The Hyde Park Creative Connector

NEPC @ The Menino: Jean Flanagan, Kevin Carey, Colleen Michaels
2025-05-10 14:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | The Menino Art Center, 26 Central Ave, Hyde Park, MA, United States
NEPC @ The Menino: Jean Flanagan, Kevin Carey, Colleen Michaels
Join the New England Poetry Club on May 10, as we return to the Menino Arts Center, in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood. Our featured poets will be Jean Flanagan, Colleen Michaels, and Kevin Carey, with an open mic will follow.
The Menino Arts Center is an accessible venue, with a wheelchair ramp into the building and an elevator to the second floor. We’re grateful to Home Scholars of Boston for their generous sponsorship.
For more information about the poets: https://nepoetryclub.org/event/nepc-the-menino-jean-flanagan-kevin-carey-colleen-michaels/

2nd Thursday Poetry Reading: Kalogeris, Massey, Schwartz, Walsh
2025-05-08 19:00 - 21:00 | The Menino Art Center, 26 Central Ave, Hyde Park, MA, United States
2nd Thursday Poetry Reading with George Kalogeris, Grace Massey, Lloyd Schwartz, Mark Walsh
This free poetry reading at the MAC will have an Open Mic before the featured speakers. Refreshments will be served.
**Please note that with four featured readers we will need to limit the number of speakers at the Open Mic to 10. Signup will be that night before the reading.**
George Kalogeris’s most recent book of poems is Winthropos, (Louisiana State University, 2021). His poems and translations have been anthologized in Joining Music with Reason, chosen by Christopher Ricks (Waywiser, 2010). He is the winner of the James Dickey Poetry Prize, the Stephen J. Meringoff Award, and the Sheila Margaret Motton Prize.
Grace Massey is a poet, classical ballet and Baroque dancer, gardener, and socializer of feral cats. Grace was a social studies editor at Pearson Education for many years and has degrees in English from Smith College and Boston University. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Quartet, Thimble, Lily Poetry Review, One Art, RockPaperPoem, and Ibbetson Street. Her chapbook, A Future with Bromeliads, was a finalist in the Moonstone Arts Center chapbook contest and the Jessie Bryce Niles chapbook contest. A Future with Bromeliads is available from RiverGlassBooks, which contributes the proceeds from sales of their chapbooks to the Artists for Climate Justice Fund. https://www.gracemasseypoet.com
Lloyd Schwartz is poet laureate of Somerville, the Frederick S. Troy Professor of English Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and a longtime arts critic for NPR’s Fresh Air. He’s published five books of poetry, a collection of his music reviews, and has edited three volumes devoted to the works of Elizabeth Bishop. Among his honors are the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, NEA, and Academy of American Poets for his poetry. His poems have been selected for the Pushcart Prize, The Best American Poetry, and The Best of the Best American Poetry. His next collection, “Artur Schnabel and Josepf Szigeti Play Mozart at the Frick Collection (April 4, 1948)” and other poems will appear next year from Arrowsmith Press.
Mark Walsh is an English professor at Massasoit Community College in Brockton, MA, where he teaches literature and philosophy. Recently, he was the head judge of the selection committee for the City of Brockton’s first-ever Youth Poet Laureate. He is an associate editor for The Lily Poetry Review, and his journalism has appeared in The South Shore News & The Marshfield Mariner. His Chapbook, In The Garden of Fortune, was published by Lily Poetry Review Books in May of 2024. Recent poetry publications include Abandoned Mine, Rituals, Choeofpleirn Press and Nixes Mate.
More info on MAC poetry readings at http://www.hpaa-mac.org/poetry-readings/.

