The Massachusetts Poetry Festival 2015: Full Schedule

Welcome to the schedule of the 2015 Massachusetts Poetry Festival, happening May 1-3 in the beautiful and historic town of Salem!

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To purchase your attendance button, read articles on our headliners, get tips for where to stay in Salem, and more, visit our website at www.masspoetry.org/festival2015.

1:15pm EDT

Poetry of Place: Mapping our Migrations

Limited Capacity seats available

This panel explores how a sense of place can illuminate and inspire poetry. The poets in this session have crossed many boundaries: national, spiritual, and emotional. Some of the poems evoke a sense of exile while others describe the loss of place to environmental degradation. The poet is a soul cartographer, mapping terrain: both real and imagined. The poets in the panel have journeyed through many lands, including: Jordan, Israel, Brazil, Puerto Rico, India, Spain, and Greece. Their poems reflect these journeys and migrations.

Moderators

Deborah Leipziger

Founder, The Lexicon of Change

Deborah Leipziger is an author, advisor on sustainability, change maker, and poet. Born in Brazil, she is the author of several books on sustainability and human rights issues. In 2024, she launched The Lexicon of Change, a guide to new ways of thinking and acting and addressing the UN Global Goals. Deborah is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Social Innovation at Babson College. She advises organizations around the world on social and environmental issues. Her poems have been published in nine countries an... Read More →

Speakers

Ray Fahrner

Director, Office of Performing Arts, Colleges of the Fenway

Ray Fahrner is an award-winning composer, conductor, database designer, writer and arts administrator, living in Cambridge, MA. His eclectic compositions include Colleges of Funk, for jazz band; CIRCLE: A Circus for Mime and Orchestra; and ten works for chamber chorus. As a choral... Read More →

Leah Meryl Harmon

Leah Meryl Harmon was born in Boston Massachusetts. She attended Berklee Collage of Music, and The University of Massachusetts Boston, earning her BA with a concentration in poetry and a minor in art history. She is a singer/ songwriter. She currently lives in the Boston area where... Read More →

Janice Silverman Rebibo

Poet / Editor / Translator

Janice Silverman Rebibo’s poetry has been widely published and reviewed since she was first launched into print by esteemed Israeli poet, Chaim Gouri. Her English language poetry has been called “fresh and compelling”, having “an intriguing sense of humor”, and showing “just... Read More →

Bill Yarrow

Professor of English, Joliet Junior College

Bill Yarrow is the author of Blasphemer (Lit Fest Press 2015) and Pointed Sentences (BlazeVOX 2012). His poems have appeared in many print and online magazines including Poetry International, DIAGRAM, FRiGG, Van Gogh's Ear, Thrush Poetry Journal, Gargoyle, RHINO, and PANK. He is as... Read More →

Friday May 1, 2015 1:15pm - 2:15pm EDT
Old Town Hall, 1st floor

Poetry with Music