Poetry of Witness, Family Life, The Perils of Our Times:

Emily Carlson, Max Heinegg, David O’Connell

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Join this trio of award-winning poets who will read and engage in a host-moderated Q & A about their recently published books from Massachusetts independent literary presses. Emily Carlson’s Why Misread a Cloud (Tupelo Press), the 2022 Sunken Garden Chapbook Poetry Award winner, bears witness to the psychological effects of war on daily rituals of life – both in Lebanon where she was studying poetry when the war began and, six years later, from her window in the historic Black neighborhood of Pittsburgh during the pre-dawn raids on a friend’s home by militarized police. Max Heinegg’s debut poetry collection Good Harbor (Lily Poetry Press), winner of the 2022 Paul Nemser Prize, is a book of poems about trying to provide shelter for the ones we love. In poems rooted in New England and New York, Heinegg writes about parenting and teaching, navigating the rough waters of life to find safety in the harbors of home and community. In Our Best Defense (Červená Barva Press 2022), David O'Connell brings tenderness and a wry attention to his exploration of fatherhood and childhood, movies and schoolrooms, ancient Rome and rainforests. While the perils of our times—including climate change, school violence, and war—are never far from sight, these poems uncover ways to celebrate this moment, even as they acknowledge victory remains far from certain.

Emily Suzanne Carlson (she/they) is a mother, a poet, a teacher, and the director of Art in the Garden, a liberatory, anti-racist, LGBTQ+ welcoming, and joy-centered program that addresses the impacts of childhood adversity and trauma. Emily is the author of three poetry chapbooks: Why Misread a Cloud (2022 Sunken Garden Chapbook Poetry Award, selected by Kimiko Hahn), I Have a Teacher (The Center for Book Arts 2016 Poetry Chapbook Competition, selected by Mary Ruefle), and Symphony No. 2 (Argos Books, 2015). Emily’s writing has appeared in Aufgabe, Bloom, Denver Quarterly, Fence, jubilat, and elsewhere. Emily earned a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh. With friends, they run the Bonfire Reading Series. Emily lives with their partner and their three children in an intentional community centered around an urban garden in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Learn more about Emily here.

Max Heinegg was born in Cooperstown,NY, raised in Schenectady, NY, and now lives in Medford, MA. He earned his BA from Union College and his MAT from Boston University and teaches middle and high school English in the Medford Public Schools. Max ‘s debut poetry collection, Good Harbor won the inaugural Paul Nemser Prize from Lily Poetry Review in March 2022. He has won the Sidney Lanier Poetry Award, the Emily Stauffer Poetry Prize, and was a finalist for the poetry prizes of Asheville Poetry Review, December Magazine, Crab Creek Review, Cultural Weekly, Rougarou Journal, Cutthroat Journal, Twyckenham Notes, West Virginia Writers, and the Nazim Hikmet Prize. His poems have appeared in 32 Poems, The Cortland Review, Thrush, The American Journal of Poetry, Stone Canoe, Borderlands, River Heron Review, Misfit Magazine, Sweet Tree Review, Pangyrus, and Columbia Poetry Review, among others. Max is a recording artist as well as the co-founder and brewmaster of Medford Brewing Company. He can be found on the web at www.maxheinegg.com.

David O’Connell's first full-length poetry collection, Our Best Defense, was published in April, 2022 by Červená Barva Press. David’s chapbook, A Better Way to Fall, published by The Poet’s Press, was selected by Dennis Barone for the 2013 Philbrick Poetry Award from the Providence Athenaeum. David’s poetry has appeared in New Ohio Review, The Cincinnati Review, Poet Lore, Copper Nickel, Lake Effect, Tar River Poetry Review, and North American Review, among other journals. He has received fellowships in poetry from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and earned his MFA from Ohio State University. David lives in Providence, Rhode Island with his wife, the poet Julie Danho, and their daughter. More of his work is available at davidoconnellpoet.com.

This event is generously sponsored by The Friends of the Concord Free Public Library, in Concord, MA.