March 7 Barbara Crooker and Adele Kenny Poetry Workshops and Readings

The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College is presenting on Saturday, March 7, 2026, poetry workshops and readings by Barbara Crooker and Adele Kenny as part of their Distinguished Poets Series.

Registration is required for workshops. Coffee, tea, and a light breakfast will be provided for workshop participants. You can check registration availability by emailing Cynthia Pagan at the Poetry Center. Workshops are available for a fee of $20. In-person workshops will be held at the Poetry Center in Paterson from 10 AM to 12  PM. 

Following their workshop, poets will give a reading. Poetry Center readings are always free and open to the public. These readings are recorded and archived for later viewing on the Poetry Center’s YouTube channel.

 

Barbara Crooker is author of twelve chapbooks and ten full-length books of poetry, including Some Glad Morning (Pitt Poetry Series, University of Pittsburgh Poetry Press), longlisted for the Julie Suk award from Jacar Press, The Book of Kells, which won the Best Poetry Book of 2019 Award from Poetry by the Sea, and Slow Wreckage (Grayson Books, 2024). Her other awards include Grammy Spoken Word Finalist, the WB Yeats Society of New York Award, the Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Award, and three Pennsylvania Council fellowships in literature. Her work appears in literary journals and anthologies, including The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Her website is barbaracrooker.com 

 Adele Kenny is the author of 26 books (poetry and nonfiction). Her poems, reviews, and articles have been published in journals throughout the US and abroad, and her poems have appeared in books and anthologies published by Crown, Tuttle, Shambhala, and McGraw-Hill. She is the recipient of various awards, including two poetry fellowships from the NJ State Arts Council, a first-place Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award, a Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Award, and Kean University’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Her book, A Lightness… was a Paterson Poetry Prize finalist. A former creative writing professor (College of New Rochelle), she is the founding director of the Carriage House Poetry Series, poetry editor of Tiferet Journal, and has twice been a featured reader at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. her webiste is https://www.adelekenny.com/

Directions and parking information for the Poetry Center 

The Poetry Center offers poetry writing workshops in-person and virtually in conjunction with the Distinguished Poets Reading Series. Over the years, distinguished poets have included poet laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Inaugural poets and others of national and international reputation, such as Allen Ginsberg, William Stafford, Amiri Baraka, Lucille Clifton, Stanley Kunitz, Billy Collins, Marge Piercy, Mark Doty, Marie Howe, Kim Addonizio, Billy Collins, Dorianne Laux, Jan Beatty, Robert Sward, Patricia Smith, Martín Espada, Toi Derricotte and Richard Blanco.March 7, 2026 Barbara Crooker and Adele Kenny 

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Poetry Reading February 21 with Nicole Santalucia

On Saturday, February 21, 2026, poet Nicole Santalucia will conduct a virtual workshop followed by a reading as part of the Poetry Center at PCCC's Distinguished Poets Series.

Workshops via Zoom will run from 1 PM – 2:30 PM (EST) and be followed by the poet’s reading from 2:30 PM – 3 PM (ET). Poetry Center readings are always free and open to the public. Registration is required for all workshops with a fee of $20. ​You can check registration availability by emailing Cynthia Pagan at the Poetry Center.

Nicole Santalucia is the author of The Book of Dirt (NYQ Books), Spoiled Meat (Headmistress Press), and Because I Did Not Die (Bordighera Press). Her work has appeared in publications such as Colorado Review, Palette Poetry, The Best American Poetry, Los Angeles Review, North American Review, Sonora Review, Fourteen Hills, The Cincinnati Review, The Rumpus, The Normal School, Out Magazine and elsewhere. 

She is a Professor of English, the Director of First-Year Writing, co-chair of the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, and serves on the steering committee of the Institute for Social Inclusion at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania. 

link for live and archived video https://youtube.com/live/CHwyRtrjmt8?feature=share

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Jan Beatty Virtual Poetry Workshop and Reading January 10

On Saturday, January 10, 2026, poet Jan Beatty will conduct a virtual workshop followed by a reading as part of the Poetry Center at PCCC's Distinguished Poets Series.

