FIREWATER Poetics, Emerson College
Jun
5

FIREWATER Poetics, Emerson College

FIREWATER Poetics at the Elma Lewis Center.

Curated and MC’d by our talented and fabulous Letta Neely, 2022-2024 Elma Lewis Center Storyweaver-in-Residence (2022-2024). 


Where: In person (148 Boylston St, Boston) or Zoom link in our bio @elmalewiscenter. 

More details TBA

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Amesbury Monthly Poetry Reading Series
Mar
27

Amesbury Monthly Poetry Reading Series

Enzo Silon Surin will be our guest poet on March 27.

Come join us on Zoom for his reading and bring a poem to read at the open mic. Registration is free and open to the public. Link below!

When: Mar 27, 2024 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/.../tZEpc...

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

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Swampscott Black History Month Celebration
Feb
27

Swampscott Black History Month Celebration

SWAMPSCOTT BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION

             BLACK HISTORY IS OUR HISTORY

                     Swampscott's Black History

                

DATE:                       Tuesday, February 27th - 6:30 PM EST

LOCATION:         Swampscott High School, 200 Essex St., Swampscott MA

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You Were Born a Poem: a Master Craft Class
Feb
24

You Were Born a Poem: a Master Craft Class

You Were Born a Poem: a Master Craft Class by Enzo Silon Surin (via Zoom)

Saturday, February 24th,2024 | 12:30 - 2:30 PM EST

There are a number of things that inform who we are as individuals, which consequently inform the way we process and reflect the world we inhabit. These same factors are at play in the decisions we make as writers and they have a profound effect on how, when, and where we make use of the necessary language to convey our experiences. As such, the Poet as “literary device” is not a stretch by any means. 

In this master craft class, we will explore what it means to be a poem and how the way we move through the world can have an impact on what we choose to write about. We will also discuss how this impacts the way we craft a poem, from its shape and sounds to its rhythm and movements.

NB: This class will be taught on Zoom and will be capped at 15 students. Registrants will receive the Zoom link to the email address they use to register. It will arrive immediately after registration so please check your spam folder if you do not receive it. It will also be sent the day before class as a reminder.

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Feb
7
to Feb 10

AWP Conference - Kansas City, MO

AWP Conference

The AWP Conference & Bookfair is the annual destination for writers, teachers, students, editors, and publishers of contemporary creative writing. It includes thousands of attendees, hundreds of events and bookfair exhibitors, and four days of essential literary conversation and celebration. The AWP Conference & Bookfair has always been a place of connection, reunion, and joy, and we are excited to see the writing community come together again in Kansas City, Missouri in 2024.

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North Shore Young Writers Conference
Feb
2

North Shore Young Writers Conference

An Immersive Day of Intensive Writing, Engaging Workshops, and Inspirational Readings Led by Professional, Award-winning Authors

Experiment Under the Mentorship of Accomplished Writers

The conference will feature a combination of writing workshops and readings led by published mentors. This year we are pleased to offer mentorship by authors Colleen Michaels, Enzo Silon Surin, and Kevin Carey. The workshop will culminate in a group reading of student work created during the day. Participants may experiment with different styles of creative writing, including poetry, fiction, and personal essay. Students will have an opportunity to work in small groups with each mentor over the course of the day. 

Conference Details


When:  February 2, 2024, 8:30 - 5:00

Where: Waring School, Beverly, MA - Directions

Open to: High school students of the greater Boston area

Transportation: Waring will provide transportation to and from Beverly Depot Station for attendees taking the commuter rail. Contact Jill Sullivan at Jillsullivan@waringschool.org to organize pickup and drop-off times.

Description: The North Shore Young Writers Conference is an opportunity for students to unplug from social media and online distractions to participate in a day of intensive writing with like-minded peers. Award-winning authors will mentor students, give advice, and lead workshops as well as share their own writing with the group. Specific conference details coming soon!

Cost: $50

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Let Me Clear My Throat: Writing Personal Poems of Social Significance with Enzo Silon Surin
Jan
22

Let Me Clear My Throat: Writing Personal Poems of Social Significance with Enzo Silon Surin

Sometimes the difficult moments we experience in life are often the hardest to write about. These are often the struggles that shape who we are and help to define our voices. If you have ever wondered what impact sharing your story could have on others or if your words could make a difference, join us! In this 4-week workshop, we will discuss clear, safe, and effective ways to write socially engaging poems from personal experience. The workshops will be virtual so Writers are welcome to attend virtually from everywhere and anywhere.

