The Deerfield Public Library Podcast
Deerfield Public Library
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Thoughtful, in-depth conversations with authors of all genres and other notable people from Chicagoland and around the world. A monthly program from the Deerfield Public Library in Deerfield, IL, hosted by Dylan Zavagno.
Our archives include episodes from the Library's John Cotton Dana Award-winning series, The Fight to Integrate Deerfield: 60 Year Reflection; our Pride Month series, Queer Poem-a-Day; and our local history audio tours.
Available episodes
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Jun 30, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Composer Robert Savage & John Ashbery
For our final day of Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition, we reveal the unknown lineage story of the composer Robert Savage (whose "AIDS Ward Scherzo" is our excerpted music this year) and and his connection to poet John Ashbery. While preparing the music for this year, our pianist Daniel Baer discovered a 1982 piece by Savage "Chaconne," dedicated to John Ashbery. For the last month, while we've been presenting lineage poems, we've also been tracking down the mystery of their connection.
We want to extend our enormous gratitude to David Kermani, John Ashbery's husband, for his time and sharing his insights. And to Jeffrey Lependorf, Executive Director of The Flow Chart Foundation, to Karin Roffman, Ashbery’s biographer, to academic Andrew Epstein, author of the Locus Solus Blog about the New York School Poets. We also want to point listeners to the work of pianist Marcus Ostermiller, whose performances of and dissertation on Robert Savage have been pioneering in increasing the visibility of this remarkable composer.
Quotations from texts and interviews by John Ashbery are Copyright © 2019, 2020.
All rights reserved. Used by arrangement with Georges Borchardt, Inc. for the John Ashbery Estate.
deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
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Jun 28, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Amanda Gunn
Amanda Gunn reads a poem by Judy Grahn and the poem "Like This" from Amanda's new book Things I Didn't Do With This Body (Copper Canyon Press, 2023).
Quick Note: for today’s episode, Amanda Gunn chose a long poem by the living poet Judy Grahn as her lineage work—while Judy Grahn is not a “poet of the past” Amanda’s passion about this poem and this great figure of our current age was irresistible, so we end our Lineage series by reopening the present.
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Amanda Gunn is a poet, teacher, and doctoral candidate in English at Harvard where she studies poetry, ephemerality, and Black pleasure. Raised in Connecticut, she worked as a medical copyeditor for thirteen years before earning a master of fine arts degree in poetry from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins. She is a 2021-23 Wallace Stegner Fellow in poetry at Stanford, the inaugural winner of the Auburn Witness Poetry Prize honoring Jack Adam York, the recipient of a writing fellowship from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, and the recipient of a Pushcart Prize.
"Like This" was first published in Things I Didn't Do With This Body (Copper Canyon Press, 2023).
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
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Jun 26, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Megan Fernandes
Megan Fernandes reads a poem by Federico García Lorca and "Paris Poem Without Clichés" from Megan's just-released book, I Do Everything I'm Told (Tin House, 2023)
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
Megan Fernandes is a poet living in NYC. She has been published in The New Yorker, The American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, among many others.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
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Jun 23, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Randall Mann
Randall Mann reads a poem by Karl Tierney and ""Wi-Fi" from Randall Mann's new book Deal: New and Selected Poems (2023, Copper Canyon Press).
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
A queer poet, critic, and medical writer, Randall Mann is the author of five poetry collections: Deal: New and Selected Poems (2023, Copper Canyon Press), Complaint in the Garden, Breakfast with Thom Gunn, Straight Razor, Proprietary, and A Better Life. He is also the author of a book of criticism, essays, and interviews, The Illusion of Intimacy: On Poetry. His writing has appeared in The Adroit Journal, Lit Hub, Kenyon Review, Paris Review, Poetry Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, and elsewhere. He is the recipient of the Kenyon Review Prize in Poetry and the J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize from Poetry, and his books have been shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, California Book Award, and Northern California Book Award. Mann lives in San Francisco.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
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Jun 22, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Jameson Fitzpatrick
Jameson Fitzpatrick reads a text by Gertrude Stein and a poem "The Genius of Wives I Have Sat With" from Jameson's chapbook Mr. & (Indolent Books, 2018).
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
Jameson Fitzpatrick is the author of the poetry collection Pricks in the Tapestry (Birds, LLC, 2020) and the chapbooks Mr. & (Indolent Books, 2018) and Morrisroe: Erasures (89plus/LUMA Publications, 2014). She is a 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow in Creative Writing and teaches first-year writing at New York University.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
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Jun 21, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Alicia Mountain
Alicia Mountain reads a poem by Pat Parker and "Rewinding the Lesbian Sex Scene on a Flight to Denver" originally published in American Poetry Review.
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
Alicia Mountain is the author of Four in Hand (BOA 2023). Her debut collection, High Ground Coward (Iowa 2018), won of the Iowa Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Guernica, Pleiades, Poetry Northwest, and American Poetry Review. Mountain was a Clemens Doctoral Fellow at the University of Denver and the 2020-2021 Artist in Residence at the University of Central Oklahoma. She serves on the board of Foglifter, a LGBTQIA+ journal based in the Bay Area. Mountain lives in New York City, where she is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Writer’s Foundry MFA program at St. Joseph’s University in Brooklyn.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
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Jun 19, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Chen Chen
Chen Chen reads a poem by Justin Chin and "The World's Italianest Resturant" from Chen's new book, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency (BOA Editions, 2022); the poem first appeared in bath magg (bathmagg.com/chenchen2/). In this special longer episode, Chen Chen shares (in conversation with Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno) his reflections on the importance of libraries being for everybody and standing against censorship.
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
Chen Chen’s second book, Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency, has been selected as a best book of 2022 by the Boston Globe, Electric Lit, NPR, and others. It has also been named a 2023 Notable Book by the American Library Association. His debut, When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, was long-listed for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. A 2022 United States Artists Fellow, his work appears in many publications, including The New York Times and three editions of The Best American Poetry.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
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Jun 16, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: K. Iver
K. Iver reads a peice by David Wojnarowicz and their poem "Central Park" originally published in Bat City Review, Spring 2023. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
K. Iver (they/them) is a nonbinary trans poet born in Mississippi. Their book Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco won the 2022 Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry from Milkweed Editions. Their poems have appeared in Boston Review, Kenyon Review, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. Iver has received fellowships from The Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, the Sewanee Writer’s Conference, and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. They have a Ph.D. in Poetry from Florida State University. For more, visit kleeiver.com.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
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Jun 14, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Tara Skurtu
Tara Skurtu reads a poem by Elizabeth Bishop and "Morning Love Poem" from from her debut collection The Amoeba Game (Eyewhere Publishing, 2017), and first published in the Minnesota Review.
