department more specifically, to create a sense of campus community during this period?
Our new University President, Dr Lynn Perry Wooten, gives us reason to celebrate the potential of what our community will become under her leadership. In the pandemic, she has focused on learning and relationships, and she sees higher education as needing to address systemic racism. Our community read, What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, began our discussion this year around “the role of developing citizens who are willing to fight to change the world.”
In ChLit, we host weekly “Virtual Book Nooks” and create programming that celebrates students: a graduate’s debut novel (Julieta and the Diamond Enigma by Luisana Duarte Amendariz), and an alumna’s (Autumn Allen) appointment as the 20–21 Children’s Writer in Residence at the BPL. The Ifill College’s Mentor-in-Residence program welcomes Boston’s activist artist Ekua Holmes in October—with many other larger programs planned for undergraduates out of our excellent Student Life Office. We build community day by day, person by person, relationship by relationship, even book by book. Is it harder on Zoom — yes! Is it impossible, no.
What are you most excited about when you think about the future of Simmons and your department?
I’m excited about Dr Lynn Perry Wooten, our first African American President and an inclusive leader, skilled in crisis management, and powerful in her commitment to positive leadership and diversity. I am always most excited about our students—the new writers, illustrators, teachers, librarians, publishers, booksellers, academics, critics, award committee judges—who change the world one book, one reader at a time. They believe in the power of the book to change the reader, and they charge the reader to change the world.
And back to the BBF before we close . . . you’ve attended many BBF events and moderated more than a few—what has been your favorite session to date, and what are you excited about this year?
This year I’m so pleased that Simmons will sponsor Jerry Craft’s keynote for young people. With words and images, Craft mixes hard truths with moments of liberating humor and asks us all to see the revolutionary in the quotidian.
My favorite past event, though, was the kind of serendipitous encounter that happens all the time at BBF. Kristin Cashore was speaking. I went to the location of her panel and waited in line. When my friend and I were about to be let in—the last people in what had been a long line and a long wait—the teenaged girl behind me wailed and grabbed her friend, nearly weeping, “Oh no! I have to tell her this book [Graceling] changed my life.” I looked at my friend, we nodded, then turned to the two young people and said, “Why don’t you take our seats?” I knew Kristin, I had taught her—she had already changed my life and, more than anything else, she deserved to know that she had changed this young reader’s life.
We are proud to join other businesses and organizations—many of them nonprofits and community institutions—in working with Greenough to craft compelling narratives about our organization and our programs. We recently sat down with Maria Kucinski, a VP at Greenough, to learn more about how they work with their clients.
How does Greenough provide a platform for diverse storytelling?
Our number one goal is to tell our clients’ stories in the most meaningful way possible. We work closely with our clients to help them identify compelling narratives that will engage the media. Our clients’ stories are told in international outlets like the Associated Press, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal, locally in the Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal, WBUR, and GBH and even closer to home in outlets like the East Boston Times and Patriot Ledger. Many Greenough team members are former journalists who have a “nose for the news” and the kinds of stories reporters would want to tell.
What is Greenough doing to engage in conversations around Boston?
We are driven by telling good stories, no matter the subject. On a local level, our work with East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) has showcased how the largest federally qualified health center in Massachusetts sprang into action at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide testing and other urgent resources to its community. For example, EBNHC launched a mobile pediatric vaccination van to make sure that local infants weren’t missing those crucial vaccines while the state was in lockdown. We’re grateful for the opportunity to work with a diversity of clients, from community health centers to major life sciences corporations and from grassroots immigrant advocacy organizations to corporate law firms, to tell their stories.
What does working with the BBF mean to Greenough?
As storytellers, we love working with BBF. Plus, we are inspired that the BBF has an enormous impact not just in the Boston community, but the rest of the country and world—especially as it goes virtual. And it’s accessible to anyone.
One of our favorite aspects of working with the BBF is the opportunity to promote the One City One Story winners. This year, we’ve had the pleasure of working with Grace Talusan on her piece, “The Book of Life and Death,” which served as another reminder of how the Boston Book Festival lifts up writers and gives them a platform to share their experiences. Grace’s story is poignant, heartbreaking, and timely, touching on all the themes of 2020: race, privilege, sacrifice.
And personally, I love to read and to learn, and that’s truly what BBF provides, an opportunity to learn.
Are there any particular BBF events you are looking forward to?
