In With the New: Poets Laureate
at the Florence Poetry Carnival

Saturday, April 27, 4:30pm
Florence Civic Center

My time is up! Help me welcome the new Northampton poet laureate to the community at the first Florence Poetry Carnival. I’ll introduce the new laureate, Karen Skolfield, and say goodbye, at an event that will feature a reading by both of us, followed by a conversation and Q & A with the audience.

Karen Skolfield’s book Battle Dress (W. W. Norton) won the Barnard Women Poets Prize and will be published in 2019. Her book Frost in the Low Areas (Zone 3 Press) won the 2014 PEN New England Award in poetry and the First Book Award from Zone 3 Press, and is a Massachusetts “Must Read” selection.

Skolfield is the winner of the 2016 Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize in poetry from The Missouri Review, the 2015 Robert H. Winner award from the Poetry Society of America, and the 2015 Arts & Humanities Award from New England Public Radio. Skolfield is a U.S. Army veteran and teaches writing to engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she earned her Master of Fine Arts.

The Florence Poetry Carnival is an all-volunteer event presented in conjunction with Massachusetts ArtWeek. The Carnival will take place on the grounds of the Florence Civic building at 90 Park Street.

The Poet Laureate position is funded by the Northampton Arts Council, an organization supported by the city of Northampton and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The Florence Poetry Carnival is supported by a suggested donation of $5.00 per person, private donations and local businesses.