POETRY READING at The Library
2025-04-26 11:00 - 12:30 | Hyde Park Branch of the Boston Public Library, 35 Harvard Avenue, Boston, MA, 02136, United States
POETRY READING Featuring Amy Alvarez and Linda Carney-Goodrich
Amy M. Alvarez is the author of the poetry collection Makeshift Altar (2024) and the co-editor of Essential Voices: A COVID-19 Anthology(2023). Selected as one of 2022’s Best New Poets, her poetry has appeared in Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Poetry Foundation, Colorado Review, and elsewhere. She has been awarded fellowships from CantoMundo, VONA, Macondo, the Virginia Creative Arts Center, and the Furious Flower Poetry Center. In 2022, she was inducted as an Affrilachian Poet. Amy was born in New York City to Jamaican and Puerto Rican parents. She has taught at high schools in the Bronx, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts, and at West Virginia University. She currently teaches at Boston College.
https://amymalvarez.com/
Linda Carney-Goodrich is a writer and teacher from Boston. Her first book of poetry, Dot Girl(Nixes Mate Books, 2024) was a finalist for the New England Poetry Club’s Sheila Margaret Motton Prize. Her poems have been displayed at Boston City Hall and have appeared in Lily Poetry Review, The MacGuffin, Literary Mama, Muddy River, Anti-Heroin Chic, and Gyroscope Review, among others. Linda is the Poetry Coordinator for the Menino Art Center in Hyde Park and owner of Home Scholars of Boston.
https://lindacarneygoodrich.com/
Accessibility Notice: We strive to make our events accessible. To request a disability accommodation and/or language services, please contact mkelly@bpl.org or call (617) 569-0271. Please allow at least two weeks to arrange accommodation.

Open Mic @ The Switch
2025-04-23 19:00 - 21:00 | The Switch, 21 Fairmount Ave., Hyde Park, MA, 02136
Poets, Musicians, Storytellers, and More
Featuring Musical Artist: Andrew Krahn
WEDNESDAY
April 23rd
7PM to 9PM
21 Fairmount Ave
Hyde Park
FREE and Open to ALL

MAC 2nd Thursday Poetry Readings: Featuring Magdalena Gómez, Linda Carney-Goodrich, U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo
2025-04-10 19:00 - 21:00 | Menino Arts Center, 26 Central Avenue, Boston, MA, 02136, United States
Magdalena Gómez, Poet Laureate of Springfield, MA (2019-2022) and an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow (2021-2022) has been a cultural worker since 1976. Her memoir noir, Mi’ja, received the 2024 International Latino Book Award, in the autobiography category. In 2019 she received the Latinas 50 Plus Literature Award at Fordham University and the Latinx Excellence on the Hill Award from the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus of MA at the State House. Her solo play on iconoclastic Puerto Rican labor leader, activist, feminist and journalist Luisa Capetillo, (October 28, 1879 – April 10, 1922) is included in The Routledge Companion to Latine Theatre and Performance (2024). Ms. Gómez has been a volunteer writer for An African American Point of View for over fourteen years. She was the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Springfield’s first intergenerational Latinx theater, Teatro V!da and the youth open mic series, Ign!te the M!c – from 2006 – 2020. She also initiated and helped launch the first public LGBTQIA2S+ open mic series in Western Massachusetts at the Bing Arts Center. She is currently working on the sequel to her memoir, a new collection of poetry, and a new multi-media solo show based on her memoir. Ms. Gómez is currently a Commissioner with the Massachusetts Commission in the Status of Women for Hampden County and a Trustee with the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. www.mijamemoir.com
Linda Carney-Goodrich,is a writer and teacher from Boston. She is the author of Dot Girl (Nixes Mate Books, 2024) which was a finalist for New England Poetry Club’s 2024 Sheila Margaret Motton Book Prize. Her work has appeared in Lily Poetry Review, The MacGuffin, Literary Mama, Anti-Heroin Chic, Muddy River, Gyroscope Review, Wordgathering Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature, among others. Her story, “Park Street Station” won third prize in the 2024 Boston in 100 Words Contest and her poems have been displayed at Boston City Hall as part of the Boston Mayor’s Poetry Program. Her one person shows include The Secret Childhood Diary of a Welfare Mother and My Life in Barbie. Linda has a Masters from Harvard Graduate School of Education and has taught people of all ages and backgrounds for over two decades. She is the owner of Home Scholars of Boston (https://www.homescholarsofboston.com/) and the Poetry Coordinator at the MAC. Linda also coordinates and hosts open mics and readings at other venues such as The Switch Coop in Hyde Park and Athan’s Bakery in Brookline. You can find more at https://lindacarneygoodrich.com/.
U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo is a Boston-based, globally facing Zimbabwean-American poet, author, and educator whose work explores identity, memory, and social change. Her poetry collection, Soul Psalms (She Writes Press, 2016), was praised by Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis as “beautifully transparent.” Her writing is also featured in the New York TimesBestseller Under the Skin by Linda Villarosa. In 2025, she will release an audio edition of Soul Psalms, further expanding her literary reach. Mhlaba-Adebo’s work has been showcased in publications, festivals, and exhibitions worldwide. A Brother Thomas Fellow, she was recognized by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu for her contributions to arts, wellness, and inclusivity. Her poetic documentary, Reclamation: This is My Country, This is My Land, premiered at Boston’s We Create Festival in 2024, delving into themes of grief, ancestral ties, and land reclamation. As founder of The Maoko Project, she merges art, education, and healing. She also serves on the board of Mass Poetry, Zimbabwe Poets Society. A sample of collaborators she has worked with include Castle of Our Skins, Danza Organica, Center for New Americans and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, fostering dialogue between Boston’s literary and artistic communities and the African diaspora. In 2024, she was awarded the Lantern Art Space Fellowship in Lagos, Nigeria, a Goethe-Institut Nigeria and Sahara Center residency, leading to The Sinmi Bench Project, a public art initiative securing ₦3.2 million in funding for expansion. https://u-meleni.com