Yes! The BBF features so many panels on timely topics that really discuss the ethos in our world right now. I’m excited for “The Fierce Urgency of Now,” “The Color of Innovation: Women of Color in Tech,” “How to Be a Better Human,” and the keynote with Michael J. Sandel on The Tyranny of Merit. Also, since I recently completed my MBA, I’m excited to hear Katherine Gehl speak about her new book with Michael Porter, The Politics Industry in “American Elections: Is This the Best We Can Do?” And any of the panels moderated by our friends at WBUR.
Interdisciplinary. Social justice and community minded. Personalized and strong student-mentor model. These are just some of the ways Lesley University’s MFA program in Creative Writing continues to be regarded, and remains one of the top 10 low-residency writing programs in the nation by Poets & Writers magazine. Established in 2003, the program is praised by students and alums for its strong student-mentor model and the support they receive from the award-winning and dedicated faculty.
In addition to the expected creative writing and critical work that takes place in most MFA programs, the Lesley MFA program holds a space for cross-genre and cross-literary imagining with its interdisciplinary courses. This component of the Lesley curriculum allows students to look at writing and themselves, and explore the literary world through a variety of lenses—ultimately in the interest of deepening their writing and in support of their development as critical thinkers and literary citizens.
“This distinctive Interdisciplinary element,” says program director Danielle Legros Georges, “has the practical function of offering students theory and real-world experience in the teaching of writing, work in publishing, and the space of exploration of projects with social justice imperatives.” She adds, “Toni Morrison has remarked that ‘A writer’s life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity.’ We believe this to be true.”
A Lesley alum and the program’s associate director, Janet Pocorobba, notes “the support of the Lesley MFA community has allowed me to stay connected with my peers and get involved more deeply in literary culture both here and abroad. I keep writing and publishing as a result. The Lesley MFA has made my literary life richer, quite a bit more fun, and more open.”
Lesley University was founded in 1909 by Edith Lesley as a school for teachers of immigrant children arriving to the United States from Europe at the turn of the twentieth century. Questions of social justice have always figured prominently at Lesley and continue to do so across the curriculum and in Lesley’s programs.
Now in 2020, the Lesley MFA Program continues to change and grow in response to national and global events and social and political developments. Its next residency, taking place in January 2021, will be held virtually and will contain several public events including Creative Writing: Traditions, Practices, and Myths, a panel and space for the discussion and re-examination of the current MFA landscape. Be sure to check its events page closer to January for information on this free event—as well as for current events open to the public.
For more information on the Lesley University MFA program in Creative Writing, contact:
African American Heritage Massachusetts: “Know the past, to build the future.”
This brand celebrates the history and contributions of African Americans in Massachusetts. We need this knowledge today more than ever to empower our youth to recognize and achieve their great potential, and to inspire everyone with the compelling stories of these courageous leaders. This brand will include an array of products such as books, posters, notecards, calendars, placemats, magnets, and informational card sets. The first products, a tourist book, a coloring book, and a 2017 monthly calendar, were released in September of 2016.
African American Heritage in Massachusetts: Exploring the Legacy. Written by Rosalyn D. Elder with photographs by Delores Elder-Jones and Rosalyn D. Elder, this book explores 742 sites in 141 towns around the Commonwealth. It features the historical significance of those sites, photos of the sites, and illustrations of the individuals involved at those sites. Those histories include: Onesimus whose medical knowledge led to the development of inoculations to fight smallpox in 1721; Belinda Royall who filed the first successful reparations lawsuit in 1783; and Jan Matzeliger whose shoe lasting machine in 1883, led to the mass production of shoes. Retail: $21.95
African American Heritage in Massachusetts: A Coloring Book features 40 illustrations by local artist, Laurence Pierce and single page biographies written by Rosalyn Delores Elder. The biographies are of individuals who made important contributions to the state prior to the 20th century with one exception, Deval Patrick. Patrick’s election as the first African American governor of Massachusetts in November, 2006, marked a milestone in American history. The book features interactive games to further engage the reader. Retail: $13.95
African American Heritage in Massachusetts: 2017 Calendar is the first of what will be an annually produced calendar. This calendar highlights 214 significant dates in our state’s history. Written by Rosalyn D. Elder, the 2017 calendar features twelve photographs by Delores Elder-Jones and Rosalyn Delores Elder. The photographs depict public art sited around the state that celebrates this heritage. Retail: $14.95
Rosalyn Delores Elder, company founder, is a registered architect and entrepreneur with a passion for the arts, architecture and cities, and history. She received a B.A. in Art History from the University of Memphis, a Masters of Architecture Degree from the University of Washington, and a Masters of Architecture in Urban Design Degree from Harvard University. Ms. Elder founded and operated Treasured Legacy, an African American cultural boutique from 1992 to 1998 in Boston’s South End. Ms. Elder co-founded and operated Jamaicaway Books, a multi-cultural bookstore, in Jamaica Plain, MA, from 1998 until 2012.
