Poetry in Community: Poetry Reading and Conversation

Weds., Dec. 3, Poetry in Community: Poetry Reading and Conversation with  January Gill O’Neil, Daniel Brock Johnson & Regie Gibson

6:30-8:00 p.m., Kennedy Auditorium, K406 [Open mic following at 8:15 p.m.]

Three poets read their work then converse about how they engage communities in poetry and why they think poetry serves a meeting place for many different communities.

January Gill O’Neil is a professor at Salem State University and the author of Glitter Road (2024), Rewilding (2018), Misery Islands (2014), and Underlife (2009), all published by CavanKerry Press. Glitter Road won the 2024 Poetry by the Sea Best Book Award and the Julia Ward Howe Prize in poetry from the Boston Authors Club; was a finalist for the New England Book Award, the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award, and the Julie Suk Award; and is finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award. From 2012 to 2018, she served as executive director of the Massachusetts Poetry Festival. Her poems and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, The Nation, American Poetry Review, the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day series, Sierra, and more. Her poem “At the Rededication of the Emmett Till Memorial” won a 2022 Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award. A recipient of fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Cave Canem, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, O’Neil was the 2019–2020 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi. She lives in Beverly, Massachusetts, and chairs the AWP Board of Trustees (2022–2025).

Daniel Brock Johnson is the author of Shadow Act: An Elegy for Journalist James Foley, published by McSweeney’s and longlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award. Previously, Johnson published How to Catch a Falling Knife with Alice James Books. In 2019, the City of Boston commissioned Johnson to draft lines of poetry for the twin memorials commemorating the Boston Marathon bombings. Johnson’s poetry has been featured in outlets such as National Public Radio, PBS NewsHour, The Washington Post, and in a variety of publications including Best American Poetry, Tin House, and I Have My Own Song for It: Modern Poems of Ohio. For nearly a decade, Johnson served as the founding executive director of 826 Boston. Currently, he works as the executive director of Mass Poetry. Learn more at .

Poet, songwriter, author, workshop facilitator, educator and current Poet Laureate of Massachusetts, Regie Gibson has performed, taught, and lectured at schools, universities, theaters and various other venues on two continents and in seven countries including Havana Cuba. Regie and his work appear in the New Line Cinema film love jones, based largely on events in his life. The poem entitled "Brother to the Night (A Blues for Nina)" appears on the movie soundtrack and is performed by the film's star, Larenz Tate. Regie performed "Hey Nappyhead" in the film with world-renowned percussionist and composer Kahil El Zabar, composer of the score for The Lion King musical.  

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