Open Mic at The Switch
2025-03-26 19:00 - 21:00 | The Switch, 21 Fairmount Ave., Hyde Park, MA, 02136
Poets, Musicians, Storytellers, and More
Featured Poet: Joe Webster
WEDNESDAY
March 26th
7PM to 9PM
21 Fairmount Ave
Hyde Park
FREE and Open to ALL

NEPC @ The Menino: Jennifer Martelli, Roman Johnson, Anastasia Vassos
2025-03-23 14:00 - 16:00 | Menino Arts Center, 26 Central Avenue, Boston, MA, 02136, United States
Join the New England Poetry Club on March 23, as we travel to the Menino Arts Center, in Boston’s Hyde Park neighborhood! The reading begins at 2:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The Menino Arts Center, located 26 Central Avenue, is an accessible venue, with a wheelchair ramp into the building and an elevator to the second floor. We’re grateful to Home Scholars of Boston for their generous sponsorship.
Roman Johnson, PhD is a writer and scientist from Memphis, TN. He is a Master of Fine Arts scholar in poetry at Brown University. He has a Ph.D. in Medical Sociology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a M.A. in African American Studies from Georgia State University and obtained a B.A. in Political Science from Morehouse College. He is the co-founder of the New England Hoodoo Society. He is the current Radical Reversal Poet in Residence at the Suffolk County House of Corrections in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the winner of the Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize from Backbone Press and other prizes and fellowships.
Jennifer Martelli has received fellowships from The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Monson Arts, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day, Poetry, Best of the Net Anthology, Braving the Body Anthology, Verse Daily, Plume, The Tahoma Literary Review, and elsewhere. She is the author of Psychic Party Under the Bottle Tree, The Queen of Queens, which won the Italian American Studies Association Book Award and was shortlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award, and My Tarantella, which was also shortlisted for the Massachusetts Book Award and named finalist for the Housatonic Book Award. Jennifer Martelli is co-poetry editor for MER. www.jennmartelli.com
The poems of Anastasia Vassos have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets. She is the author of Nostos (2023), which was a finalist in Two Sylvias’ and Headlight Review’s Chapbook Contests, and Nike Adjusting Her Sandal (2021). Her poems appear online as well as in print journals and anthologies; find her work in RHINO, Whale Road Review, Thrush, Comstock Review, and elsewhere. Her poems about the Greek-American diaspora have been translated into Greek. She is a reader for Lily Poetry Review, speaks three languages, and lives in Boston.

2nd Thursday Poetry Reading
2025-03-13 19:00 - 21:00 | Menino Arts Center, 26 Central Avenue, Boston, MA, 02136, United States
Featuring January Gill O’Neil, Alexander Kern, and Anne Pluto.
In person at the MAC. With Open Mic before the featured readers.