Ms. Elder created this brand for two reasons. In 1998, as a high school senior, her daughter Anghara realized that racial stereotypes and ignorance still influenced the subconscious bias of educators and classmates thirty years after the murder of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Customers at both Treasured Legacy and Jamaicaway Books provided another reason when they regularly expressed frustration about the paucity of information about local African American history.
The company logo, Sankofa, is an Adrinka symbol from the Ashanti Region of Ghana in Africa. Sankofa, a depiction of a bird looking over its shoulder, literally means, “Go back and fetch it.”
Learn more about African American Heritage in Massachusetts, by clicking here.
Consequence is honored to present some of the most thought-provoking art and writing in our expanding online forum. We seek out work addressing political violence and the culture and consequences of war and give voice to the individual witness— combatant, victim or any person whose life is forever affected by his or her experience with war and political violence. We continue to provide writers and visual artists a global platform for their relevant work and to publish work by writers from all countries, writers who address war’s impact on their societies. Here’s some of our most recent work.
“Muffled”by Helen Zughaib (art feature, above image)
Plus recorded interviews and events with Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (The Mountains Sing), Teresa Fazio (“The Feminine Heroic” )and M.C. Armstrong (In Conversation with Andria Williams).
Poetry Meets Science at BBF’s Lit Crawl 2021
BBF is excited to host the Poetry of Science as part of this year’s all-outdoors Lit Crawl in Central Square, Cambridge!
The Poetry of Science is a project aimed at addressing the lack of representation for People of Color (POC) in both poetry and the sciences. Their session at Lit Crawl Boston 2021, “Poetry+Science: New Realities,” will be their first demonstration of the similarities between the sciences and humanities. Joshua Sariñana, their director, was able to answer a few questions about Poetry of Science ahead of June 10.
BBF: Could you tell us a little about your presenters for Poetry of Science?
Joshua: Our seven presenters, selected by Jean-Dany Joachim, Cambridge Poet Populist from 2009 to 2011, are local poets of color, each of whom has a connection to the City of Cambridge. We have a great selection that includes emerging talent and notable poets, each with their own style and voice. We believe our selected poets will find a deep running connection among the stories of their scientist collaborators.
[For the Poetry of Science project], poets will be meeting with scientists from fields that include quantum mechanics, social robotics, and radiology at the intersection of experimental design and neuroaesthetics; learning their motivations, research, and stories; and crafting original poetry about them. At the Lit Crawl, each will be presenting one poem that has, so far, come forth from this work.
BBF: What do you hope attendees and viewers at Lit Crawl Boston 2021 will take away from your “Poetry+Science: New Realities” session?
Joshua: In the true spirit of poetry, we are hoping to convey a great deal through a few strategically placed, powerful words. For one, and central to this project, is representation. Our mission as a project is to reveal and give voice to representation of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian and Pacific Islander, and People of Color’s experiences in the fields of poetry, the sciences, and the arts. We also aim to create new and positive links between People of Color, the arts, and the sciences to counter the negative associations handed down by systemic racism. The larger goal is to create novel realities, an aesthetic to resist systems of oppression. This is our first public display of those efforts.
Our hope is that the community and various audiences will feel the underlying current that bridges poetry and the sciences. Both are fields of passion centered around intimate details and original viewpoints, and, we believe, understand the awe in the work of each other. Both observers, they teach us about the world and ourselves. We are excited for attendees to access a new language of that synthesis.
BBF: How does Poetry of Science plan to change the racial disparities associated in the arts and sciences?
Joshua: Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and People of Color lack representation in many settings as compared to the percentage of the population they represent. There is a profound lack of diversity in publishing, which means we miss out on the voices of these poets and creative writers. Photography and mainstream media are bereft of, or misrepresent, POCs. And the racial/ethnic disparities we see across the sciences—so near to the heart of Cambridge itself—are stark.
Our project gives contributing poets the opportunity to publish new work, and offer the scientists an avenue to understand their work in a new language, bridging the gap between the sciences and the humanities—an analogous gesture in linking and strengthening distinct communities of color.
BBF: Why has Poetry of Science decided to participate in Lit Crawl Boston 2021?
Joshua: Lit Crawl Boston is a celebration of literature, of culture, of voice. Sadly, the voices of poets and writers of color are often silenced when they should be heard and celebrated. To that end, we believe that participating in this effort helps rightly center the beautiful and talented voices of our local poets of color, and that by sharing their words with more members of the literary community, we can make a larger impact and progress toward our ultimate goals.