Workshops via Zoom will run from 1 PM – 2:30 PM (EST) and be followed by the poet’s reading from 2:30 PM – 3 PM (ET). Poetry Center readings are always free and open to the public. Registration is required for all workshops with a fee of $20. ​You can check registration availability by emailing Cynthia Pagan at the Poetry Center.

Jan Beatty has authored eight collections of poetry and a celebrated memoir. Her eighth book, Dragstripping, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 2024. Her memoir, American Bastard, won the Red Hen Nonfiction Award. Other recent books include The Body Wars and Jackknife: New and Selected Poems, which won the Paterson Poetry Prize.

Now a full-time academic, she has worked as a waitress, abortion counselor, and social worker in maximum-security prisons. Jan Jan Beatty has taught poetry for over twenty-five years at the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, and Carlow University. As a poet, she is known for her raw, unflinching exploration of class, the body, and her Pittsburgh roots.

Her website is janbeatty.com

Poetry Center readings are recorded and archived later for viewing on the Poetry Center’s YouTube channel.

View the reading live or when it is archived

Maria Gillan and Jan Beatty

The Poetry Center offers poetry writing workshops in-person and virtually in conjunction with the Distinguished Poets Reading Series. Over the years, distinguished poets have included poet laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Inaugural poets and others of national and international reputation, such as Allen Ginsberg, William Stafford, Amiri Baraka, Lucille Clifton, Stanley Kunitz, Billy Collins, Marge Piercy, Mark Doty, Marie Howe, Kim Addonizio, Billy Collins, Dorianne Laux, Jan Beatty, Robert Sward, Patricia Smith, Martín Espada, Toi Derricotte and Richard Blanco.

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Martín Espada and Dante Di Stefano December 6 in Paterson

The Poetry Center offers poetry writing workshops in-person and virtually in conjunction with the Distinguished Poets Reading Series. Over the years, distinguished poets have included poet laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Inaugural poets and others of national and international reputation, such as Allen Ginsberg, William Stafford, Amiri Baraka, Lucille Clifton, Stanley Kunitz, Billy Collins, Marge Piercy, Mark Doty, Marie Howe, Kim Addonizio, Billy Collins, Dorianne Laux, Robert Sward, Patricia Smith, Martín Espada, Toi Derricotte and Richard Blanco.

The first event of the new season will be on December 6, 2025, and feature Martín Espada and Dante Di Stefano. 

In-person workshops will be held in Academic Hall on the PCCC main campus. Afterwards, we invite you to join us for an hour of socializing and refreshments in the nearby Paterson Room. Readings by Martín and Dante will also take place in the Paterson room at 1 pm. After which, there will be a book signing by the Distinguished Poets, and the mic will open up for anyone who wants to share their poetry. 

All readings are free and open to the public. Readings are recorded and archived for viewing on the Poetry Center’s YouTube channel.

There is limited enrollment, and workshops generally fill up, so register early. For full information, open the registration form link below. Check on registration availability by emailing Cynthia Pagan at the Poetry Center.

Martín Espada’s new book of poems from Knopf is called Jailbreak of Sparrows. His previous book of poems, Floaters, won the National Book Award. He has received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, a Letras Boricuas Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He teaches at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Dante Di Stefano is the author of five poetry collections and a chapbook, including, most recently, the book-length poem, The Widowing Radiance (Bordighera Press, 2025). His writing has appeared in American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry 2018, Poem-a-Day, Prairie Schooner, The Writer’s Chronicle, and elsewhere. He has won the Auburn Witness Poetry Prize, the Manchester Poetry Prize (UK), the Thayer Fellowship in the Arts, and many more awards. He co-edited the anthology Misrepresented People (NYQ Books, 2018). He teaches high school English in Endicott, NY, and lives in Endwell, New York, with his wife, Christina, their daughter, Luciana, their son, Dante Jr., and their goldendoodle, Sunny.

The college is limiting the number of attendees for all the events, so registration is required and limited for workshops. ​Everyone visiting the Poetry Center for workshops and readings should be vaccinated. Coffee, tea, and a light breakfast will be provided for workshop participants. Poets will give a poetry reading following their workshop. 

Directions and parking information

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

2025-2026 Readings and Workshops at The Poetry Center in Paterson

The Poetry Center at PCCC in Paterson, NJ, offers poetry writing workshops in conjunction with the Distinguished Poets Reading Series. Below is the schedule for November 2025 through June 2026.

