I usually post only the upcoming month’s reading so as not to overwhelm you, gentle reader. But Daniel Bouchard, the poet who compiles these listings, sends dates much farther into the future. Time moves faster in the fall in Boston, so here’s a cornucopia of readings for the next six weeks. Get some dates on your calendar now before it’s full of harvest festivals, Halloween parties, and turkey dinners.
Thursday, October 15, 7 pm
Central Square Press Editor Enzo Silon Surin and Afaa Micheal Weaver
Trident Café and Booksellers
Boston Poet Spotlight Series
338 Newbury Street
Boston, MA
Thursday, October 15, 7:30 pm
Yusef Komunyakaa and Vanesha Pravin
Robert Lowell Memorial Reading Series
Boston University, The Castle
225 Bay State Rd
Boston, MA
Free and open to the public
Thursday, October 15, 7:30 pm
Amy Uyematsu
Neilson Browsing Room
Smith College
Northampton, MA
Friday, October 16, 8 pm
Robert Pinsky reads and narrates Arnold Schoenberg and Jean Françaix
with A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra
New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall
Boston, MA
Saturday, October 17, 10:30 am
Laurin Macios, Betsyann Duval and Haley Hewitt
Wake up and Smell the Poetry
HCAM Studios, 77 Main St.
Hopkinton, MA
Saturday, October 17, 7 pm
Kate Colby, Sarah Ann Cox, Iris Cushing, Jesse Nissim, Deborah Poe
Aurora
276 Westminster St.
Providence, RI
Sunday, October 18, 12 pm
Tomas O’Leary and Ellen Jane Powers
Open mic
Poetry: The Art of Words
11 North St
Plymouth, MA
Free
Sunday, October 18, 2 pm
Kirun Kapur and Florence Ladd
Brookline Poetry Series
Brookline Public Library Main Branch
361 Washington St.
Brookline, MA
Monday, October 19, 8 pm
Michael Klein and Kathy Nilsson
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA
$3
Tuesday, October 20, 2:30 pm
Joyelle McSweeney
McCormack Family Theater
70 Brown St.
Providence, RI
Tuesday, October 20, 7 pm
Karen Locsio, Dick Lourie and Mark Pawlak
First and Last Word Reading Series
The Armory
191 Highland Avenue
Somerville, MA
Tuesday, October 20, 7 pm
Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Sándor Jászberényi, Richard Hoffman, and Nicole Terez Dutton
for Agni’s 82nd issue
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre
949 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA
Tuesday, October 20, 7:30 pm
Simon Pettet
Gloucester Writers Center
126 East Main Street
Gloucester, MA
Wednesday, October 21, 6 pm
Oral History Initiative: On John Wieners
Robert Dewhurst (moderator), Ammiel Alcalay, Jim Dunn, Raymond Foye, Fanny Howe, Gerrit Lansing & Anne Waldman
Thompson Room, Barker Center
12 Quincy Street
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Free and open to the public
Wednesday, October 21, 6 pm
Robert Pinsky with jazz musicians Stan Strickland and Laurence Hobgood
and poet/translator Luis Alberto AmbroggioBilingual reading and jazz performance
Kilachand Honors College Common Room
91 Bay State Road
Boston University
Boston, MA
Free & open to the public
Thursday, October 22, 7 pm
Lucille Lang Day, Richard Michael Levine and Adnan Onart
Cervena Barva Press Reading series
Arts at the Armory, Basement, B8
191 Highland Avenue
Somerville, MA
$3
Thursday, October 22, 7 pm
Holly Guran, Michelle Gabow and open mike
Rozzie Reads
Roslindale House
120 Poplar Street
Roslindale, MA
Sunday, October 25, 3 – 5 pm
James B. Nicola (host), Nicole DiCello, Kristina England, Emily Ferrara, Jennifer L. Freed, Pamela Morneault Gemme, Dan Lewis, Susan Roney O’Brien, Jina Ortiz, Susan Elizabeth Sweeney, Patricia Youngblood
Poems for Our Parents
The HeartWell Institute
1015 Pleasant St.
Worcester, MA
use search engine for reservations
Friday, October 23, 7 pm
Simeon Berry, Carissa Halston, Randolph Pfaff
Belt It Out Reading Series
Courtside Sports Pub
291 Cambridge Street
Cambridge, MA
Free
Friday, October 23, 7:30 pm
Kate Colby and Anne Babson Carter
Annisquam Village Library
34R Leonard St.
Gloucester, MA
Saturday, October 24, 2-4 pm
Ipswich Poetry Group
at the Ipswich Art Show
25 Green Street
Ipswich, MA
Saturday, October 24, 7 pm
Dan Masterson
Book Launch
Grolier Poetry Bookshop
Plympton Street
Cambridge, MA
Saturday and Sunday, October 24-25, 7:30 pm
Martha Collins
Staged workshop reading of Blue Front by the Poets Theatre
Arsenal Center for the Arts
321 Arsenal Street
Watertown, MA
Free ($10 donation suggested)
