April 16, 2023: Eugenia Leigh

Eugenia Leigh is a Korean American poet and the author of Bianca (Four Way Books, 2023) and Blood, Sparrows and Sparrows (Four Way Books, 2014), finalist for both the National Poetry Series and the Yale Series of Younger Poets. Her poems and essays have appeared in numerous publications including The Nation, Poetry, Ploughshares, Waxwing, and the Best of the Net anthology. The recipient of Poetry’s Bess Hokin Prize as well as fellowships and awards from Poets & Writers, Kundiman, and elsewhere, Eugenia received her MFA from Sarah Lawrence College and serves as a poetry editor at The Adroit Journal.

April 16, 2023: Martha Collins

Martha Collins’s eleventh volume of poetry is Casualty Reports (Pittsburgh, fall 2022); her tenth, Because What Else Could I Do (Pittsburgh, 2019), won the Poetry Society of America’s William Carlos Williams Award. Her previous books include three focusing on race and racism (Admit One: An American Scrapbook, White Papers, and Blue Front) and the paired volumes Night Unto Night and Day Unto Day. Her fifth collection of co-translated Vietnamese poetry, Dreaming the Mountain: Poems by Tue Sy, is due in May 2023. Collins founded the U.Mass. Boston creative writing program and later served as Pauline Delaney Professor of Creative Writing at Oberlin College. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her website is marthacollinspoet.com.

March 19, 2023: Jennifer Martelli

Jennifer Martelli is the author of The Queen of Queens and My Tarantella (Bordighera Press), awarded an Honorable Mention from the Italian-American Studies Association, selected as a “Must Read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, and named as a finalist for the Housatonic Book Award. She is also the author of the chapbooks All Things are Born To Change Their Shapes, winner of the Small Harbor Press open reading and After Bird, winner of the Grey Book Press open reading. Her work has appeared in The Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, Poetry, The Tahoma Literary Review, Jet Fuel Review, Verse Daily, Iron Horse Review (winner of the Photo Finish contest), and elsewhere. Jennifer Martelli has twice received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council for her poetry. She is co-poetry editor for Mom Egg Review.

March 19, 2023: Wendy Drexler

Wendy Drexler is a recipient of a 2022 artist fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Her fourth collection, Notes from the Column of Memory, was published in September 2022 by Terrapin Books. Her poems have appeared in Barrow Street, J Journal, Lily Poetry Review, Nimrod, Pangyrus, Prairie Schooner, Salamander, Solstice, Sugar House, The Atlanta Review, The Mid-American Review, The Hudson Review, The Threepenny Review, and the Valparaiso Poetry Review, among others. She’s been the poet in residence at New Mission High School in Hyde Park, MA, since 2018, and is programming co-chair for the New England Poetry Club.

February 19, 2023: Susan Donnelly

Susan Donnelly’s newest poetry collection is The Maureen Papers and Other Poems.  Its title poem sequence was 2019 co-winner of the Samuel Washington Allen Award from the New England Poetry Club.  The author of Capture the Flag, Transit, Eve Names the Animals, and six chapbooks, she has published in The New Yorker, Poetry, Agni, Prairie Schooner, and in many other journals, anthologies, textbooks, and online.  Her poetry was recently included in an anthology, Poets Meet Politics, chosen from a 2022 competition sponsored by Hungry Hill Writing of Cork, Ireland.  Other new work is forthcoming in Poetry East, U.S. Catholic, and Main Street Rag.  Susan grew up in Brookline, graduating from the Heath School and then from Holy Cross Academy on Boylston Street.  She is a member of a large extended family, who regularly gathered at her grandparents’ house on Chestnut Hill Avenue.  Many of her poems reflect these places and personalities.  Susan now teaches poetry classes and offers individual consultations from her home in Arlington, Massachusetts.

February 19, 2023: Charles Coe

Charles Coe is the author of three books of poetry: All Sins Forgiven: Poems for my Parents, Picnic on the Moon, and Memento Mori, all published by Leapfrog Press. A fourth volume, Purgatory Road, will be released by Leapfrog in Spring of 2023. He is also author of Spin Cycles, a novella published by Gemma Media. Charles was selected as a Boston Literary Light by the Associates of the Boston Public Library and is a former artist fellow at the St. Botolph Club in Boston. A short film by filmmaker Roberto Mighty, “Peach Pie,” based on his poem, “Fortress,” has been shown at film festivals nationwide. Another short film, “Charles Coe: Man of Letters,” also by Roberto Mighty was named “Outstanding Documentary Short” at the 2020 Roxbury Film Festival. Charles has served as poet-in-residence at Wheaton College, the Newton Public Schools, and at the Chautauqua Institution in New York State. He is an adjunct professor of English at Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island, and Bay Path University, in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, where he teaches in both MFA programs.

Eye of the Dragon: Second Grade Mixed Media Sculptures

Second graders at the Florida Ruffin Ridley School created 3-D dragon eye sculptures! Students discussed the importance of texture and color before beginning their sculpture work. First, students began by choosing colored pencils to create a realistic eye drawing. Then we glued them back to a glass bead to create a realistic eye effect. Then we folded the bead into model magic, and students mixed their own colors of clay to create these unique and exciting dragon’s eyes. This exhibition comes up just after the celebration of Lunar New Year, which features the dragon as a symbol of good luck!

Maya’s Cat Collection and Ethan’s LEGO Collection

Check out the collections on display in the Children’s Room!

In our flat case, Maya shares her collection of cat stuffed animals. Maya is 7 years old and she loves cats because they are cute!

Hand-written note in display case, introducing Maya and her cat collection

In our wall case, Ethan shares his LEGO collection. Ethan is 5 years old and he likes LEGO and Mario!

Display case with Mario characters made of LEGOs  Display case with Mario characters made of LEGOs

Stop by the Brookline Village Children’s Room to see these amazing collections! And sign up for a slot in our display cases here!

Tagua Nut Carvings

Judith Clark’s collection of tagua nut carvings is currently on display at the Brookline Village Library. Tagua nuts are the seeds of certain species of palm trees. These carvings are made by artists in Panama and Colombia. They feature many Central American animal species in minute detail.