There is limited enrollment, and workshops generally fill up, so register early. Registration and a fee of $20 are required for all workshops. For full information and the registration form, go to Workshops at The Poetry Center at PCCC

There will be some in-person and some virtual (Zoom) readings and workshops offered. Workshops via Zoom will run from 1 PM – 2:30 PM (EST) and be followed by the poet’s reading from 2:30 PM – 3 PM (ET), unless otherwise noted below.

In-person workshops will be held at the Poetry Center in Paterson from 10 AM to 12  PM and will be followed by their reading at the Center at 1 PM. These in-person readings include an open reading opportunity after the featured poets.

3 poetry events are readings-only Readings and workshops are held in the same building, and free parking is available to attendees..

All readings - virtual and in-person - are free and open to the public. The Readings page includes bios of all the poets for this season.

November 15, 2025   Paterson Literary Review #53 Publication Celebration  NO WORKSHOPS

December 6, 2025     Martín Espada or Dante Di Stefano

January 10, 2026      Jan Beatty virtual via Zoom

February 7, 2026      Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award for 2025 Reading  NO WORKSHOPS

February 21, 2026    Nicole Santalucia virtual via Zoom

March 7, 2026          Barbara Crooker or Adele Kenny

March 21, 2026        Edvige Giunta virtual via Zoom

April 11, 2026          Paterson Poetry Prize Winner Reading, Joan Kwon Glass or Nancy Miller Gomez

April 25, 2026          Book Launch &Reading - Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award  NO WORKSHOPS

May 2, 2026             Richard Blanco or José Antonio Rodríguez

May 16, 2026           Jim Reese virtual via Zoom

June 6, 2026             Leah Umansky virtual via Zoom

Joe Weil Virtual Poetry Workshop and Reading Saturday May 10

The Poetry Center at PCCC's Distinguished Poets Series will feature Joe Weil conducting a virtual poetry workshop and reading via Zoom to conclude their 2024-2025 season. The events are this Saturday, May 10th.

The workshop Zoom session will run from 1:00 to 2:25PM and requires registration and a $20 fee. The reading is free and open to all via YouTube from 2:30 to 3:00PM.  The workshop registration form and additional information are available on the Poetry Center's readings and workshop pages.

Joe Weil was born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he attended St. Mary of the Assumption grade school and high school. For over 20 years, Weil worked on the graveyard shift at various factories, mainly at National Tool and Manufacturing in Kenilworth, New Jersey. During this time, he became involved in hosting poetry readings in both New Jersey and New York and founded the literary magazine Black Swan Review.

His latest book is Saint World, published by Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books in 2024. His other collections include Painting the Christmas Trees (Texas Review Press) and What Remains (Night Shade Press). His work has appeared in Rattle, Boston Review, The New York Times, Paterson Literary Review, and many other magazines and anthologies. He has read on NPR, Pacifica Radio, and was featured as a poet on NJ-PBS.

Weil is currently a lecturer in the creative writing department at Binghamton University. Joe also plays piano and composes.

Joe Weil

 

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Maya Popa and Kwame Dawes Poetry Workshops and Reading Saturday May 3 in Paterson

There will be workshops and readings as part of the Distinguished Poets Series on May 3, 2025, featuring Kwame Dawes and Maya C. Popa.

The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College offers readings and workshops as part of its Distinguished Poets Series. The college is limiting the number of attendees for in-person events, so registration is required for workshops. Coffee, tea, and a light breakfast will be provided for workshop participants. You can check registration availability by emailing Cynthia Pagan at the Poetry Center. Workshops are available for a fee of $20. In-person workshops will be held at the Poetry Center in Paterson from 10 AM to 12  PM. Following their workshop, poets will give a reading that is always free and open to the public. These readings are recorded and archived for viewing on the Poetry Center’s YouTube channel.

