Poetry at the Library Series presents
    Eve F. W. Linn | Leslie William
Sunday, December 8, 3:00 – 4:15 PM
Goodwin Forum, Main Branch

Join us for a memorable afternoon reading by the Carlisle-based poet Eve F.W. Linn and the Newton-based poet Leslie Williams, along with a Q & A about their inspirations and craft, book signings, and light refreshments.

PLEASE REGISTER BELOW FOR A SEAT IN THE FORUM

Eve F. W. Linn reads from her debut collection, Album of Not (Nixes Mate Press, 2024) which “examines the female experience through poems that channel women whose lives defied the patriarchy: Frida Kahlo, Sarah Bernhardt and Francesca Woodman. At its heart Album of Not concerns itself with the not—not what never existed but the excision of what existed: “Excise the image. / Leave only a perfect silhouette.” The speaker is “the scribe of battered stars” who has to memorize her own son and buys a photo album “…to pretend / I had a past.” This remarkable collection confronts the perpetuity of loss through poems that are often surreal and always arresting.” - Cindy Veach, author of Her Kind

Linn is a poet and visual artist. She received her BA cum laude in Studio Art from Smith College and her MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University. In addition to Album of Not, Linn is the author of the chapbook Model Home (River Glass Books, 2019). Her poem “Bone Throb” was a finalist in the Crosswinds 2023 poetry contest. Other poems have appeared in Adanna Literary Journal, Cider Press Review, Lily Poetry Review, Naugatuck River Review, Nixes Mate Review, Quartet Journal and So to Speak: Feminist Journal of Language and Art.

Leslie Williams reads from her third collection, Matters for You Alone (Slant Books, May 2024), a spiritual exploration of friendship: its shapes and duties, stresses and blames—and its absolute necessity. At times playful, at others deadly serious, these poems ask important questions about our friends. What is the lifespan of a friendship and how might we celebrate its glories? How have our friends made us who we are?

“Leslie Williams’s bright and supple poems of devotion navigate the rifts between human and divine, culture and nature, love and loss. A longing to be made new, to love with abandon, to see beauty in the dark—these are this poet’s imperatives…The poems in Matters for You Alone—as delicate as they are forceful—honor the spirit and the mind of creation.” - Richie Hofmann, author of A Hundred Lovers

Leslie Williams is also the author of Even the Dark (Southern Illinois University.Press, 2019) winner of the Crab Orchard Series in Poetry Open Competition, and Success of the Seed Plants (Bellday Books, 2010), winner of the Bellday Prize. She’s the recipient of the Robert Winner Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America and Individual Artist Grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, among other honors. Her poems have appeared in Poetry, Slate, The Southern Review, Shenandoah and in many other magazines. https://lesliewilliams.org/

This program is made possible by the generous support of the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library, a patron-supported non-profit organization.
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