Panel #1: Poetry for Your Community • Sun., June 14 • 10-10:45 am

Three poets will discuss their inspirations and craft, and bring poetry to their communities. Each will read briefly from their latest works.

Diannely Antigua is a Dominican American poet and author of the collections Ugly Music (YesYes Books, 2019) and Good Monster (Copper Canyon Press, 2024). From 2022-2024, she was Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, NH. She currently teaches at the University of New Hampshire as the Nossrat Yassini Poet in Residence.

Oliver de la Paz is the author and editor of several books. His latest collection of poetry, The Diaspora Sonnets, was the winner of the 2023 New England Book Award and was longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award. A founding member of Kundiman, he is the James N. and Sarah L. O’Reilly Barrett Professor of Creative Writing at the College of the Holy Cross. He also teaches in the Low-Residency MFA Program at PLU and is the former Poet Laureate of Worcester, MA

Lauren WB Vermette is the 14th Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, NH. Her work has appeared in Rat’s Ass Review Journal, Sledgehammer, Solstice, and Underground Writers Association, among others. Her first collection of poetry, And The Form Falls Away (2018), was published by Bee Monk Press.

Panel’s Moderator: Brittany Wason is the Literary Producer at The Music Hall and serves on the board of the Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program. She is one of the editors of Maiden Magazine and received an MFA in Poetry from Saint Mary’s College of California.

Post-panel book signing at the Member’s Club, 104 Congress Street.