Poetry Featuring Amy Alvarez, Mckendy Fils-Aimé, and Sara Letourneau
2025-02-13 19:00 - 21:00 | Menino Arts Center, 26 Central Avenue, Boston, MA, 02136, United States
Thursday, February 13, 2025, 7 – 9 pm
Featuring Amy Alvarez, Mckendy Fils-Aimé, and Sara Letourneau
Amy M. Alvarez is the author of the poetry collection Makeshift Altar (2024) and the co-editor of Essential Voices: A COVID-19 Anthology (2023). Selected as one of 2022’s Best New Poets, her poetry has appeared in Ploughshares, The Missouri Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Poetry Foundation, Colorado Review, and elsewhere. She has been awarded fellowships from CantoMundo, VONA, Macondo, the Virginia Creative Arts Center, and the Furious Flower Poetry Center. In 2022, she was inducted as an Affrilachian Poet. Amy was born in New York City to Jamaican and Puerto Rican parents. She has taught at high schools in the Bronx, New York, and Boston, Massachusetts, and at West Virginia University. She currently teaches at Boston College. https://amymalvarez.com
Mckendy Fils-Aimé is a New England-based Haitian-American poet, organizer, and educator. He is a perennial semi-finalist of the National Poetry Slam and has represented New England nine times. Mckendy has completed artist residencies at MassLEAP and the Art Alliance of Northern New Hampshire and has received fellowships from the Callaloo Creative Writing Workshop and Cave Canem. Recently, Mckendy ranked 2nd overall at the 2024 Midwest Mashup, 3rd at the 2024 NorthBeast Regional Poetry Slam, and 1st at 2024 Vox Pop Regional Poetry Slam. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in American Literary Review, Bellingham Review, The Shore, The Journal, and elsewhere.
Sara Letourneau’s debut poetry collection, Wild Gardens, is out now through Kelsay Books. She’s also a book editor and writing coach at Heart of the Story Editorial & Coaching Services; the cofounder and cohost of the Pour Me a Poem open mic in Mansfield, Massachusetts; and the co-editor of the Pour Me a Poem anthology. Her poetry has won the 2023 Beals Prize for Poetry and the Blue Institute’s 2020 Words on Water contest. Her new and upcoming work can be found in Amethyst Review, The Arts Fuse, Gyroscope Review, Nixes Mate Review, Remington Review, Silver Birch Press, and Third Wednesday Magazine, among others. Sara lives in Foxboro, Massachusetts. https://heartofthestoryeditorial.com

Poetry by the Pint
2025-01-30 18:30 | Roundhead Brewing, 1 Westinghouse Plaza, Suite i107, Hyde Park, MA, 02136
Local poets on tap at Roundhead! Catch the inspiration – free / no charge for admission!

2nd Thursday Poetry Readings at the MAC
2024-12-12 19:00 - 21:00 | Menino Arts Center, 26 Central Avenue, Boston, MA, 02136, United States
Thursday, December 12, 2024, 7 – 9 pm
Featuring Kevin Gallagher, Magdalena Gomez, and Vijaya Sundaram

Kevin Gallagher is a poet, publisher and political economist living in the Greater Boston Area. His latest books are And Yet it Moves and The Wild Goose. Gallagher edits, spoKe, a boston-based annual of poetry and poetics. He works as a professor of global development policy at Boston University.

Magdalena Gómez, Poet Laureate of Springfield, MA (2019-2022) and an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow (2021-2022) has been a cultural worker since 1976. Her memoir noir, Mi’ja, received the 2024 International Latino Book Award, in the autobiography category. In 2019 she received the Latinas 50 Plus Literature Award at Fordham University and the Latinx Excellence on the Hill Award from the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus of MA at the State House. Her solo play on iconoclastic Puerto Rican labor leader, activist, feminist and journalist Luisa Capetillo, (October 28, 1879 – April 10, 1922) is included in The Routledge Companion to Latine Theatre and Performance (2024). Ms. Gómez has been a volunteer writer for An African American Point of View for over fourteen years. She was the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Springfield’s first intergenerational Latinx theater, Teatro V!da and the youth open mic series, Ign!te the M!c – from 2006 – 2020. She also initiated and helped launch the first public LGBTQIA2S+ open mic series in Western Massachusetts at the Bing Arts Center. She is currently working on the sequel to her memoir, a new collection of poetry, and a new multi-media solo show based on her memoir. Ms. Gómez is currently a Commissioner with the Massachusetts Commission in the Status of Women for Hampden County and a Trustee with the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. www.mijamemoir.com

Vijaya Sundaram is the current Poet Laureate (2023-2025) for the City of Medford, Massachusetts. Originally from India, she lived in Arlington, MA, for ten years, and has been living in Medford since 2001. She has written short stories, plays and a short novel (not yet published). She is also a guitarist, sitarist, songwriter, singer, amateur digital artist, and educator. Her poetry and short pieces have appeared in publications like The Rising Phoenix Press, the Stardust Review, and TELL Magazine, among others. Her first collection of poems titled Fractured Lens was published in 2023 by Červená Barva Press. https://www.medfordma.org/mayors-office/poet-laureate