 

Directions and parking information for the Poetry Center 

Maya C. Popa is the author of two collections, Wound is the Origin of Wonder (W.W. Norton, 2022) named one of the Guardian’srecent best books of poetry, and American Faith (Sarabande, 2019), runner-up in the Kathryn A. Morton Prize judged by Ocean Vuong and winner of the North American Book Prize. Her poems and essays appear in The Atlantic, the Nation, Poetry, the Paris Review, the Times Literary Supplement and elsewhere. She holds a PhD on the role of wonder in poetry from Goldsmiths, University of London, where she was a recipient of the English department bursary for exceptional merit. She was previously a Clarendon Scholar at Oxford University, where she earned her MA, and is a Veterans Fellows at NYU, where she earned her MFA. Her newsletter, Poetry Today, is one of Substack’s best-selling featured publications. Since 2018, she has served as the Poetry Editor of Publishers Weekly and Director of Creative Writing at the Nightingale-Bamford School. She teaches advanced poetry at NYU.

Kwame Dawes is the author of numerous books of poetry and other books of fiction, criticism, and essays. His most recent collection is Sturge Town (Peepal Tree Press, UK 2023). Dawes is a George W. Holmes University Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner. He teaches in the Pacific MFA Program and is the Series Editor of the African Poetry Book Series, Director of the African Poetry Book Fund, and Artistic Director of the Calabash International Literary Festival. He is a Chancellor for the Academy of American Poets and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Dawes is the winner of the prestigious Windham/Campbell Award for Poetry and was a finalist for the 2022 Neustadt International Prize for Literature. In 2022, Dawes was awarded the Order of Distinction Commander class by the Government of Jamaica. He is the Poet Laureate of Jamaica (2024-2027).

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Virtual Poetry Workshop and Reading with Joe Weil May 10

The Poetry Center at PCCC has added an additional Distinguished Poets Series virtual poetry workshop and reading via Zoom to conclude their 2024-2025 season. On May 10th, this workshop/reading will be led by Joseph Weil, a professor of Creative Writing at Binghamton University, chosen by popular demand.

 

Joe Weil was born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he attended St. Mary of the Assumption grade school and high school. For over 20 years, Weil worked on the graveyard shift at various factories, mainly at National Tool and Manufacturing in Kenilworth, New Jersey. During this time, he became involved in hosting poetry readings in both New Jersey and New York and founded the literary magazine Black Swan Review.

His latest book is Saint World, published by Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books in 2024. He has two other books of poetry: Painting the Christmas Trees (Texas Review Press) and What Remains (Night Shade Press). His work has appeared in Rattle, Boston Review, The New York Times, Paterson Literary Review, and many other magazines and anthologies. He has read on NPR, Pacifica Radio, and was featured as a poet on NJ-PBS.

Weil is currently a lecturer in the creative writing department at Binghamton University. Joe also plays piano and composes.

The workshop Zoom session will run from 1:00 to 2:25PM and requires registration and a $20 fee. The reading is free and open to all via Zoom from 2:30 to 3:00PM.  

The workshop registration form and additional information are available on the Poetry Center's readings and workshop pages.

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Beth Ann Fennelly Virtual Workshop and Reading March 15

Beth Ann Fennelly has published three poetry books: Open House, Tender Hooks, and Unmentionables, all with W. W. Norton. 

She is also the author of 3 books of prose: Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs; Great With Child: Letters to a Young Mother, a collection of essays; and The Tilted World, a novel co-authored with her husband Tom Franklin. 

Beth Ann’s poetry has been in over fifty anthologies, including Best American Poetry, The Book of Irish American Poetry from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, Poets of the New Century, and The Penguin Book of the Sonnet. 

She teaches in the MFA Program at the University of Mississippi, where she was named Outstanding Teacher of the Year.

Link for her free live reading at 2:30 pm ET & the recorded reading later
 youtube.com/live/3Wj2SoWXsks

The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College offers readings and workshops as part of its Distinguished Poets Series. Following their workshop, poets will give a free reading that is open to the public. These readings are recorded and archived for viewing on the Poetry Center’s YouTube channel.

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Distinguished Poets Meghan O’Rourke and Nicole Cooley March 1 in Paterson

Meghan O’Rourke, award-winning poet, nonfiction writer, and acclaimed editor, is the author of the poetry collections Sun In Days, Once, and Halflife, and the memoirs The Invisible Kingdom and The Long Goodbye. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, two Pushcart Prizes, and the inaugural May Sarton Poetry Prize, among her many other awards. Meghan writes for The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and is the editor of The Yale Review. She is a graduate of Yale University, where she also teaches.