Monday, October 26, 7 pm
Eileen Myles
Trident Booksellers and Cafe
Newbury Street
Boston, MA
Monday, October 26, 7 pm
Donald Berger
MIT Stata Center
Room 32-141
32 Vassar Street
Cambridge, MA
Monday, October 26, 8 pm
Rick Barot and Chloe Garcia-Roberts
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA
$3
Tuesday, October 27, 7:30 pm
Arda Collins
Paradise Room, Conference Center
Smith College
Northampton, MA
Wednesday, October 28, 6:30 pm
Major Jackson and Jill McDonough
Main Lecture Hall
Cambridge Public Library
449 Broadway
Cambridge, MA
Wednesday, October 28, 7:30 pm
J.D. Scrimgeour and Elisabeth Weiss
Gloucester Writers Center
126 East Main Street
Gloucester, MA
Thursday, October 29, 2:30 pm
Camille T. Dungy
McCormack Family Theater
70 Brown St.
Providence, MA
Thursday, October 29, 6 pm
Rachel Blau DuPlessis and Nathaniel Mackey
Introductions by Patrick Pritchett and Daniel Bouchard
Edison Newman Room, Houghton Library
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Free and open to the public
Sunday, November 1, 3 pm
Rebecca Kaiser Gibson, Kathy Nilsson and Tom Daley
Concord Festival of Authors
Emerson Umbrella Dance Studio
40 Stow Street
Concord, MA
Monday, November 2, 7 pm
Alan Albert, Susan Nisenbaum Becker
and Open Mic
Newtonville Books
10 Langley Road
Newton, MA
Monday, November 2, 8 pm
Elizabeth Bradfield and Alexandra Teague
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA
$3
Tuesday, November 3, 7 pm
Amy Berkowitz, Paul Ebenkamp, Krysten Hill, Sam Cha
2×2 Reading Series
The Purple Palace
362 Broadway
Cambridge, MA
Wednesday, November 4, 7 pm
Rebecca Kaiser Gibson and Gary Whited
Suffolk University Poetry Center
Sawyer Library, 3rd Floor
73 Tremont Street
Boston, MA
Free and open to the public
Library entrance around back on Tremont Place
Wednesday, November 4, 7 pm
David Ferry
Hastings Room
First Church Congregationalist
11 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA
Thursday, November 5, 6 pm
Ben Lerner and Geoffrey G. O’Brien
Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall (location to be confirmed)
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Free and open to the public
Monday, November 9, 7 pm
Aimée Sands, Christine Tierney, Donald Vincent (aka Mr. Hip), and Andrew K. Peterson
Trident Booksellers & Cafe
338 Newbury Street
Boston, MA
Tuesday, November 10, 5 pm
Gerrit Lansing
introduced by Ruth Lepson; facilitated by Jim Dunn
Woodberry Poetry Room
Lamont Library, Room 330
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Free and open to the public
Tuesday, November 10, 6 pm
Moya Cannon and David Ferry
The Castle, 225 Bay State Road
Boston, MA
Tuesday, November 10, 5 pm
Tim Cresswell
Poetry Reading and Book Reception
909 Renaissance Park
Northeastern Humanities Center
Northeaster University
Boston, MA
Wednesday, November 11, 7:30 pm
Kate Tarlow Morgan
Gloucester Writers Center
126 East Main Street
Gloucester, MA
Thursday, November 12, 2:30 pm
Fred D’Aguiar
McCormack Family Theater
70 Brown St.
Providence, RI
Thursday, November 12, 6 pm
Edward Hirsch, Adam Johnson, Gish Jen and Elizabeth Graver
Authority and Authoritarianism in Fiction and Politics
on the authoritative and authoritarian in poetry, fiction, politics and law
Clough Center Series on the Arts and the Culture of Democracy
Devlin 101
Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA
Thursday, November 12, 7:30 pm
Simeon Berry
The Cellar Reading Series
The Beverly Depot
10 Park Street
Beverly, MA
Free
Friday, November 13, 7 pm
Kate Colby, Brian Henry, Ales Steger
Black Ocean BASH series
Brookline Booksmith
Coolidge Corner
Brookline, MA
Saturday, November 14, 3-5 pm
Daniel Waters and Midge Goldberg
Powow River Poets Reading Series
Newburyport Public Library
94 State Street
Newburyport, MA
Free
Saturday, November 14, 7 pm
Ben Mazer, Robert Archambeau, and Stephen Sturgeon
MadHat Press Book Launch
Grolier Poetry Reading Series
Grolier Poetry Book Shop
6 Plympton Street
Cambridge, MA
Sunday, November 15, 3 pm
Jay Deshpande
Poetry at the Library Series
Concord Free Public Library
129 Main Street
Concord, MA
Sunday November 15, 12 pm
Nicole Terez Dutton and Michael Lynch
Poetry: The Art of Words
11 North Sreet
Plymouth, MA
Sunday, November 15, 2 pm
Jill McDonough and Amy Dryansky
Brookline Poetry Series
Brookline Public Library Main Branch
361 Washington St.
Brookline, MA
Monday, November 16, 8 pm
Daniel Brown and Ross Gay
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA
$3
Tuesday, November 17, 6 pm
Carmen Gimenez Smith
Introduction by Stephen Burt
Co-sponsored by the Harvard Department of English.
Woodberry Poetry Room
Lamont Library, Room 330.
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA
Free and open to the public
Wednesday, November 18, 4:30 pm
Ruth Lepson and Jay Deshpanda
New England Art Institute
10 Brookline Place West
Boston, MA
Thursday, November 19, 2:30 pm
Carmen Giménez Smith
McCormack Family Theater
70 Brown St.
Providence, RI
Thursday, November 19, 6:30 pm
Daniel Bouchard and Fanny Howe
Main Lecture Hall
Cambridge Public Library
449 Broadway
Cambridge, MA
Saturday, November 21, 10:30 am
Meg Tyler, Sandra Corcoran and Barbara Kessler
Wake up and Smell the Poetry
HCAM Studios, 77 Main St.
Hopkinton, MA
Saturday, November 21, 6 pm
Kate Colby and Daniel Bouchard
Ada Books
717 Westminster Street
Providence, RI
Monday, November 30, 8 pm
Blacksmith House Poetry Series
Simeon Berry and Janaka Stucky
Blacksmith House
56 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA
$3
Image credit: Faith Goble via Flickr, CC 2.0
Garden of Words 