Come and see Poetry of Science’s unique project using the best of the humanities and the sciences. You can find more information on Poetry of Science, and our other presenters. Be sure to keep up to date as we approach Lit Crawl Boston 2021!
This interview was conducted by Edward Ganthier, an intern with the Boston Book Festival in 2021 and an Emerson College graduate student.
BBF’s Roxbury Book Giveaway Keeps Reading Alive through Pandemic
By Edward Ganthier
The BBF may have gone virtual over the last year, but the festival has remained as committed as ever to getting physical books in the hands of kids. Over the last few weeks, the BBF, in collaboration with Madison Park Development Center (MPDC) and the Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library made good on that commitment, delivering hundreds of new books and BBF swag bags to kids throughout the Roxbury community.
BBF’s founder and board chair, Deborah Z Porter, conceived of the Roxbury Book Giveaway after reading about how the principal at the Rafael Hernández K-8 Dual-Language School in Roxbury, the winner of BBF’s 2020 Shelf Help grant, emptied the library’s shelves at the beginning of the pandemic to ensure kids had something to read at home during the lockdown.
“That story really touched me deeply,” says Porter. “I thought that perhaps the BBF could mobilize to get books to more Boston school kids.”
Several BBF board members stepped up and contributed to fund the book buy. BBF’s executive director, Norah Piehl, bought over 200 popular titles from First Book, a discounted book marketplace for educators and non-profits, as well hundreds more from Frugal Bookstore in Roxbury. Many of the book titles – from Nate the Great to Magic Mermaid – were provided by Philecia Harris, children’s librarian at the Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library, to ensure the books were popular with kids in the neighborhood.
The first delivery of books went to Madison Park. The housing development offers many community programs for resident families, but like most activities during the pandemic, the majority have become remote. However, thanks to the efforts of Leslie Stafford, MDPC’s health equity and wellness coordinator, the children were still able to receive the BBF tote bags filled with books and goodies.
Children from Madison Park Development Corporation received BBF book bags with a new book and goodies.
“The books are being used to increase the brain development of our children that are being homeschooled,” says Stafford. She says the children specifically enjoy bedtime stories, gardening, and books about kids who look like them. “Most of the kids are avid readers. Sometimes I like to challenge those who are struggling to read a page to me aloud so I can encourage them that they can do it,” says Stafford.
The last stop on the BBF Roxbury Book Giveaway was the Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library. Although the library remains closed to in-person activities, Philecia Harris, the children’s librarian, still managed to distribute the books and goodies to local families. She loaded boxes of books into her car and dropped them at doorsteps, ensuring that even with a pandemic, the books were going to get to the kids who most needed them. Inside the boxes were books popular at the Roxbury branch, including Shuri: The Vanished by Nic Stones and the author Rick Riordan. Next month, Harris will be distributing books at Nathan Hale Elementary after reading to the children there.
“As an educator, it’s really exciting when you see a child hungry for a particular kind of knowledge and you can’t help but feed that and give them more,” says Harris.
She stressed the importance of childhood reading as knowledge the children own themselves and as something to share with their friends. She also talked about the importance of book ownership for a child’s education.
“Reading is the number one way that young people get information.… Every time they get another book, they’re adding to their home library,” she says. “We’re also creating a book culture with children.”
To learn more about how you can support providing books to kids through BBF programs, visit our Shelf Help page, where you can donate to bring books to school library shelves in need.
Edward Ganthier is an intern with the Boston Book Festival in 2021 and an Emerson College graduate student.
Q&A with Dave Barry, Librarian at the English High School and 2020 Shelf Help Winner
This year’s Shelf Help Program applications are now open for school librarians. We talked with one of last year’s winners, Dave Barry of the English High School, to learn more about what prompted him to apply for the grant program, how it benefitted the library, and what it was like to have author Jerry Craft visit the school (albeit virtually!).
What prompted you to apply for the Shelf Help grant?
Debbie Froggatt, the head of library services for Boston Public Schools, shared the grant application with the school librarians at the end of last year and encouraged us all to apply. Librarians can’t pass up an opportunity for free books!
How has receiving the ShelfHelp Grant helped you in your role as a librarian?
It has really done wonders, especially as someone still relatively new in this role. I have met some great people and had the opportunity to grow a lot through the process. Carlin Carr from the Boston Book Festival has been outstanding from start to finish in ushering us through the process. I learned about book ordering from the folks at Mackin and the Boston Public Library. Reaching out to my colleagues for book ideas and to recruit students for the Craft visit helped me to get to know the staff at English High School better. Pam Yosca from Wondermore was fantastic in co-planning the Jerry Craft visit and is a great resource for future author visits. And of course, we were able to meet Jerry Craft, which was exciting and a lot of fun.