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
Tara Skurtu is the author of the chapbook Skurtu, Romania, the full poetry collection The Amoeba Game, and the upcoming collection Faith Farm. A two-time Fulbright grantee and recipient of a Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship, the Marcia Keach Poetry Prize, and two Academy of American Poets prizes, she is the founder of International Poetry Circle and a national steering committee member of Writers for Democratic Action. Tara is based in Brooklyn, where she is a writing coach for clients worldwide.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
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Jun 12, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Armen Davoudian
Armen Davoudian reads a poem by James Merrill and "The Yellow Swan" from Armen's chapbook Swan Song (Bull City Press, 2020), originally published in Literary Matters, 11.3.
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
Armen Davoudian is the author of The Palace of Forty Pillars, forthcoming from Tin House Books in in Winter 2024. His poems and translations from Persian appear in Poetry magazine, the Hopkins Review, the Yale Review, and elsewhere. His chapbook, Swan Song, won the 2020 Frost Place Competition. Armen grew up in Isfahan, Iran, and is a PhD candidate in English at Stanford University.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this third year of our series is AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission.
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Jun 9, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Rachel Mennies
Rachel Mennies reads a poem by Muriel Rukeyser and "Feburary 26, 2017" from Rachel's book The Naomi Letters.
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
Rachel Mennies is the author, most recently, of THE NAOMI LETTERS (BOA Editions, 2021). Her poetry has appeared, or will soon, at Poetry, American Poetry Review, The Believer, and elsewhere. An editor for AGNI, she lives in Chicago.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for…
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Jun 7, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Maggie Millner
Maggie Millner reads a poem by Adrienne Rich and Section 2.9 from Millner's new book Couplets.
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
Maggie Millner is the author of Couplets (FSG, 2023). Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The Nation, BOMB, Kenyon Review, Poetry, and elsewhere. She is currently a senior editor at The Yale Review and a lecturer in writing at Yale.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library.…
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Jun 5, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Derrick Austin
Derrick Austin reads a poem by Robert Hayden and "Black Docent."
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
Derrick Austin is the author of Tenderness (BOA Editions, 2021), winner of the 2020 Isabella Gardner Poetry Award, and Trouble the Water (BOA Editions, 2016) selected by Mary Szybist for the A. Poulin Jr, Poetry Prize. His first chapbook, Black Sand, is recently out from Foundlings Press. Tenderness was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, a Golden Poppy Award, and a Northern California Book Award. He is a 2022-2023 Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholar.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from par…
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Jun 2, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: Richie Hofmann
Richie Hofmann reads a poem by Walt Whitman and “Reconciliation.”
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition is our new format for year three! Featuring contemporary LGBTQIA+ poets reading a poem by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past, followed by an original poem of their own.
Richie Hofmann is the author of two books of poems, A Hundred Lovers (2022) and Second Empire (2015). His poetry appears recently in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Review of Books, and The Yale Review, and has been honored with the Ruth Lilly and Wallace Stegner fellowships. Work from a new manuscript is forthcoming in Poetry and The Paris Review. He lives in Chicago.
Text of today’s original poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/ Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher…
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Jun 1, 2023
Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition: An Introduction
For this third season of the program, we are shaking things up with a new format: Queer Poem-a-Day Lineage Edition. In each podcast episode, we asked a contemporary queer poet to read a work of influence by an LGBTQIA+ writer of the past followed by an original poem of their own. Our participating poets also discuss the poem they chose and how their own work responds, offering an educational opportunity to consider how today’s vibrant living voices are in conversation with the voices of the past that live on library shelves. Our new semi-daily format (shared Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), combined with additional educational programs, adds a new, enriching dimension to the Queer Poem-a-Day project.
Queer Poem-a-Day is founded and co-directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Library and host of the Deerfield Public Library Podcast. Music for this third year of our series is AIDS Ward Scherzo by Robert Savage, performed by pianist…
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May 10, 2023
60: Robert Pinsky, author of Jersey Breaks: Becoming an American Poet
Jersey Breaks: Becoming an American Poet (W. W. Norton & Company, 2022) is the new memoir by former U.S. Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky. Robert is the author of numerous poetry collections. Robert Pinsky is a celebrated poet, essayist, translator, teacher, and speaker. He served as the U.S. Poet Laureate from 1997-2000, during which time he founded the popular Favorite Poem Project. He is the author of many poetry collections, including the anthology The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems, 1966-1996, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and most recently the collection At the Foundling Hospital (FSG, 2016). He’s also the translator of the best-selling The Inferno of Dante. Robert is a professor of English and creative writing in the graduate program at Boston University. In the words of the New York Times Sunday Book Review, “No other living American poet—no other living American, probably—has done so much to put poetry before the public eye.”
Jersey Breaks is a fascinating…
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Apr 25, 2023
59: Lisa Barr, author of Woman on Fire
We're sharing the recording of the special in-person interview we held earlier this month with New York Times bestselling author—and Deerfield resident—Lisa Barr. Our conversation was recorded live in front of an enthusiastic audience of fans, family, friends, book clubs, book bloggers, and neighbors.
Lisa Barr’s novel Woman on Fire (2022) tells the story of the contemporary pursuit of a single Nazi-looted painting and the many lives it touches. Lisa shares how her own family history and her fascinating career as a journalist inspires her fiction.
We take a local angle on this popular novel and discuss our own identity in the Village of Deerfield and surrounding areas as places where Holocaust survivors and their children made their lives. Weaving in themes from Lisa’s previous novels, The Unbreakables (2019) and the award-winning Fugitive Colors (2013), our conversation is both delightful and deep, considering painting and writing as sites for the expression of rage, passion…
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Mar 22, 2023
58: Merve Emre on Italo Calvino
This month on the Deerfield Public Library Podcast, I am very pleased to share a conversation with acclaimed critic Merve Emre on the beloved Italian writer Italo Calvino, known for his genre-defying stories and novels like Invisible Cities and If on a winter’s night a traveler. Merve Emre is a contributing writer at The New Yorker, associate professor of English at Oxford University, and currently a Distinguished Writer in Residence at Wesleyan University.
In a recent essay in The New Yorker, “The Worlds of Italo Calvino,” Merve Emre calls Calvino, “word for word, the most charming writer to put pen to paper in the twentieth century.” It is an enthusiasm we both share. Indeed, we learn that for both of us, reading Calvino novels set us on a path of making a career out of talking to people about books.
