Join us as we Celebrate National Poetry Month & Independent Bookstore Day!

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Three Worcester poets join Booklovers’ Gourmet in celebrating Independent Bookstore Day and the last weekend of National Poetry Month. Curt Curtin, Judith Ferrara and John Gaumond will each share a few small bites of poetry from their respective works and will join other patrons in festivities to honor Independent Bookstore Day.

About IBD: Independent Bookstore Day is a one-day national party that takes place at indie bookstores across the country on the last Saturday in April.  Every store is unique and independent, and every party is different. But in addition to events and other fun stuff, there are exclusive books and literary items that you can only get on that day. Not before. Not after. Nowhere else.

Curt Curtin is a first generation Irish-American poet who lives in Worcester. Both his parents emigrated from County Kerry at the beginning of the 20^th century, taking different routes but finding one another in Boston. Curt’s newest collection, Kerry Dancers, captures many ways that Irish settlers attempted to retain their heritage while also assimilating into American culture. The book is published by Kelsay Books which also published his first full length collection, For Art’s Sake. Curt also has three chapbooks and has won local awards for poetry including the Connecticut River Review Poetry Contest (2019) and of the Frank O’Hara Award (2010) from the Worcester County Poetry Association. He was twice named a Pushcart Prize nominee and has been a featured reader at many events in Massachusetts and also in Ireland.

Writer and visual artist Judith Ferrara lives in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her poetry, essays and artwork have been published in three collections: Gestures of Trees (2000), A Brush with Words (2013) and The little O, the earth: Travel Journals, Art & Poems (2015), as well as in journals such as the black fly review, The Comstock Review, The Portland Review Literary Journal, GSU Review and The Worcester Review. In 2009, she began a study of poet Stanley Kunitz and continues to do research on his family and Worcester-based poems. Since 1998, her art has been shown in group and solo exhibitions. Visit www.PaletteAndPen.com to read the complete collection of Judy’s Journals, a monthly blog on the creative process.

John Gaumond of Worcester is a poet, photographer and gardener, and professor emeritus at Fitchburg State University. He led a poetry writing workshop at Borders Bookstore for five years. His poetry has been published in Poets in the Galleries, The Connecticut River Review, Sahara, Worcester Magazine, The Longfellow Society Journal, The Leaflet, The Lancaster Times, The Issue, Ballard Street Poetry Journal, The Worcester Telegram and The Worcester Review. He received The Jacob Knight Poetry Award in 2006. His photographs have appeared in The Worcester Review, Diner, Ballard Street Poetry Journal, The River Valley Current, The Worcester Telegram and Worcester Magazine. His photograph Flower Pots, Siena III was selected for the 2014 Art in the City program.