How has the grant benefitted English H.S.’s library and the school more broadly?
We now have over $1,000 worth of new books for our library collection. Close to 80 of Jerry Craft’s graphic novels have been distributed to students for them to read and enjoy. As a school, we’ve seen how much fun an author visit can be. Hopefully students will now be that much more likely to get excited about the next author visit and about reading itself.
The English High School now has $1,000 worth of new books in its collection from the Shelf Help Program.
What were some of the highlights for you?
The Craft visit was a highlight of the year for sure. He was wise and funny and made great connections with the students. Also, collaborating with Carlin from the Boston Book Festival and Pam from Wondermore were great parts of a strange year.
Were there any challenges you had to face?
One challenge was getting the Craft books into the hands of students when most of them were not in school on a regular basis. Some students came to school for the books and many books were dropped off at students’ homes too.
Do you have any plans to build on the momentum from the new books and the Jerry Craft visit in the year to come?
Author Jerry Craft created this personalized drawing for English High School during his online school visit.
Absolutely! We have all the new books on display right now. Students who are in the building have already begun to borrow them. Those will be a treasure for years to come. We look forward to working with Wondermore on more author visits for next year. Here’s a fun one: Jerry Craft drew a picture of Jordan (the protagonist from New Kid) saying hello to English High School. We are dropping that off at the framer’s and can’t wait to have that on the wall in the library.
Learn more about applying for this year’s Shelf Help School Partnership program and apply online by May 31, 2021.
Calling All School Librarians: BBF Shelf Help Applications Now Open
Do you know a school library in need? We are very excited to announce that this year’s Shelf Help School Partnership Grant application is now open!
Many area schools lack the resources to fully stock their school libraries with contemporary, high-quality books. BBF’s Shelf Help Program aims to change that.
Our competitive grant program provides two winning school libraries (one K-8 and one 9-12) with new, locally relevant books to expand and update their collections. In addition, each school will have a memorable visit by an author or illustrator curated by Wondermore, a local organization dedicated to inspiring young readers.
Last year’s winners, the Rafael Hernández K-8 Dual Language School in Roxbury and the English High School, were treated to virtual visits by award-winning authors Juana Medina and Jerry Craft, respectively. Dave Barry, librarian at English had this to say after receiving the award, “To have Newbery and Coretta Scott King award winner Jerry Craft visit us in October will be a joy and a fantastic way to get everyone talking about reading.”
If you know a library professional at a school that needs some Shelf Help, please forward them this Request for Proposals, which has links to an online application. Applications will be open until May 31, 2021.
Eligibility:
Read more about the English High School’s Shelf Help grant and how librarian Dave Barry planned to get students “jazzed” about reading.
Read about how the Hernández School emptied its shelves during the pandemic and how Shelf Help worked to restock them.
Apply: BBF 2021 Festival Internship Apps Now Open
Like books? Interested in going behind the scenes at New England’s premier literary event? The Boston Book Festival is seeking interns to help us prepare and execute the festival in October 2021. Given the circumstances of this year, we do not yet have all the details about what BBF 2021 will look like, so we are looking for interns who can be flexible as we determine how to host this beloved signature event in the city.
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For this year, we are looking for self-starters who have experience with the following: copywriting and editing; creating and maintaining documents and spreadsheets using Word, Excel, Google Drive, and Google Forms; and familiarity with website content management systems.
It would also be wonderful if you have familiarity with or a willingness to learn about: graphic design; social media marketing (on behalf of a brand, not just you!); communicating with media outlets and community organizations; and distributing marketing collateral.
We hope that you have excellent written and oral communication skills, are highly organized, motivated, project-oriented, willing to work on a team, and knowledgeable about and/or interested in some or all of the following: event production, logistics, project management, and (of course) literature! We really hope that you are fun, friendly, and eager to work with a small, committed group of people in a casual office environment. The good news/bad news is: everyone does everything! Some of it is boring but all of it is important.
The ideal candidate will be able to join the team in March and work through Thanksgiving 2021. Candidates can expect to work between 8 and 12 hours per week through May, and 12-15 hours per week through October. Hours and schedules are flexible; there may be evening hours for special events (plenty of advance notice will be given). We will be able to determine whether hours will be remote or in-person as we get closer to the internship start date.
We anticipate one evening event per month from March through August (some of these will likely be remote, so a good internet connection at home is key). You will also be expected to check your BBF email daily and respond as needed, even when you are not in the office. Boston Book Festival offices are located in Central Square, Cambridge.