Emre’s essay on Calvino was occasioned by the new publication in English of a book of his essays, The Written World and the Unwritten World, translated by Ann Goldstein.…
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Feb 28, 2023
57: Pianist Seymour Bernstein
We have the honor of presenting a fascinating conversation with world-famous pianist Seymour Bernstein. You may know Seymour as the subject of the widely acclaimed 2015 documentary Seymour, an Introduction, directed by Ethan Hawke. The film tells Seymour’s inspiring story of abandoning his solo concert career at age 50, and, at the end of the documentary, performing again in his 80s. Yet, as we discuss in this interview, there are other ways to tell this story. Now in his mid-90s (he turns 96 this April), Seymour reflects on his decision to leave solo performing as a necessary refocusing, following his creative impulse to compose, write his books, and study music.
In his 90s, Seymour has been busy making new recordings, continuing to teach, and even becoming a viral YouTube sensation, releasing videos with the music education streaming service ToneBase, as well as on his channel. He shares with us deep reflections on following your intuition in musical interpretation and in life.
S…
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Nov 17, 2022
56: Deborah Nelson, author of Tough Enough: Arbus, Arendt, Didion, McCarthy, Sontag, Weil
Tough Enough: Arbus, Arendt, Didion, McCarthy, Sontag, Weil (University of Chicago Press, 2017) by Deborah Nelson, the Helen B. and Frank L. Sulzberger Professor of English and chair of the Department of English at the University of Chicago.
Deborah Nelson’s fascinating book Tough Enough looks at a group of challenging 20th century writers (and a photographer)—Simone Weil, Hannah Arendt, Mary McCarthy, Susan Sontag, Diane Arbus, and Joan Didion—who were all committed in various ways to moral and aesthetic “toughness.” Our conversation was occasioned by the death of Joan Didion in December 2021. Her passing also prompted the Classic Book Discussion at the Library to take on a recent three part career-retrospective series on Didion, from her early essays in the collections Slouching Towards Bethlehem and The White Album, to the political reporting and novels of her middle period, through to her bestselling memoirs of grief The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights. Deborah…
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Aug 18, 2022
55: Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué, author of Madness
Chicago-based poet and writer Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué is the author most recently of the poetry collection Madness (Nightboat Books, 2022). Gabriel was one of our Queer Poem-a-Day poets earlier this year.
Madness takes the form of a book of selected poems by a fictional poet named Luis Montes-Torres (1976-2035) and contains academic and biographical introductions, diaries, and, of course, poems. Remarkably, Ojeda-Sagué simulates the development of a poet over a lifetime (and into the future), through various styles and themes in response to histories both real and imagined, personal and political. Both drawing from and commenting on poetic traditions that explore Latino and queer identity, as well as “eco-poetics” in response to the extraordinary realities of climate change, Madness presents a dizzying variety of artistic gestures. To take a line from one of Montes-Torres’ last poems, this is a project that “implies ambivalence drowned in light.”
Gabriel is also the author of…
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Jun 30, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Gay Epithalamium by Benjamin Garcia
Benjamin Garcia’s first collection, THROWN IN THE THROAT, won the National Poetry Series and the Eugene Paul Nassar Poetry Prize, in addition to being a finalist for the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. He works as a sexual health and harm reduction educator in New York’s Finger Lakes region, where he received the Jill Gonzalez Health Educator Award recognizing contributions to HIV treatment and prevention. A CantoMundo and Lambda Literary fellow, he serves as core faculty at Alma College’s low-residency MFA program. His poems and essays have recently appeared or are forthcoming in: AGNI, American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, and New England Review. His video poem “Ode to the Peacok” is available for viewing at the Broad Museum’s website as part of El Poder de la Poesia: Latinx Voices in Response to HIV/AIDS.
Copyright © 2018 by Benjamin Francis. This poem first appeared in Nimrod International.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerf…
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Jun 29, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: GPOY as Rainbowfrong.gif by Aerik Francis
Aerik Francis is a Queer Black & Latinx poet based in Denver, Colorado, USA. Aerik is the author of the recently published chapbook BODYELECTRONIC (Trouble Department 2022). Selected by Dorothy Chan as the winner of the 2022 chapbook contest, Aerik's second chapbook MISEDUCATION is forthcoming from New Delta Review in 2023. Aerik is the recipient of poetry fellowships from Canto Mundo and The Watering Hole, as well as a poetry reader for Underblong poetry journal and an event coordinator for Slam Nuba. Aerik's work can be found on their website phaentompoet.com.
Copyright © 2021 by Aerik Francis. This poem first appeared in HAD.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is t…
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Jun 28, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Polyamory by Madeleine Cravens
Madeleine Cravens is a 2022-2024 Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. She received her M.F.A from Columbia University, where she was a recipient of the Max Ritvo Poetry Fellowship. She was the first-place winner of Narrative Magazine’s 2021 Poetry Contest and 2020 30 Below Contest, a semifinalist for the 92 Street Y’s 2021 Discovery Prize, and a finalist for the 2022 James Hearst Poetry Prize.
Copyright © 2022 by Madeleine Cravens. This poem is originally published on Queer Poem-a-Day.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is support…
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Jun 27, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Arm'd and Fearless by Julian Gewirtz
Julian Gewirtz is the author of YOUR FACE MY FLAG (Copper Canyon Press, forthcoming October 2022 (https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/books/your-face-my-flag-by-julian-gewirtz). His poems have appeared in the Best American Poetry, Boston Review, Lambda Literary, The Nation, The New Republic, PEN America, Ploughshares, The Yale Review, and elsewhere. He is also the author of two books on the history of modern China, Never Turn Back: China and the Forbidden History of the 1980s and Unlikely Partners (“a gripping read” –The Economist). He co-edited an issue of Logic Magazine on China and technology and has written essays and reviews for publications including the New York Times, The Guardian, Harper’s, Foreign Affairs, Prac Crit, and Parnassus: Poetry in Review.
Copyright © Julian Gewirtz, 2014. A version of this poem was originally published in Conjunctions.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
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Jun 26, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: The Need for Repetition by Jim Whiteside
Jim Whiteside is the author of a chapbook, Writing Your Name on the Glass (Bull City Press, 2019) and is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. His poems have appeared in The New York Times, POETRY, Ploughshares, Boston Review, and Best New Poets 2020. The recipient of scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and Sewanee Writers’ Conference, he earned his MFA from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He works as a copywriter and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Copyright © Jim Whiteside 2021. Originally published in Black Warrior Review, Fall/Winter 2021, No. 48.1
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéh…
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Jun 25, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: from Dependence, the Joistrix / How you are made by Emily Martin
Emily Martin is a writer and teacher from Brooklyn. Her most recent work is in Tagvverk and Blazing Stadium, and the rest of her work is here: myemilymartin.com. Copyright © 2022 by Emily Martin. Originally published on Queer Poem-a-Day.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
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Jun 24, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Jacob Riis Memorial Beach by Stephen Ira
Stephen Ira is a writer and performer. Favorite appearances, in various roles, include Poetry (Chicago), Fence, tagvverk, the Poetry Project Newsletter, La Mama Etc, the Sundance Film Festival, and the Philly Trans Wellness Conference.