Nicole Cooley grew up in New Orleans and is the author of seven books of poems, most recently MOTHER WATER ASH (Louisiana State University Press 2024), as well as OF MARRIAGE (Alice James Books 2018),  GIRL AFTER GIRL AFTER GIRL (LSU Press 2017), BREACH (LSU Press 2010), and other collections. She has also published two chapbooks and a novel. She has received The Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, and the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America.  She teaches in the MFA program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College, City University of New York, and lives in New Jersey with her family.

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The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College offers readings as part of its Distinguished Poets Series. The college is limiting the number of attendees for in-person events, so registration is required for in-person workshops. ​Coffee, tea, and a light breakfast will be provided for workshop participants. You can check registration availability by emailing Cynthia Pagan at the Poetry Center.

Workshops whether in-person or virtual are offered for a fee of $20. In-person workshops will be held at the Poetry Center in Paterson from 10 AM – 12  PM. Following their workshop, poets will give a reading which is always free and open to the public. These readings are recorded and archived for viewing on the Poetry Center’s YouTube channel.

Directions and parking information for the Poetry Center 

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Distinguished Poets Series Features Nicole Cooley and Meghan O’Rourke March 1

The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College offers readings as part of its Distinguished Poets Series. The college is limiting the number of attendees for in-person events, so registration is required for in-person workshops. ​Coffee, tea, and a light breakfast will be provided for workshop participants. You can check registration availability by emailing Cynthia Pagan at the Poetry Center.

Workshops whether in-person or virtual are offered for a fee of $20. Workshops via Zoom will run from 1 PM – 2:30 PM (EST) and be followed by the poet’s reading from 2:30 PM – 3 PM (ET)  In-person workshops will be held at the Poetry Center in Paterson from 10 AM – 12  PM

Following their workshop, poets will give a reading which is always free and open to the public. These readings are recorded and archived for viewing on the Poetry Center’s YouTube channel.

Directions and parking information for the Poetry Center 

3/1/2025 Nicole Cooley & Meghan O’Rourke

Nicole Cooley grew up in New Orleans and is the author of seven books of poems, most recently MOTHER WATER ASH (Louisiana State University Press 2024), as well as OF MARRIAGE (Alice James Books 2018),  GIRL AFTER GIRL AFTER GIRL (LSU Press 2017), BREACH (LSU Press 2010), and other collections. She has also published two chapbooks and a novel. She has received The Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, a National Endowment for the Arts Grant, and the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America.  She teaches in the MFA program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College, City University of New York, and lives in New Jersey with her family.

Meghan O’Rourke, award-winning poet, nonfiction writer, and acclaimed editor, is the author of the poetry collections Sun In Days, Once, and Halflife, and the memoirs The Invisible Kingdom and The Long Goodbye. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, two Pushcart Prizes, and the inaugural May Sarton Poetry Prize, among her many other awards. Meghan writes for The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, and is the editor of The Yale Review. She is a graduate of Yale University, where she also teaches.

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Tony Medina Virtual Poetry Reading January 18

The Poetry Center at PCCC offers readings and workshops as part of the Distinguished Poets Series. The first event of winter 2025 will be a virtual workshop and reading with Tony Medina on Saturday, January 18.

Workshops via Zoom will run from 1 PM to 2:30 PM (EST) and be followed by the poet’s reading from 2:30 PM to 3 PM (ET). Registration and a fee of $20 are required. See the website for registration information. 

The reading is free and open to all   Virtual Reading Link

Tony Medina        Photo by Aldon Lynn Nielsen

Tony Medina was born in the South Bronx, raised in the Throgs Neck Housing projects, and is a Veteran of the United States Army. Recently appointed Associate Chair and Director of Creative Writing in the Department of Literature and Writing at Howard University, he holds a master’s and PhD from Binghamton University, SUNY. 