Class Dates: January 22, January 29, February 5, February 12

Please plan on attending all 4 sessions, these workshops will not be recorded.

Use the code "EarlyBird" for $25 off if you register by 01/02/2024!

〰️

Use the code "EarlyBird" for $25 off if you register by 01/02/2024! 〰️

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Tell It Slant Poetry Festival
Sep
28
to Sep 30

Tell It Slant Poetry Festival

Tell It Slant Poetry Festival 2023

The year’s Festival will be hybrid with events happening online and in-person at the Museum in Amherst, MA.

Enzo will be doing a reading on Saturday, September 30th, that is open to the public, 3:30 - 5 PM EST.

The Emily Dickinson Museum’s annual Tell It Slant Poetry Festival is an event with international reach that celebrates Emily Dickinson’s poetic legacy and the contemporary creativity she and her work continues to inspire from the place she called home.

Save the date!: Join the Facebook event

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Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival 5
Sep
8

Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival 5

Laureates of the Caribbean

Laureates Of the Caribbean is a foot-stomping, hand-clapping, finger-snapping inducing gayelle where poetry is the bois. It is the festival's highest commendation to our storytellers who weave words in metaphor and feeling into stanza. Laureates of the Caribbean is the lion who does not roar in pentameter; is how we make love with words, is how we fight when the weapons of our warfare are the one-drop and dubstep…is the peculiar kinda way we twist our pain into a passionate lyrical dance to a song that plays to the rhythm that beats in a Caribbean heart only. 

As the Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival’s only ode to the oral tradition of the Caribbean, this year at Festival 5 we are shaking the four corners of Caribbean civilization to bring the best poets of our time to Brooklyn in a unique blend of verse, music, poetry and spoken word.

The BCLF is a celebration of culture as expressed through the pen of the storyteller and the voice of the poet. It is a platform designed to support and facilitate vibrant conversations about Caribbean identity via a series of readings of classic and contemporary stories, workshops, events, and talks through an annual capstone festival and a developing plan for year-long programming. 

IT IS FREE, AND OPEN TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC.

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The Thursday Poets – Inspired by Word at GALA
Aug
18

The Thursday Poets – Inspired by Word at GALA

The Thursday Poets – Inspired by Word at GALA

Join The Thursday Poets at the Galleries At LynnArts (GALA) for a poetry reading ahead of their pop-up gallery “Inspired by Word.” Poets will read their work and local artists are encouraged to create new works based on poems. Free and open to the public.

Friday, August 18

5-6 p.m. Reading, Reception to follow 

Featured Poet: Enzo Silon Surin 

Galleries at Lynn

25 Exchange Street

Lynn, MA 01901

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Bryant Park Reading Room
Aug
8

Bryant Park Reading Room

Poetry at the Bryant Park Reading Room

August 8, 2023, 6:00pm–7:30pm

Award-winning poetry by established and emerging poets throughout the summer.

Arda Collins is the author of Star Lake (The Song Cave, 2022), recently nominated for the Massachusetts Book Award, and It Is Daylight (2009), winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize. She is also a recipient of the Sarton Award in Poetry from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, A Public Space, The American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. Apart from her work as a writer and teacher, she has also been an associate producer on the PBS documentary series Frontline and American Experience. She teaches at Smith College. 

Oliver de la Paz is the Poet Laureate of Worcester, MA for 2023-2025. He is the author and editor of seven books: Names Above Houses, Furious Lullaby, Requiem for the Orchard, Post Subject: A Fable, and The Boy in the Labyrinth, a
finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry. His newest work, The Diaspora Sonnets, is published by Liveright Press (2023). With Stacey Lynn Brown he co-edited A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry. Oliver serves as the co-chair of the Kundiman advisory board. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Poetry, American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. He has received grants from the NEA, NYFA, the Artist’s Trust, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and has been awarded multiple Pushcart Prizes. He teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and in the Low-Residency MFA Program at PLU.