Copyright © 2022 by Stephen Ira. Originally published in Chasers (New Michigan Press, 2022).
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services…
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Jun 23, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Let There Be Pride by Richard Blanco
Richard Blanco is the fifth presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history—the youngest, first Latino, immigrant, and gay person to serve in such a role. Born in Madrid to Cuban exile parents and raised in Miami, the negotiation of cultural identity and place characterize his body of work. He is the author of the poetry collections Looking for the Gulf Motel, Directions to the Beach of the Dead, and City of a Hundred Fires; the poetry chapbooks Matters of the Sea, One Today, and Boston Strong; a children’s book of his inaugural poem, “One Today,” illustrated by Dav Pilkey; and Boundaries, a collaboration with photographer Jacob Hessler. His latest book of poems, How to Love a Country (Beacon Press, 2019), both interrogates the American narrative, past and present, and celebrates the still unkept promise of its ideals. He has also authored the memoirs The Prince of Los Cocuyos: A Miami Childhood and For All of Us, One Today: An Inaugural Poet’s Journey. Blanco’s many honors inc…
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Jun 22, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: gxrl gospel iv: beast of a southern wild by Aurielle Marie
Aurielle Marie is an award-winning poet, essayist, and cultural strategist. They are a Black queer storyteller, a political organizer, and child of the Deep South by way of Atlanta. Their poetry debut, Gumbo Ya Ya, won the 2020 Cave Canem prize and is a Lambda Literary Award finalist.
Copyright © Aurielle Marie 2020. A version was originally published in their collection Gumbo Ya Ya (University of Pittsburg Press, 2020).
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Librar…
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Jun 21, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Oracle by Ari Banias
Ari Banias is the author of A SYMMETRY (2021), winner of the 2021 Publishing Triangle Award for Trans & Gender Variant Literature, and ANYBODY (2016), both from W.W. Norton. His poems have appeared in Bæst, Hyperallergic, The Nation, The New Republic, Triple Canopy, The Yale Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Chicago.
Copyright © Ari Banias. Published in BathHouse Journal, and then in their collection A Symmetry (W. W. Norton, 2021).
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield…
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Jun 20, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Book VI from The Queerness of Eve by Emilia Phillips
Emilia Phillips is the author of four books of poetry, including Embouchure (University of Akron Press, 2021). They teach in the MFA in Writing Program at UNC Greensboro.
Copyright © 2021 by Emilia Phillips. Originally published in Copper Nickel, Fall 2021.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
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Jun 19, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: 2000 miles and this is the love letter I send you over text by Noa/h Fields
Noa/h Fields is a Chicago-based writer and curator. She works at the Poetry Foundation and is a 2022 fellow at Zoeglossia and Disability Lead. Her writing has appeared in Anomaly, Tripwire, Zoeglossia, and Sixty Inches from Center.
Copyright © 2018 by Noa/h Fields. Originally published in With, a micro-chapbook (Ghost City Press, 2018).
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult…
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Jun 18, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: All My Friends are Sad & Bright by Cameron Awkward-Rich
Cameron Awkward-Rich is the author of two collections of poetry—Sympathetic Little Monster (Ricochet Editions, 2016) and Dispatch (Persea Books, 2019)—as well as The Terrible We: Thinking with Trans Maladjustment, forthcoming from Duke University Press. His writing has appeared, in various forms, in Poetry, American Poetry Review, Transgender Studies Quarterly, Signs, and elsewhere, and has been supported by fellowships from Cave Canem, the Lannan Foundation, and the ACLS. Presently, he lives in Greenfield Massachusetts and is an assistant professor in Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Copyright © 2019 by Cameron Awkward-Rich. Originally published in Dispatch (Persea Books, 2019).
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult…
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Jun 17, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: On Growing Bored with Synonyms for the Apocalypse, I Rename It Carl... by C. Russell Price
C. Russell Price is originally from Glade Spring, Virginia, but now lives in Chicago. They are a Lambda Fellow in Poetry, a Ragdale Fellow, a Windy City Times 30 Under 30 honoree, an essayist, and a poet. They are the author of a chapbook, Tonight, We Fuck the Trailer Park Out of Each Other. Their work has appeared in the Boston Review, Court Green, DIAGRAM, Iron Horse Literary Review, Lambda Literary, Nimrod International, PANK, and elsewhere. Their full length collection oh, you thought this was a date?!: Apocalypse Poems will be published by Northwestern University this month.
Copyright © 2022 by C. Russell Price. This poem is published in oh, you thought this was a date?!: Apocalypse Poems (2022, Northwestern University Press).
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno,…
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Jun 16, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: The Antihero by Megan Fernandes
Megan Fernandes is a poet living in NYC.
Copyright © 2015 by Megan Fernandes. This poem received commendation by Don Paterson in the annual Edwin Morgan International Poetry Competition and was published in Fernandes' first collection The Kingdom and After (2015, Tightrope Books).
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Commission. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult…
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Jun 15, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Humpty Dumpty by Spencer Reece
Spencer Reece is the author of The Clerk's Tale and The Road to Emmaus, long-listed for the National Book Award. In 2017 he edited, Counting Time Like People Count Stars: Poetry by the Girls of Our Little Roses. The Secret Gospel of Mark: A Poet’s Memoir and All The Beauty Still Left: A Poet’s Painted Book of Hours arrived in 2021. He has worked as an Episcopal priest in Honduras, Spain, and New York City.
Copyright © 2022 by Spencer Reece. Originally published on Queer Poem-a-Day, June 2022.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is su…
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Jun 14, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Salt Lake City by Christian Gullette
Christian Gullette is a National Poetry Series finalist and his poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, The Yale Review, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Northwest Review, Los Angeles Review, and other journals. He is a 2022 Discovery / 92Y Contest semi-finalist. He serves as the editor-in-chief of The Cortland Review. His website is christiangullette.com.
Copyright © 2021 by Christian Gullette. Originally published in Northwest Review, Fall 2021.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generou…
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Jun 13, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Photograph by Jenny George
Jenny George is the author of The Dream of Reason (Copper Canyon Press, 2018). She is also a winner of the “Discovery”/Boston Review Poetry Prize and a recipient of fellowships from The Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Lannan Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, and Yaddo. Her poems have appeared in The New York Times, Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, Narrative, Granta, Iowa Review, FIELD, Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. Jenny lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she works in social justice philanthropy.