A multi-genre author/editor of 25 award-winning books for adults and young people, Medina’s work appears in over 160 anthologies and journals, including “Seven Steps to Heaven Haiku” and “I’ve Got the Covid Blues,” featured in the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day. Among Medina’s recent titles are the Black Lives Matter anthology, Resisting Arrest: Poems to Stretch the Sky (anthology); Death, With Occasional Smiling (poetry); Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Boy (children’s); I Am Alfonso Jones (graphic novel); Che Che Colé (fiction); and his Gaza suite, Because the Sky (Sable Books, 2024). His other titles, Serious Trouble: Poems Selected, Poems New and Everywhere Drums: Poets from the Black Arts to Black Lives Matter (coedited with Mudiwa Pettus) as well as a hybrid collection of poetry, fiction and art, Rock the Bells: For Hip Hop @50 (tome), are forthcoming. 

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Distinguished Poets Series Features Jennifer Poteet May 18

The Distinguished Poets Series at the Poetry Center at PCCC will end the 2023-2024 season with a virtual workshop and reading by Jennifer Poteet.

Jennifer Poteet

Jennifer Poteet lives in Montclair, NJ, and works for public radio. She is the author of two chapbooks, Sleepwalking Home (Dancing Girl Press, 2017) and Emily Dickinson’s Selfie (Bottlecap Press, 2023.) She is a Pushcart Prize and Nina Riggs Award nominee. Her full-length collection What Comes Back was a finalist for the inaugural Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award. Jennifer’s poems have appeared in The Cortland Review, Paterson Literary Review, Swwim, The Night Heron Barks, and elsewhere. Her website is jenniferpoteet.com

The Livestream link for the reading is youtube.com/live/fGmxy1nZTRE? This will also take you to the archived video later. The reading is free and open to all and will be from 2:30 – 3:00 PM (ET) 

Jennifer's workshop will be held via Zoom at 1 - 2:30 PM (ET) Registration is required. Information and the registration form are online at poetrycenterpccc.com/workshops      

Martín Espada & Chen Chen May 4 at The Poetry Center in Paterson

This Saturday, May 4, 2024, the Poetry Center at PCCC in Paterson, NJ will feature readings by Martín Espada and Chen Chen as part of the Distinguished Poets Series. 

The poets will be leading writing workshops from 10 AM – 12  PM EST and those will be followed by the poets reading at 1 PM EST.
The workshops require registration - see poetrycenterpccc.com/workshops 

The readings are always free and open to the public. 

Martín Espada has published more than twenty books as a poet, editor, essayist, and translator. His latest book of poems is Floaters, winner of the 2021 National Book Award and a Massachusetts Book Award, and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Other books of poems include Vivas to Those Who Have Failed (2016), The Trouble Ball (2011), The Republic of Poetry (2006), Alabanza (2003), and Imagine the Angels of Bread (1996). He is the editor of What Saves Us: Poems of Empathy and Outrage in the Age of Trump (2019). He has received the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Shelley Memorial Award, the Robert Creeley Award, an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, the PEN/Revson Fellowship, a Letras Boricuas Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. The Republic of Poetry was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The title poem of his collection Alabanza, about 9/11, has been widely anthologized and performed. His book of essays and poems, Zapata’s Disciple (1998), was banned in Tucson as part of the Mexican-American Studies Program outlawed by the state of Arizona. A former tenant lawyer in Greater Boston, Espada is a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. 

Chen Chen is the author of two books of poetry, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (BOA Editions, 2022) and When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, 2017), which was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. His work appears in many publications, including Poetry and three editions of The Best American Poetry. He has received two Pushcart Prizes and fellowships from Kundiman, the National Endowment for the Arts, and United States Artists. He was the 2018-2022 Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence at Brandeis University and currently teaches for the low-residency MFA programs at New England College and Stonecoast. He lives with his partner, Jeff Gilbert, and their pug, Mr. Rupert Giles. 

Directions and parking information for the Poetry Center

Poetry Workshops with Martín Espada & Chen Chen May 4

The Poetry Center offers poetry writing workshops in conjunction with the Distinguished Poets Reading Series. Over the years, distinguished poets have included poet laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, Inaugural poets and others of national and international reputation, such as Allen Ginsberg, William Stafford, Amiri Baraka, Lucille Clifton, Stanley Kunitz, Billy Collins, Marge Piercy, Mark Doty, Marie Howe, Kim Addonizio, Billy Collins, Dorianne Laux, Robert Sward, Patricia Smith, Martín Espada, Toi Derricotte and Richard Blanco.