Enzo Silon Surin is a Haitian-born, award-winning poet, educator, librettist, publisher and social advocate. He is the author of four collections of poetry, including American Scapegoat (Black Lawrence Press, May 2023), which interrogates the socio-political framework of a democracy at war with itself and its humanity, and When My Body Was A Clinched Fist (2020), winner of the 21st Annual Massachusetts Book Awards for Poetry. He is co-editor of Where We Stand: Poems of Black Resilience (Cherry Castle Publishing, 2022), and the recipient of a number of honors including a Brother Thomas Fellowship from the Boston Foundation and grants from the New England Poetry Club and Chateau d’Orquevaux in France. He is also Founding Editor and Publisher at Central Square Press and Founder/Executive Director at the Faraday Publishing Company, Inc., a nonprofit literary services and social advocacy organization.

Ross White is the director of Bull City Press, an independent publisher of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. He is the author of Charm Offensive, winner of the Sexton Prize for Poetry, and three chapbooks: How We Came Upon the Colony, The Polite Society, and Valley of Want. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, New England Review, Ploughshares, Poetry Daily, Tin House, and The Southern Review, among others. He is Director of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-hosts The Chapbook, a podcast devoted to tiny, delightful things.

Hosted by Nathan McClain, a poet, editor, and educator living in Amherst, Massachusetts. He is the author of Scale (Four Way Books, 2017) and Previously Owned (Four Way Books, 2022), and his poems and prose have recently appeared, or are forthcoming, in Poetry Northwest, Green Mountains Review, Poem-a-Day, The Common, The Critical Flame, and upstreet, among others.  He is Assistant Professor of Creative Writing and African American Literary Arts at Hampshire College, and serves as Poetry Editor of The Massachusetts Review.  

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Hudson Valley Writers Center
Jul
16

Hudson Valley Writers Center

An Afternoon to celebrate new poetry collections with Randall Mann, Glenis Redmond, Enzo Silon Surin, and Courtney LeBlanc (via Zoom)

Join Jennifer Franklin, Program Director & Sophia Bannister, Programming Assistant & Social Media Director, as we welcome Randall Mann,  Glenis Redmond, Enzo Silon Surin, and Courtney LeBlanc to read and discuss their new poetry collections.

This reading will take place on Zoom. The link will be sent to the email that you use to register as soon as you reserve a spot. (Please check your spam folder and save the link to your calendar.) It will also be sent to you the day of the reading for your convenience.

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Black Writers Summer Reads
Jun
25

Black Writers Summer Reads

Join us this summer for @blackwritersread's first summer virtual book club. Each month, book club participants will read one of the books recently featured on the podcast. We will then meet virtually over Zoom with the book's author to do a deep dive into each book. Book club discussions will be kept small to create a meaningful experience for both the author and participants.

Book Club Discussion Dates are as follows:

Enzo Silon Surin's American Scapegoat (Sunday, June 25 at 1 p.m.)
Natasha Gordon-Chipembere's Finding La Negrita (Saturday, July 8 at 2 p.m.)
Tracy A Cross's Rootwork (Saturday, August 12 at 1 p.m.)
La'Vista Jones's The BOSS™ Shift (Saturday, September 16 at 1 p.m.)

Spots are limited and will fill up fast!

For more information and to sign up to join us:

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Juneteenth Celebration
Jun
15

Juneteenth Celebration

Please join the Town of Swampscott for our annual Juneteenth Jubilee on Town Hall Lawn!

Thursday, June 15th from 3-5 pm! Speakers, music, face painting, food, treats, flag-raising ceremony, and so much more!

Enzo will be reading (with a special guest!) from his new release, American Scapegoat.

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Five Ponds Creative Writing Festival
Apr
29

Five Ponds Creative Writing Festival

The 2023 Five Ponds Creative Writing Festival will take place on Saturday, April 29, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with most events occurring in a hybrid format–on Zoom and in person at Gordon College.

The festival is free for all participants.

Reading & Remarks with Enzo Surin 2:55 PM - 3:45 PM

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Opera Bites
Jan
20
to Jan 22

Opera Bites

Opera Bites with the Boston Opera Collaborative

Join us for a fabulous evening of opera in Pickman Hall at the Longy School of Music! This production includes eight 10-minute operas, including six commissions from our Opera Bites: In the Studio workshop process. These operas include:

  • "A Long Trip" by Jordan Kuspa and Dan McGeehan

  • "A Tall Order" by John Greer and Sheri Wilner

  • "Courthouse Bells" Mary D. Watkins and Anita Gonzalez

  • "The Course We Set" by Johanny Navarro and Amy Tofte

  • "Crush Play" by Tony Solitro and Joshua Brown

  • "Hamlet Investigations, Inc." by Jonathan Shin and Ellen Abrams

  • "In the House of Serenity" by Beth Ratay and Laura Fuentes

  • "Last Train" by Carlos Carrillo and Enzo Silon Surin

From Enzo:

I’ve seen more than my fair of videos clips or posts that say “act like you’ve been there before” as a way of turning down the voltage of one’s celebration of an accomplishment. And although I’ve always wondered “what the heck for?”, over the years I’ve done just that and dimmed my own light. But never again.