Copyright © 2019 by Jenny George, originally published in the Massachusetts Review.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade…
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Jun 12, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Soon by Makshya Tolbert
Makshya Tolbert is a poet, cook, and potter who just found her way back to Virginia. Her recent poems and essays have been published in Interim, Narrative Magazine, Emergence Magazine, Tupelo Quarterly, Art Papers, The Night Heron Barks, For the Culture, Earth in Color, Odd Apples, and with poetry forthcoming in RHINO. Makshya is currently based in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she is a second-year MFA student walking the grounds of the University of Virginia. Makshya serves on the Charlottesville Tree Commission and is a 2022-23 Lead to Life Curatorial Fellow. In her free time, she is elsewhere— what Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. calls 'that physical or metaphorical place that affords the space to breathe.'
Copyright © 2022 by Makshya Tolbert, originally published on Queer Poem-a-Day, 2022 at the Deerfield Public Library.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's…
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Jun 11, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Boombox Ode: Enjoy the Silence by K. Iver
K. Iver is a nonbinary trans poet from Mississippi. Their work has appeared in Boston Review, Gulf Coast, The Adroit, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. They are the 2021-2022 Ronald Wallace Poetry Fellow for the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. They have a Ph.D. in Poetry at Florida State University.
Copyright © 2022 by K. Iver. Originally published in The Adroit Journal, April 2022.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library and the Deerfield Fine Arts Comm…
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Jun 10, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Ode to Sneakers by Tory Adkisson
Tory Adkisson is the author of The Flesh Between Us (SIU Press, 2021), winner of the Crab Orchard Series Open Book Competition. His poems have appeared widely in journals such as Third Coast, Crazyhorse, Adroit Journal, Boston Review, Quarterly West, and elsewhere. He lives in Oakland and teaches writing at UC Berkeley.
Copyright © 2021 by Tory Adkisson. Originally published in the New Orleans Review, and then in his book The Flesh Between Us (South Illinois University Press, 2021).
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by gen…
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Jun 9, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Argument of Situations by Shangyang Fang
Shangyang Fang grew up in Chengdu, China, and writes both in English and Chinese. A graduate from Michener Center for Writers, he is a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University. His works appeared in The Nation, Ploughshares, The Yale Review, Forward Book of Poetry Anthology, The Best American Poetry, and Pushcart Prize Anthology. He is the author of the poetry collection, Burying the Mountain (Copper Canyon Press, 2021). Copyright © 2021 by Shangyang Fang. “Argument of Situations” is from his book Burying the Mountain.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Dani…
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Jun 8, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: The Morning After by Ellen Bass
Ellen Bass’s most recent collection, Indigo, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2020. Her other poetry books include Like a Beggar, The Human Line, and Mules of Love. Her poems appear frequently in The New Yorker, American Poetry Review, and many other journals. Among her awards are Fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, The NEA, and The California Arts Council, The Lambda Literary Award, and four Pushcart Prizes. She co-edited the first major anthology of women’s poetry, No More Masks! (Doubleday, 1973), and her nonfiction books include the groundbreaking The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (HarperCollins, 1988) and Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth (1996). A Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, Bass founded poetry workshops at Salinas Valley State Prison and the Santa Cruz, California jails, and teaches in the MFA writing program at Pacific University. Ellenbass.com Twitter: @PoetEllenBass Facebook: @…
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Jun 7, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Love in the Time of PrEP by Jaques Rancourt
Jacques J. Rancourt is the author of two poetry collections, Brocken Spectre (Alice James Books, 2021) and Novena (Pleiades Press, 2017), as well as a chapbook, In the Time of PrEP (Beloit Poetry Journal, 2018). Raised in Maine, he lives in San Francisco. www.jacquesrancourt.com
Twitter @jj_rancourt Instagram: @jj_rancourt
“Love in the Time of PrEP” originally appeared in Brocken Spectre (Alice James Books) 2021.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by generous donations from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library an…
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Jun 6, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: At the New York City AIDS Memorial by Stefania Gomez
Stefania Gomez is a queer writer, teacher, and audio artist from Chicago's South Side who received her MFA in poetry at Washington University in St. Louis in 2022. Currently teaching at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago, she has received fellowships from the Dirt Palace, Sewanee Writers Workshop, and the International Quilt Museum. Her work has appeared in the Academy of American Poets Poem-A-Day series, The Missouri Review, The Offing, and Cosmonauts Avenue. Instagram: @stefaniagomez_nopeanuts Twitter: @stefaniahgomez
“At the New York City AIDS Memorial” originally was published in the American Academy of Poets Poem-a-Day, 2022.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series i…
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Jun 5, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: To Be Saved by CM Burroughs
CM Burroughs is Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago and author of The Vital System (Tupelo, 2012) and Master Suffering (Tupelo, 2021,) which was longlisted for the National Book Award, Lambda Book Award, and the LA Times Book Award. Burroughs’ poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies including Poetry, Ploughshares, Cave Canem’s Gathering Ground, and Best American Experimental Writing.
“To Be Saved” was published in her book Master Suffering (Tupelo, 2021).
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowski, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day…
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Jun 4, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: The Baby Inside My Baby by Nomi Stone
Poet and anthropologist Nomi Stone is the author of three books, most recently the poetry collection Kill Class (Tupelo, 2019), finalist for the Julie Suk Award, and the ethnography Pinelandia: An Anthropology and Field Poetics of War and Empire, finalist for the Atelier award (University of California Press, 2022). Her poems recently appear in The Atlantic, POETRY Magazine, American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry, The Nation, The New Republic, and elsewhere. A section from her third collection of poetry in progress, You Could Build a World This Way, was recently a finalist for the Bull City Press’s Chapbook Prize, and a semi-finalist for the Tomaz Salamun Prize and the Chad Walsh Chapbook Prize. She has a PhD in Anthropology from Columbia, an MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Poetry at the University of Texas, Dallas. Instagram: @nomistone; Twitter: @Nomi_Stone
“The Baby Inside My Baby” originally was published on The Rumpus, 2022…
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Jun 3, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Obsessions by Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué
Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué is a poet and writer living in Chicago. He is most recently the author of Madness (Nightboat Books, 2022) and Losing Miami (The Accomplices, 2019), which was nominated for the Lambda Literary Award in Gay Poetry. He is also co-editor of An Excess of Quiet: Selected Sketches by Gustavo Ojeda, 1979-1989. He is currently a PhD student in English at the University of Chicago where he works in the study of sexuality. ojedasague.com Twitter: @hadeejasouffle Instagram: @hadeejasouffle
“Obsessions” is from Madness (Nightboat Books, 2022).