Holding the Light – A Seasonal Wine and Poetry Event
2024-12-06 18:00 - 20:30 | Menino Arts Center, 26 Central Avenue, Boston, MA, 02136, United States
Join us for a seasonal wine and poetry event conducted by MAC Poetry Coordinator Linda Carney-Goodrich and local wine importer Migen Hasanaj of Carpe Vinum of Jamaica Plain.
Five seasonal poems will be read by five guest readers and complemented by five wines, all listed below. Linda and the featured readers will lead a discussion of the poems and provide writing prompts for participants to try their hand at writing their own poems; and Migen will share tasting notes, the story of each wine, and why it was chosen for each poem. There will be raffle held at the end for one bottle of each wine. Light snacks will be served.
“Holding the Light” by Stuart Kesetenbaum – Artemis White, Chateau De Bosc, France

“The Same City” by Terrance Hayes – Cuvee 1872, Chateau De Bosc, France
Read by Toni Bee – https://www.tonibee.org/

“Whenever you see a tree” by Padra Venkatraman – Velocipede, Cotes Du Rhone, France

“Between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice, Today” by Emily Jungmin Yoon – Artemis Red, Chateau De Bosc, France
Read by Anne Pluto – https://www.annepluto.com/

“Approaching Solstice” by Kersten Christianson – (Dessert) Smurin, Vino Spumante Brut, Borgo Lame, Italy

Ayoka Drake will be a featured reader, poem TBD.

$35 per ticket, four tickets max per order. Order tickets here: https://www.hpaa-mac.org/events/wine-and-poetry-events/

Linda Carney-Goodrich, is a writer and teacher from Boston. She is the author of Dot Girl (Nixes Mate Books, 2024) and her work has appeared in Lily Poetry, The MacGuffin, Literary Mama, Anti-Heroine Chic, Muddy River, Gyroscope, Wordgathering Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature, among others. Her story, “Park Street Station” won third prize in the 2024 Boston in 100 Words Contest. Linda is the Poetry Coordinator for the Menino Art Center in Hyde Park and the owner of Home Scholars of Boston. She has a Masters in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education and has taught people of all ages and backgrounds for over two decades. https://www.homescholarsofboston.com/

Migen Hasanaj is the owner of Carpe Vinum LLC, a boutique wine import company based in Jamaica Plain, MA. Migen travels often to Europe to hand pick eclectic wines from small family producers that follow organic farming practices. His clients include several high-end restaurants and wine shops in the Boston area. Originally from Albania, Migen first learned about wines during the six years he lived in Florence, Italy. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University and an MBA from Suffolk University. In his spare time, Migen enjoys reading, playing soccer, and visiting art museums. Visit Carpe Vinum online at https://www.carpevinumllc.com.

2nd Thursday Poetry Reading with Danielle Legros Georges and Nakia Hill
2024-11-14 19:00 - 21:00 | Menino Arts Center, 26 Central Avenue, Boston, MA, 02136, United States
2nd Thursday Poetry Reading with Danielle Legros Georges and Nakia Hill

This free poetry reading at the MAC will have an Open Mic before the featured speakers.
Danielle Legros Georges is a poet, literary translator, and editor whose work has been supported by fellowships from the American Antiquarian Society, the PEN/Heim Translation Fund, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Boston Foundation, and the Black Metropolis Research Consortium. She was appointed Boston’s second Laureate in 2014, and has authored several books of poetry including The Dear Remote Nearness of You; Island Heart, translations of the poems of 20th-century Haitian-French poet Ida Faubert; Wheatley at 250: Black Women Poets Re-imagine the Verse of Phillis Wheatley Peters; and most recently Blue Flare: Three Haitian Poets (translations, Zephyr Press, 2024); and the forthcoming Three Leaves, Three Roots: Poems on the Haiti-Congo Story (Beacon Press, 2025). https://www.daniellelegrosgeorges.com
Nakia Hill is a writer, poet, journalist, and educator. She is the author of Water Carrier, a book of poetry, I Still Did It, an intergenerational anthology on resilience and the newly released anthology How We Take Up Space focused on spatial justice. A proud native of Roxbury, Hill was named an artist-in-residence by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture in 2018 and a GrubStreet Teaching Fellow in 2023. She is a recipient of multiple awards and honors for her work. She is committed to using her skills and expertise to inspire, inform, and empower others through the power of storytelling. https://www.nakiahill.com
More info on MAC poetry readings at http://www.hpaa-mac.org/poetry-readings/.