I started out writing songs and dramas as a young boy trying to make sense of his environment and this production of my work on a such a stage means so much to me 🥹. I am extremely proud to be a part of this incredible cast of talented writers, musicians, composers, producers, directors and vocalists who will be bringing this series of operas to life. Big shoutout to my mentors (@librettistatlarge ), the @bostonoperacollaborative and phenomenal composer and fellow Caribbean compañero, Carlos Carillo 🤩.

My piece of the pie, “Last Train”, is a libretto based on a 10-minute play I wrote more than a decade ago (same title) about a young black couple who find themselves at the crossroads of a major decision in their lives. Set in a post Civil Rights Movement era, the libretto illustrates the life of an activist who is struggling to find a way to protect his own family. I would love love if you would come and celebrate with me, Jan 20, 21, 22

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Love in the Time Of... A beloved classic meets a world-premiere commission
Nov
10

Love in the Time Of... A beloved classic meets a world-premiere commission

Love in the Time Of...

A beloved classic meets a world-premiere commission

Based on and incorporating Schumann’s Dichterliebe
Performed with piano accompaniment

Thursday, November 10, 2022 | 7:30 pm
Friday, November 11, 2022 | 7:30 pm

Saturday, November 12, 2022 | 3:00 pm

General Admission: $35

Student Admission: $25

Senior Admission: $30

Multicultural Arts Center

41 Second St,

East Cambridge, MA 02141

In this extraordinary musical pairing, Robert Schumann’s beloved Dichterliebe is intertwined with Love in the Time Of, a brand new song cycle commissioned by BOC. 10 poets and 8 composers have created 16 new songs, each one a reflection or response to the brilliant works in Schumann’s cycle. In a fully staged narrative, this piece explores the love we aspire to and the things we must let go amidst all the promise, turmoil, wonder, and heartache of the 21st century.

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Apr
29

Thresh & Hold:: a poetry reading

Thresh & Hold: a poetry reading, book signing and Q&A with Winner of the 2021 New Southern Voices Poetry Prize.

About this event

Thresh & Hold is the newest work by 2021 winner of the New Southern Voices Poetry Prize Marlanda Dekine. Dekine will read poems from her work and engage in a lively discussion + Q&A moderated by Faraday Publishing founder and winner of the 21st Annual Massachusetts Book Awards for Poetry Enzo Silon Surin. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase Thresh & Hold and get their copy of the work signed by Marlanda Dekine.

ABOUT MARLANDA & THE BOOK

"Marlanda Dekine's debut collection is a holy, radical unlearning and reclamation of self. What does it mean to be a Gullah-Geechee descendant from a rural place where a third of the nation's founding wealth was harvested by trafficked West and Central Africans? Dekine's poems travel across age and time, signaling that both the past and future exist in the present. Through erasure and persona, Dekine reimagines and calls to task the Works Progress Administration narratives, modern-day museums, and intergenerational traumas. Beyond gospel music, fear, and the stories of generations past, Thresh & Hold offers magic, healing, and innovative pathways to manifest intimacy. Dekine remembers, remakes, and brings forth their many selves, traveling far in order to deeply connect to a spiritual home within and all around them, calling: "I am listening to Spirit. I am not dying today." Marlanda Dekine is the winner of the 2021 New Southern Voices Poetry Prize"

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What does an event with Enzo look like?

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Black Writers Read

Enzo has just finished his 2023 American Scapegoat Tour.

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For questions about events, please email us here.

Poetry Readings

Surin's work is the recipient of several poetry prizes and has been described as "powerful, compelling"; "bold, necessary" and "poetry that matters."

Speaking Engagements

Surin is passionate about building up individuals in order that they can achieve their life purpose. He has been a featured keynote at colleges & universities, literary festivals, and more.

Writing Workshops

Whether working with youth and community organizations, the incarcerated, or in higher education classrooms, Surin's poetry workshops help to develop and hone skills at any level of experience.

If you'd like to receive announcements about readings and events or just want to stay in touch, you can join our mailing list + follow Enzo Surin on

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