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for this second year of our series is the first movement, Schéhérazade, from Masques, Op. 34, by Karol Szymanowsk…
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Jun 2, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Birthday Suits by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza
Joshua Jennifer Espinoza is a trans woman poet. Her work has been featured in Poetry Magazine, the American Poetry Review, Southeast Review, The Rumpus, Poem-a-day at poets.org, and elsewhere. She is the author of I'm Alive / It Hurts / I Love It (Big Lucks 2019) and THERE SHOULD BE FLOWERS (The Accomplices 2016). She holds an MFA in poetry from UC Riverside and currently teaches creative writing. Jennifer lives in California with her wife, poet/essayist Eileen Elizabeth, and their dog and cat. Her third full-length collection I Don't Want to Be Understood is forthcoming from Alice James Books in 2024. Joshuajenniferespinoza.com Twitter: @sadqueer4life Instagram: @sadqueer4life
“Birthday Suits” was originally published in Poetry Magazine, April 2019.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hit…
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Jun 1, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day: Self Portrait as a Body, A Sea by Donika Kelly
Donika Kelly is the author of The Renunciations (Graywolf), winner of the Anisfield-Wolf book award in poetry, and Bestiary (Graywolf), the winner of the 2015 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Poetry and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Kelly’s poetry has been a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Publishing Triangle Awards, the Lambda Literary Awards, and longlisted for the National Book Award. A Cave Canem graduate fellow and member of the collective Poets at the End of the World, she has also received a Lannan Residency Fellowship, and a summer workshop fellowship from the Fine Arts Work Center. She earned an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD in English from Vanderbilt University. Her poems have been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, and elsewhere. Donika lives in Iowa City with her wife, the nonfiction writer Melissa Febos, and is an assistant professor in the English Department at the Univ…
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May 26, 2022
Queer Poem-a-Day 2022, an introduction
We are so excited to launch the second year of our special Pride Month podcast series Queer Poem-a-Day. Exclusive to the Deerfield Public Library Podcast, Queer Poem-a-Day is the first daily poetry podcast to focus exclusively on the LGBTQIA+ community. Once again we are thrilled to feature many award-winning, leading, and emerging poets—as well as several poets with Chicagoland connections—and provide this unique snapshot of LGBTQIA+ poetry today. An archive of our first year (June 2021) is available on our website.
Every day of June 2022, you can read and hear a poem on our website, deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday, or subscribe to the Deerfield Public Library Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. You can also follow along on social media with the hashtag #queerpoemaday and find books and ebooks by our participating poets in our Library’s catalog. Additionally, we’re hosting several related programs, listed below.
Queer Poem-a-Day is…
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Apr 28, 2022
54: beautiful small things, a LYNX Project album with lyrics by neurodiverse young writers
beautiful small things features songs from the LYNX Project, a Chicago-based non-profit, and their Amplify Series, which takes texts written by primarily non-speaking neurodiverse young writers and commissions composers to set these words to music for piano and voice.
To discuss beautiful small things, we have a panel of guests involved in the project:
Caitleen Kahn, Executive Director of the LYNX Project
Olivia Doig, soprano and Educational Coordinator at the LYNX Project
Emily Cooley, composer who wrote the title track “beautiful small things”
Daniel Baer, pianist (also the Library’s pianist for our Queer Poem-a-Day series!)
We also feature additional words prepared by text writers Kenta Mignot and Luke Burke, who writes on the Facebook page Different not less - Luke B.. Our episode covers many areas, including key concepts in thinking about neurodiversity, like “presumed competence,” and offers a unique opportunity to hear contemporary classical musicians reflect de…
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Mar 29, 2022
53: Dr. Debbie Reese, author of American Indians in Children's Literature and An Indigenous People's History of the United States for Young People
We are honored to welcome Dr. Debbie Reese, a tribally enrolled Nambé Pueblo author and scholar. Dr. Reese is best known for her popular blog American Indians in Children’s Literature which “provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books.” Dr. Reese is also the co-adapter (with Dr. Jean Mendoza) of An Indigenous People’s History of the United States for Young People by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (Beacon Press, 2019). We spend some time discussing the ways in which Drs. Reese and Mendoza adapted the often disturbing and violent history of the United States from a Native perspective, a perspective that is often left out of U.S. history books and classrooms. An Indigenous People’s History of the United States for Young People has recently appeared on several lists of books that some want banned or removed from school and public libraries. We hear Dr. Reese’s perspective on why books like hers are being challenged.
Our conversation offers an i…
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Feb 24, 2022
52: Richie Hofmann, author of A Hundred Lovers
A Hundred Lovers (Knopf, 2022) is the second collection by poet Richie Hofmann. Hofmann is also the author of Second Empire (Alice James Books, 2015). He teaches at Stanford University and lives in Chicago and San Francisco.
The poems in A Hundred Lovers describe fleeting moments—memorable smells, erotic encounters, travels through Europe, a wedding—all with intimate, diaristic directness. Our conversation illuminates how the shift from the more ornamented style of Hofmann’s first collection to the unadorned voice of this new volume follows a shift in the author's relationships to love and history. Hofmann reveals his interest in a deep ambivalence towards the past and his desire to write a speaker that recounts both sensuous details and its own flaws.
You can check out books by Richie Hofmann here at the library. Or find out more on his website: richiehofmann.com.
Richie Hofmann has been mentioned on our podcast several times before! He was part of our special series last ye…
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Nov 18, 2021
51: Dr. Paula Derdiger, author of Reconstruction Fiction: Housing and Realist Literature in Postwar Britain
Reconstruction Fiction: Housing and Realist Literature in Postwar Britain (Ohio State University Press, 2020) by Dr. Paula Derdiger, Associate Professor of English at the University of Minnesota Duluth, looks at how historical changes in housing after the second World War impacted the realist literature of British writers.
You can check out Reconstruction Fiction here at the library or get the pdf (free, open access), as well as find the book on the Ohio State University Press website. Dr. Derdiger can be found on her university webpage. She also grew up in Deerfield and it’s wonderful to be able to celebrate her work at her hometown library!
Topics include: Complicating narratives of literary history that pit modernism against realism. The connection between Colin MacInnes' narrative structure and Brutalist architecture. How Elizabeth Taylor's ironically meager plots mirror postwar rationing. A special focus on a favorite writer, Elizabeth Bowen, including Bowen's declaratio…
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Oct 21, 2021
50: Lisa Hiton, author of Afterfeast
Celebrating the debut full-length poetry collection, Afterfeast, by poet Lisa Hiton. Lisa Hiton grew up in Deerfield and recently collaborated with the Deerfield Public Library Podcast as the founder and co-director of our Queer Poem-a-Day project. Selected by the poet Mary Jo Bang as the winner of the Dorset Prize for Poetry, Afterfeast is published by Tupelo Press.
Lisa will be doing a reading from her book Saturday November 13th at 1pm Central. You can sign up for in person or online attendance through Zoom.