Please send a cover letter and resume to Carlin Carr, carlin@bostonbookfest.org, and please specify any restrictions. Candidates who are invited to interview will be asked to provide a writing sample. Applications are due February 15th.
Q&A with Cathryn Mercier, Chair of the Children’s Literature Department at Simmons
The Boston Book Festival has had a long-time partnership with Simmons University, especially its Department of Children’s Literature, with whom we collaborate on programming, volunteer opportunities, internships, session hosting, and more. We wanted to ask Cathryn Mercier, chair of the department, about what this partnership means for Simmons, especially this year.
What does a sponsorship of the BBF mean to Simmons and the Children’s Literature Department? How do Simmons faculty and students get involved with book festival events?
Our sponsorship invests in the reading lives of the youngest and future generations as they listen to keynote speakers, talk with artists, and meet writers. Our graduate students volunteer and become an immediate part of the reading lifeline of the city. Our faculty moderate conversations where authors share their creative process or give insight to some of the knots of writing. These are opportunities for illumination—of literature, of self, of community. Finally, we are so proud of the BBF and its work; we’re particularly proud that the event was imagined and founded by one of our graduates, Deborah Porter. The whole event celebrates the things our program values: readers and reading, young people and creativity, civic engagement and responsibility, familiar and new friends.
How is Simmons University engaged as an active member in civic conversations around Boston? Besides the BBF, how else do you see Simmons engaging with the community?
At Simmons, commitment to community based learning and research cultivates civic agency in students and faculty, promotes socially responsible leadership, and sees that the futures of the University and our city are inextricably connected in co-creating a just future. Students participate in everything from JumpState to middle-school pen-pal programs, and work at 826Boston and develop curriculum for graduate programs in social work, health studies, and library science, which all help place them in work and internship positions throughout city agencies, hospitals, and public service organizations. One example of faculty engagement includes scientists who study the health and ecology of the Muddy River.
What efforts have you seen at Simmons in general, and in the Children’s Literature Department more specifically, to create a sense of campus community during this period?
Our new University President, Dr Lynn Perry Wooten, gives us reason to celebrate the potential of what our community will become under her leadership. In the pandemic, she has focused on learning and relationships, and she sees higher education as needing to address systemic racism. Our community read, What the Eyes Don’t See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, began our discussion this year around “the role of developing citizens who are willing to fight to change the world.”
In ChLit, we host weekly “Virtual Book Nooks” and create programming that celebrates students: a graduate’s debut novel (Julieta and the Diamond Enigma by Luisana Duarte Amendariz), and an alumna’s (Autumn Allen) appointment as the 20–21 Children’s Writer in Residence at the BPL. The Ifill College’s Mentor-in-Residence program welcomes Boston’s activist artist Ekua Holmes in October—with many other larger programs planned for undergraduates out of our excellent Student Life Office. We build community day by day, person by person, relationship by relationship, even book by book. Is it harder on Zoom — yes! Is it impossible, no.
What are you most excited about when you think about the future of Simmons and your department?
I’m excited about Dr Lynn Perry Wooten, our first African American President and an inclusive leader, skilled in crisis management, and powerful in her commitment to positive leadership and diversity. I am always most excited about our students—the new writers, illustrators, teachers, librarians, publishers, booksellers, academics, critics, award committee judges—who change the world one book, one reader at a time. They believe in the power of the book to change the reader, and they charge the reader to change the world.
And back to the BBF before we close . . . you’ve attended many BBF events and moderated more than a few—what has been your favorite session to date, and what are you excited about this year?
This year I’m so pleased that Simmons will sponsor Jerry Craft’s keynote for young people. With words and images, Craft mixes hard truths with moments of liberating humor and asks us all to see the revolutionary in the quotidian.
My favorite past event, though, was the kind of serendipitous encounter that happens all the time at BBF. Kristin Cashore was speaking. I went to the location of her panel and waited in line. When my friend and I were about to be let in—the last people in what had been a long line and a long wait—the teenaged girl behind me wailed and grabbed her friend, nearly weeping, “Oh no! I have to tell her this book [Graceling] changed my life.” I looked at my friend, we nodded, then turned to the two young people and said, “Why don’t you take our seats?” I knew Kristin, I had taught her—she had already changed my life and, more than anything else, she deserved to know that she had changed this young reader’s life.
Q&A with Maria Kucinski at Greenough
We are proud to join other businesses and organizations—many of them nonprofits and community institutions—in working with Greenough to craft compelling narratives about our organization and our programs. We recently sat down with Maria Kucinski, a VP at Greenough, to learn more about how they work with their clients.
