Poetry Workshop with Enzo Silon Surin

Following the election, we are holding space for a free cathartic poetry workshop on Wednesday, November 6, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Swampscott-based and award-winning poet, educator, publisher, and social advocate Enzo Silon Surin offers a 60-minute workshop about the power of telling one’s own story. This experience is geared towards people with different writing experiences and is open to all.

Light refreshments will be provided. Please call 781-571-6200 or email office@lynnmuseum.org to RSVP.

Sparking the Conversation

In-Person Event, FREE

Join us for a powerful conversation about Black mental health in America!

Date: Thursday, July 25th
Time: 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Location: Boston Public Library Copley (700 Boylston St.) @ Commonwealth Salon
Light refreshments will be provided.

July is National BIPOC Mental Health Month. While statistics highlight the challenges faced by Black communities, this event goes beyond the numbers.

Hear lived experiences from a panel of Black mental health advocates:

• Carmen Blyden, MBA, Owner of Healthy Energy Actively Living (HEAL)

• Enzo Silon Surin, MFA, Award-winning Poet, Educator, Publisher, and Social Advocate

Moderated by:

• Paris Alston, Co-host of Morning Edition and The Wake Up podcast, GBH News

Together, let’s:

• Break the stigma surrounding mental health.

• Learn about the unique struggles faced by Black communities.

• Spark important conversations about healing and access to care.

Reading with Enzo Silon Surin and January Gill O’Neal

The Marblehead Festival of Arts Literary Festival promises an eclectic lineup of events and opportunities for literature enthusiasts of all ages. The festivities, organized by Abbot Public Library Executive Director Kim Grad and a team of volunteers, kick off on the Fourth of July and continue through July 7, featuring a diverse array of authors, workshops and interactive sessions.

Literary festival, a wordsmith wonderland, in the Marblehead Current

Website

Transitional Literature Series

Join the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith for an in-store event with writers ’Pemi Aguda, Keith Jones, and Enzo Silon Surin to discuss and celebrate the release of the latest issue of Transition Magazine on Species and Ghostroots.

The latest issue of Transition: The Magazine of Africa and the Diaspora's focus is Species. Species builds on the previous issue Climate by tracking the intimate relationship of the Diaspora to all forms of life. Among the relationships considered in this issue are those imposed on Africans as a result of the atrocities of Middle Passage (and racialized chattel slavery) as well as practices and relationships that grow from–and resist–those atrocities. In addition to many essays, and an interview with artist Kapwani Kiwanga, remarkable fiction and poetry also address the issue’s themes, including the opening poems by Enzo Silon Surin as well as stunning contributions from Keith Jones, among others.

This event is being held at Future Front, which is a cozy space located right next to The Little Gay Shop.

Readings by Enzo Silon Surin, Jubi Arriola-Headley, and KB Brookins

Jun 19, 2024, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM CDT

Future Front, 1900 E 12th St, Austin, TX 78702, USA

Join Abode Press to celebrate Juneteenth by listening to poetry from renowned Black poets, KB Brookins, Enzo Silon Surin, and Mirakol Smith. Each poet will reflect on Juneteenth, its significance, and read from their works. There will be books available for purchase from Black Pearl Books and a time for signings and author questions. There is a 30-person capacity for this event so RSVPs are mandatory. To practice community care, masks are required for this event and will be available for attendees at the front door.

Learn more here

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

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.

Join us on Instagram for Caribbean Connections, A Reading and Conversation on Instagram Live

Featuring Enzo Silon Surin, Roberto Carlos Garcia & Myriam J.A. Chancy

@robertoisoffworld on Instagram!

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

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.

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

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.

Join us for an evening of readings and thought, curated by Shamar Hill. Drinks and socializing to follow in our bar.

RSVP Required - Please click the link below for more details & to RSVP.

Details TBA

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.

Join us for the third installment of Remnant Brewery Presents Pop-up Poetry on Tuesday, August 29, 2023.

Featuring Poets: Enzo Surin, Susannah Simpson, Lauren Hunter,  Aimee Harrison &   Marta Núñez

Remnant Brewery Website  

This event will feature a Musician and 4 Poets doing readings.

Virtual event

Event start: 7 PM PST (10 PM EST) Thursday, August 24th

Go to the website below, to add to your calendar click View/Join Events Now & the Literary Event Series: Black Lawrence

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

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.  

Longfellow House - Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site - Free & Open to the Public!

July 23, 3 PM EST

Enzo Silon Surin & Joan Houlihan

These readings are supported by the Friends of the Longfellow House - Washington’s Headquarters.

View the Longfellow House Calendar

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.

JUNE READING

Arthur Kayzakian & Enzo Silon Surin
Tuesday, 6/27 @ 8PM ET

Join us on the last Tuesday of each month for readings and Q&As with our fabulous authors. Registration on Zoom is required for attendance. Can’t make it? Catch up on past events with captioned readings on our YouTube Channel.

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:

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.

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