The poems in Afterfeast often take as their subject trips to Greece, the legacy of the Holocaust, and queer identity (not to mention more mysterious metaphysical states), in an original and daring voice. This heartfelt and profound conversation, which includes readings from Afterfeast, explores how Hiton creates poems that dramatize the “immersion, then pain” of the process of entering into the space of poetry itself.
You can check out Afterfeast at the Deerfield Public…
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Sep 17, 2021
Best of: Author Rosellen Brown
Our conversation with acclaimed author Rosellen Brown. Originally released in two parts in February and March 2020 at the start of the pandemic lockdowns, we are excited to rerelease one of our favorite conversations as one combined episode. We discuss themes that run through Brown’s whole career, and how she uses form to approach difficult emotional and political subjects. We also discuss her newest novel The Lake on Fire (Sarabande Books, 2018). Rosellen Brown's website.
You can check out books by Rosellen Brown here at the library, as part of our Podcast Collection, which features books (and other media) from our past 4+ years of podcast guests.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast
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Aug 12, 2021
49: Rachel Mennies, author of The Naomi Letters
The Naomi Letters (BOA Editions, 2021) by Chicago-based poet Rachel Mennies takes an unusual form--each poem in the collection is a dated letter or draft from the speaker of the poems to the woman she loves, named Naomi. Recounting a year in the life of this speaker, a Jewish woman under the pressures of mental illness and longing, this form also allows us to explore a profound question: can a fictional character an author creates change that author’s life?
You can check out The Naomi Letters here from the library’s collection and you can find more about Rachel Mennies and her writing on her website: rachelmennies.com. Mennies is also the author of The Glad Hand of God Points Backwards (Texas Tech University Press, 2014), the series editor of the Walt McDonald First-Book Prize in Poetry, and she is the reviews editor for AGNI. She edited, alongside Ruth Awad, the anthology The Familiar Wild: On Dogs and Poetry (Sundress Publications, 2020).
Rachel’s poem “[unsent draft]”…
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Jun 30, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Jenny Johnson "The Lone Palm"
Jenny Johnson is the author of In Full Velvet (Sarabande Books, 2017). Her honors include a Whiting Award, a Hodder Fellowship at Princeton University, and a NEA Fellowship. Her poems have appeared in The New York Times, New England Review, Waxwing, and elsewhere. She is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at West Virginia University, and she is on the faculty of the Rainier Writing Workshop, Pacific Lutheran University’s low-residency MFA program. She lives in Pittsburgh. jennyjohnsonpoet.com
"The Lone Palm" was previously published in the Harvard Review.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the F…
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Jun 29, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Dan Kraines "Donuts"
Dan Kraines earned a PhD in poetics. Queer Longing, his manuscript, won the Susan B. Anthony Dissertation prize in gender and sexuality studies, from the University of Rochester. He teaches creative writing at FIT. Twitter- @dan_kraines
"Donut" was previously published in The Adroit Journal (Djanikian Prize).
Recent publications by Dan Kraines include:
https://www.cortlandreview.com/issue-86/dan-kraines
https://thesepia.org/dan-kraines
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may i…
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Jun 28, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Eileen Myles "Love Song"
Eileen Myles (they/them) came to New York from Boston in 1974 to be a poet. Their books include For Now (an essay/talk about writing), I Must Be Living Twice/new and selected poems, and Chelsea Girls. They showed their photographs in 2019 at Bridget Donahue, NYC. Eileen has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and an award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. They live in New York and Marfa, TX. eileenmyles.com Twitter: @EileenMyles Instagram: eileen.myles
"Love Song" is originally published on Queer Poem-a-Day at the Deerfield Public Library on June 28, 2021.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Fr…
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Jun 27, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Lauren Clark "Observation Car"
Lauren Clark is the author of MUSIC FOR A WEDDING (2017), but also isn't a poet right now.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
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Jun 26, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Kazim Ali "Abu Nuwas"
Kazim Ali was born in the United Kingdom and has lived transnationally in the United States, Canada, India, France, and the Middle East. His books encompass multiple genres, including several volumes of poetry, novels, and translations. He is currently a Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. His newest books are a volume of three long poems entitled The Voice of Sheila Chandra (Alice James Books, 2020) and a memoir of his Canadian childhood, Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water.
Social Media: Twitter: @kazimalipoet, IG: @kazimalipoet
"Abu Nuwas" previous appeared in Inquisition, Wesleyan University Press, 2018.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, pe…
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Jun 25, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Julian Guy "High School Sleepovers with Straight Girls"
Julian Guy is a queer and genderqueer writer born in the West. Julian is a graduate from the University of Nevada, Reno, where they received the DQ Creative Writing Award, Ester Early Writing Scholarship, and James Taylor Writing Scholarship for their poetry. Julian loves swimming, eating cotton candy while roller skating and gossiping in the park with their friends. They split their time between Reno and Brooklyn. Twitter: @lizard_blitz
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may inc…
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Jun 24, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Carl Phillips "Is It True All Legends Once Were Rumors"
Carl Phillips is the author of 15 books of poetry. He teaches at Washington University in St. Louis. Twitter: @CPhillipsPoet Instagram: @pinestereo
"Is It True All Legends Once Were Rumors" was originally published in Tin House, and in the book Pale Colors in a Tall Field (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2020)
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
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Jun 23, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Jameson Fitzpatrick "Duplicity"
Jameson Fitzpatrick is the author of the poetry collection Pricks in the Tapestry (Birds, LLC, 2020) and the chapbooks Mr. & (Indolent Books, 2018) and Morrisroe: Erasures (89plus/LUMA Publications, 2014). They teach expository writing at New York University and occasionally write about art. Twitter: @jmsnftzptrck
“Duplicity” was published in the book Pricks in the Tapestry (Birds, LLC, 2020) https://www.birdsllc.com/catalog/pricks-in-the-tapestry
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Lib…
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Jun 22, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: D. A. Powell "Puzzle Pieces"
D. A. Powell is a painter and poet living in San Francisco. His books include Repast (Graywolf, 2014) and Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys (Graywolf, 2012). He received the 2019 John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. Twitter: @powell_da
“Puzzle Pieces” was published in the chapbook Atlas T (Rescue Press, 2020, https://www.rescuepress.co/da-powell) and first appeared in Iowa Review vol 44 issue 3.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include ad…
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Jun 21, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Amanda Gunn "Things I Didn't Do With this Body and Things I Did"
Amanda Gunn is a poet, teacher, and PhD candidate at Harvard where she studies poetry, ephemerality, and Black pleasure. Raised in Connecticut, she worked as a medical copyeditor for 13 years before earning a master of fine arts degree in poetry from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars. She was recently named a Stegner fellow and was the inaugural winner of the Auburn Witness Poetry Prize honoring Jake Adam York. Her work can be found in Poetry, Colorado Review, Poetry Northwest, and The Baffler. amandagunn.com Twitter: @amandathegunn
"Things I Didn't Do With this Body and Things that I Didn't" was previously published in Lana Turner.