How does Greenough provide a platform for diverse storytelling?
Our number one goal is to tell our clients’ stories in the most meaningful way possible. We work closely with our clients to help them identify compelling narratives that will engage the media. Our clients’ stories are told in international outlets like the Associated Press, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal, locally in the Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal, WBUR, and GBH and even closer to home in outlets like the East Boston Times and Patriot Ledger. Many Greenough team members are former journalists who have a “nose for the news” and the kinds of stories reporters would want to tell.
What is Greenough doing to engage in conversations around Boston?
We are driven by telling good stories, no matter the subject. On a local level, our work with East Boston Neighborhood Health Center (EBNHC) has showcased how the largest federally qualified health center in Massachusetts sprang into action at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to provide testing and other urgent resources to its community. For example, EBNHC launched a mobile pediatric vaccination van to make sure that local infants weren’t missing those crucial vaccines while the state was in lockdown. We’re grateful for the opportunity to work with a diversity of clients, from community health centers to major life sciences corporations and from grassroots immigrant advocacy organizations to corporate law firms, to tell their stories.
What does working with the BBF mean to Greenough?
As storytellers, we love working with BBF. Plus, we are inspired that the BBF has an enormous impact not just in the Boston community, but the rest of the country and world—especially as it goes virtual. And it’s accessible to anyone.
One of our favorite aspects of working with the BBF is the opportunity to promote the One City One Story winners. This year, we’ve had the pleasure of working with Grace Talusan on her piece, “The Book of Life and Death,” which served as another reminder of how the Boston Book Festival lifts up writers and gives them a platform to share their experiences. Grace’s story is poignant, heartbreaking, and timely, touching on all the themes of 2020: race, privilege, sacrifice.
And personally, I love to read and to learn, and that’s truly what BBF provides, an opportunity to learn.
Are there any particular BBF events you are looking forward to?
Yes! The BBF features so many panels on timely topics that really discuss the ethos in our world right now. I’m excited for “The Fierce Urgency of Now,” “The Color of Innovation: Women of Color in Tech,” “How to Be a Better Human,” and the keynote with Michael J. Sandel on The Tyranny of Merit. Also, since I recently completed my MBA, I’m excited to hear Katherine Gehl speak about her new book with Michael Porter, The Politics Industry in “American Elections: Is This the Best We Can Do?” And any of the panels moderated by our friends at WBUR.
Writing is a Necessity to Humankind: An Inside Look at Lesley University’s MFA program in Creative Writing
Interdisciplinary. Social justice and community minded. Personalized and strong student-mentor model. These are just some of the ways Lesley University’s MFA program in Creative Writing continues to be regarded, and remains one of the top 10 low-residency writing programs in the nation by Poets & Writers magazine. Established in 2003, the program is praised by students and alums for its strong student-mentor model and the support they receive from the award-winning and dedicated faculty.
In addition to the expected creative writing and critical work that takes place in most MFA programs, the Lesley MFA program holds a space for cross-genre and cross-literary imagining with its interdisciplinary courses. This component of the Lesley curriculum allows students to look at writing and themselves, and explore the literary world through a variety of lenses—ultimately in the interest of deepening their writing and in support of their development as critical thinkers and literary citizens.
“This distinctive Interdisciplinary element,” says program director Danielle Legros Georges, “has the practical function of offering students theory and real-world experience in the teaching of writing, work in publishing, and the space of exploration of projects with social justice imperatives.” She adds, “Toni Morrison has remarked that ‘A writer’s life and work are not a gift to mankind; they are its necessity.’ We believe this to be true.”
A Lesley alum and the program’s associate director, Janet Pocorobba, notes “the support of the Lesley MFA community has allowed me to stay connected with my peers and get involved more deeply in literary culture both here and abroad. I keep writing and publishing as a result. The Lesley MFA has made my literary life richer, quite a bit more fun, and more open.”
Lesley University was founded in 1909 by Edith Lesley as a school for teachers of immigrant children arriving to the United States from Europe at the turn of the twentieth century. Questions of social justice have always figured prominently at Lesley and continue to do so across the curriculum and in Lesley’s programs.
Now in 2020, the Lesley MFA Program continues to change and grow in response to national and global events and social and political developments. Its next residency, taking place in January 2021, will be held virtually and will contain several public events including Creative Writing: Traditions, Practices, and Myths, a panel and space for the discussion and re-examination of the current MFA landscape. Be sure to check its events page closer to January for information on this free event—as well as for current events open to the public.