On Saturday, May 4, 2024, the Center is offering in-person workshops with Martín Espada and Chen Chen.

The workshops will be held at the Poetry Center in Paterson from 10 AM – 12  PM EST and will be followed by the poets reading at the Center at 1 PM EST. These in-person readings include an open reading opportunity for you after the featured poets.

Information and the registration form are available at poetrycenterpccc.com/workshops 

April 6 Poetry Prize Reading withTom Sleigh and Joshua Barrett

Joshua Bennett of Braintree, MA, and Tom Sleigh of Brooklyn, NY, won the 2023 Paterson Poetry Prize. Bennett won for The Study of Human Life (Penguin Books, New York, NY), and Sleigh won for The King’s Touch: Poems (Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, MN). They each received $1,000. 

Both poets will be featured readers at The Poetry Center on April 6, 2024. The reading is free and open to the public. Directions at poetrycenterpccc.com/directions

The annual award is given by The Poetry Center at PCCC for a poetry collection published in the previous year. 

Tom Sleigh

Joshua Bennett

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Maria Mazziotti Gillan's newest poetry collection is When the Stars Were Still Visible (2021). Other recent publications are the poetry and photography collection, Paterson Light and Shadow, and the poetry collections What Blooms in Winter and The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets, a pairing of her poems with her paintings.
Maria's artist website is MariaMazziottiGillan.com and her poetry website is MariaGillan.com.

Suzanne Cleary Virtual Poetry Reading February 17

The Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College presents a virtual Poetry Reading via Zoom by Suzanne Cleary on Saturday, February 17, 2024 at 2:30 PM – 3 PM (EST) as part of its Distinguished Poets Series.. 

Suzanne Cleary’s most recent poetry books are Crude Angel, (2018, BkMk Press) and Beauty Mark (2013, BkMk Press). 

Recipient of a Pushcart Prize, her other awards include the John Ciardi Prize, the Cecil Hemley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, the Troubadour International Poetry Prize (2nd Prize), and fellowships from MacDowell and Yaddo. Her poems appear on PBS Newshour.org and PoetryDaily, in anthologies including Best American Poetry and The Forward Book of Poetry 2022, and in journals including The Atlantic, Southern Review, Poetry International, and Poetry London. 

A member of the Kent & Sussex Poetry Society, she teaches at the Tunbridge Wells Poetry Festival, Tunbridge Wells, UK. She also teaches as Core Faculty in the Converse University MFA in Creative Writing Program and is seeking a publisher for her new book manuscript. 

Her website is www.suzanneclearypoet.com

You may attend the reading virtually live at 2:30 pm via youtube.com/live/UGxjHN7fO0E and find the archived reading later on the Poetry Center's YouTube channel

Jim Reese in the Distinguished Poets Series January 13

Jim Reese will be conducting an online poetry workshop, and then giving an online reading on Saturday, January 13 as part of The Poetry Center at PCCC's Distinguished Poets Series. 

The workshop via Zoom will run from 1 PM – 2:30 PM (EST) and be followed by the poet’s reading from 2:30 PM – 3 PM (EST).

These readings, whether virtual or in person, are always free and open to the public.

Registration is required for the workshop with a fee of $20.  

"Jim Reese … He's our Mark Twain of this century.
Jim writes about the everyday experience, and he is, in my view, therefore America's poet."
— Grace Cavalieri, from The Poet and the Poem at the Library of Congress

Jim Reese is an Associate Professor of English and Director of the Great Plains Writers’ Tour at Mount Marty University in Yankton, South Dakota. Reese’s poetry and prose have been widely published, and he has presented at venues throughout the country, including the Library of Congress and San Quentin Prison. Reese’s awards include a 2022 Distinguished Teaching Award from Mount Marty University, a First Place Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award, a Distinguished Achievement Award from Mount Marty University, and a Distinguished Public Service Award in recognition of his exemplary dedication and contributions to the Education Department at Federal Prison Camp Yankton. 

His books include These Trespasses, ghost on 3rd, and Really Happy! His first book of nonfiction, Bone Chalk, was published by Stephen F. Austin State University Press in 2019.

His newest collection, Dancing Room Only: New and Selected Poems, is forthcoming this month from New York Quarterly Books.  

 
His website is https://jimreese.org