For more information on the Lesley University MFA program in Creative Writing, contact:
Danielle Legros Georges, Program Director, dgeorges@lesley.edu
Alyssa Baker, Associate Director, Graduate Admissions, abaker18@lesley.edu
Also see:
Why We Write Podcast
Lesley MFA Writers Facebook
#LesleyWriters
Architect and Bookseller, Rosalyn Delores Elder, Launches a New Brand: African American Heritage Massachusetts
African American Heritage Massachusetts: “Know the past, to build the future.”
This brand celebrates the history and contributions of African Americans in Massachusetts. We need this knowledge today more than ever to empower our youth to recognize and achieve their great potential, and to inspire everyone with the compelling stories of these courageous leaders. This brand will include an array of products such as books, posters, notecards, calendars, placemats, magnets, and informational card sets. The first products, a tourist book, a coloring book, and a 2017 monthly calendar, were released in September of 2016.
African American Heritage in Massachusetts: Exploring the Legacy. Written by Rosalyn D. Elder with photographs by Delores Elder-Jones and Rosalyn D. Elder, this book explores 742 sites in 141 towns around the Commonwealth. It features the historical significance of those sites, photos of the sites, and illustrations of the individuals involved at those sites. Those histories include: Onesimus whose medical knowledge led to the development of inoculations to fight smallpox in 1721; Belinda Royall who filed the first successful reparations lawsuit in 1783; and Jan Matzeliger whose shoe lasting machine in 1883, led to the mass production of shoes. Retail: $21.95
African American Heritage in Massachusetts: A Coloring Book features 40 illustrations by local artist, Laurence Pierce and single page biographies written by Rosalyn Delores Elder. The biographies are of individuals who made important contributions to the state prior to the 20th century with one exception, Deval Patrick. Patrick’s election as the first African American governor of Massachusetts in November, 2006, marked a milestone in American history. The book features interactive games to further engage the reader. Retail: $13.95
African American Heritage in Massachusetts: 2017 Calendar is the first of what will be an annually produced calendar. This calendar highlights 214 significant dates in our state’s history. Written by Rosalyn D. Elder, the 2017 calendar features twelve photographs by Delores Elder-Jones and Rosalyn Delores Elder. The photographs depict public art sited around the state that celebrates this heritage. Retail: $14.95
Rosalyn Delores Elder, company founder, is a registered architect and entrepreneur with a passion for the arts, architecture and cities, and history. She received a B.A. in Art History from the University of Memphis, a Masters of Architecture Degree from the University of Washington, and a Masters of Architecture in Urban Design Degree from Harvard University. Ms. Elder founded and operated Treasured Legacy, an African American cultural boutique from 1992 to 1998 in Boston’s South End. Ms. Elder co-founded and operated Jamaicaway Books, a multi-cultural bookstore, in Jamaica Plain, MA, from 1998 until 2012.
Ms. Elder created this brand for two reasons. In 1998, as a high school senior, her daughter Anghara realized that racial stereotypes and ignorance still influenced the subconscious bias of educators and classmates thirty years after the murder of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Customers at both Treasured Legacy and Jamaicaway Books provided another reason when they regularly expressed frustration about the paucity of information about local African American history.
The company logo, Sankofa, is an Adrinka symbol from the Ashanti Region of Ghana in Africa. Sankofa, a depiction of a bird looking over its shoulder, literally means, “Go back and fetch it.”
Learn more about African American Heritage in Massachusetts, by clicking here.
Consequence Magazine’s Most-recent Work
Consequence is honored to present some of the most thought-provoking art and writing in our expanding online forum. We seek out work addressing political violence and the culture and consequences of war and give voice to the individual witness— combatant, victim or any person whose life is forever affected by his or her experience with war and political violence. We continue to provide writers and visual artists a global platform for their relevant work and to publish work by writers from all countries, writers who address war’s impact on their societies. Here’s some of our most recent work.
“Muffled” by Helen Zughaib (art feature, above image)
“Black Sea” by Anastasia Kozak (fiction)
“Remembering the Alchemists” by Richard Hoffman (nonfiction)
“Ignobled in Indianapolis” by Kermit Frazier
“Blue People Reading” by William Doreski (poetry)
“Old Soldier, Lower East Side” by David Salner (poetry)
“Blue Swee” by Shalom Gorewitz (video)
Plus recorded interviews and events with Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai (The Mountains Sing), Teresa Fazio (“The Feminine Heroic” )and M.C. Armstrong (In Conversation with Andria Williams).
Check out Consequence Online.
The header art is titled “Muffled” by Helen Zughaib.