Amanda Gunn has two poems out in the May issue of Poetry magazine https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/155800/mystic.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator a…
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Jun 20, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Michael M. Weinstein "An Act"
Michael M. Weinstein is a poet, scholar, and teacher. His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The New Yorker, Boston Review, Conjunctions, The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. A graduate of Harvard University and the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program, he is currently working on a book about the social and romantic lives of transgender Americans. https://michaelmweinstein.com/ Twitter: @transpoetics Instagram: @intractably
"An Act" is originally published on Queer Poem-a-Day at the Deerfield Public Library Podcast on June 20, 2021.
Michael M. Weinstein's poem, "Anniversary," won an Academy of American Poets prize last year (https://poets.org/2020-anniversary-for-m), and his nonfiction essay, "The Blue Cane," is forthcoming in the Iowa Review.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton a…
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Jun 19, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Randall Mann "Eros"
Randall Mann is the author of five collections of poetry: A BETTER LIFE, PROPRIETARY, STRAIGHT RAZOR, BREAKFAST WITH THOM GUNN, and COMPLAINT IN THE GARDEN. He is also the author of a book of criticism, THE ILLUSION OF INTIMACY: ON POETRY. A three-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, he lives in San Francisco. Twitter: @randallmannpoet Instagram: @randallmann
“Eros” was originally from COMPLAINT IN THE GARDEN. Copyright © 2004 by Randall Mann. Reprinted by permission of Randall Mann.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program…
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Jun 18, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Jill McDonough "What a Waste"
Jill McDonough’s books of poems include Here All Night (Alice James, 2019), Reaper (Alice James, 2017), Where You Live (Salt, 2012), and Habeas Corpus (Salt, 2008). The recipient of three Pushcart prizes and fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, NEA, NYPL, FAWC, and Stanford, her work appears in The Threepenny Review and Best American Poetry. She teaches in the MFA program at UMass-Boston and offers College Reading and Writing in Boston jails. Her website is jillmcdonough.com. Jill McDonough’s American Treasure comes out in 2022 with Alice James Books.
“What a Waste” was previously published in Green Mountains Review’s print edition in 2018.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, perform…
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Jun 17, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Xandria Phillips "Want Could Kill Me"
Xandria Phillips is a Whiting Award-winning poet, and visual artist from rural Ohio. The recipient of a LAMBDA Literary Award, and the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging writers, Xandria is the author of HULL (Nightboat Books 2019) and Reasons for Smoking, which won the 2016 Seattle Review Chapbook Contest judged by Claudia Rankine. They have received fellowships from Brown University, Callaloo, Cave Canem, The Conversation Literary Festival, Oberlin College, the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and are the 2021-2023 Center for African American Poetry and Poetics Fellow. Their current projects include an experimental nonfiction manuscript, a book of ekphrastic poetry, and an ever-growing visual art studio practice. Xandria’s poetry has appeared in Berlin Quarterly Review, BOMB Magazine, Crazyhorse, Poets.org, and Virginia Quarterly Review and anthologies such as Best Experimental Writing (Weslyan Press 2020) and We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics (Nigh…
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Jun 16, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Jay Besemer "The Window"
Jay Besemer is the author of the poetry collections Theories of Performance (The Lettered Streets Press, 2020), The Ways of the Monster (KIN(D) Texts and Projects/The Operating System, 2018), Crybaby City (Spuyten Duyvil, 2017), Chelate (Brooklyn Arts Press, 2016) and Telephone (Brooklyn Arts Press, 2013). He is a 2021 Lambda Literary Award Finalist for Transgender Poetry, and was a finalist for the 2017 Publishing Triangle Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature. Jay was included in the groundbreaking anthology Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics. www.jaybesemer.net Twitter: @THEORIES_PER
“The Window” is from Theories of Performance, published 2020 by The Lettered Streets Press.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series i…
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Jun 15, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Catherine Pond "Riding the Bus Back to Oxford"
Catherine Pond was born in New York City and grew up in Georgia. She is the author of Fieldglass (Southern Illinois University Press 2021), winner of the Crab Orchard First Book Prize. Her poems have appeared in Best New Poets, Best American Nonrequired Reading, AGNI, The Adroit Journal, Narrative, and other publications. Pond is a PhD candidate in Literature & Creative Writing at the University of Southern California, where she teaches writing. Instagram: @catherine.pond
"Riding the Bus Back to Oxford" was originally published in Lambda Literary: https://www.lambdaliterary.org/2014/09/three-poems-by-catherine-pond/
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem…
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Jun 14, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Cyril Wong "The Men We Loved"
Cyril Wong has been described by The Oxford Companion to Modern Poetry in English as a confessional poet in Singapore, based mainly on "a barely submerged anxiety over the fragility of human connection and a relentless self-querying". His most recent book is Infinity Diary, published by Seagull Books in 2020. A past recipient of the National Arts Council’s Young Artist Award and two Singapore Literature Prizes, he completed a doctoral degree in English Literature at the National University of Singapore in 2012. His poems have been translated into Bengali, Japanese, Italian, Turkish and German. His writings have also appeared in international magazines as well as anthologies by W. W. Norton and Everyman’s Library. He founded Singapore’s longest-running international poetry webjournal, SOFTBLOW. Instagram: @cyrilsingstheblues
"The Men We Loved" was originally published in the book Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light (Math Paper Press 2012)
Text of today’s poem and more detail…
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Jun 13, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Phillip B. Williams "Of Contour, of Cadence"
Phillip B. Williams is from Chicago, IL and author of the book Thief in the Interior (Alice James 2016). A recipient of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award, Lambda Literary Award, and Whiting Award, he currently teaches at Bennington College and the Randolph College low-residency MFA. Twitter: PBW_POET Instagram: PBW_POET
"Of Contour, Of Cadence" was originally published in Thief in the Interior (Alice James 2016).
Phillip B. Williams' forthcoming book MUTINY: poems comes out from Penguin Poetry, Sept 7 2021.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is…
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Jun 12, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Julia Guez "Forty"
Julia Guez is a writer and translator based in Brooklyn. Her essays, interviews, fiction, poetry and translations have appeared in Guernica, POETRY, The Guardian, BOMB, The Brooklyn Rail and Kenyon Review. Four Way Books released her first full-length collection, In An Invisible Glass Case Which Is Also A Frame, in 2019; they will release her second book, The Certain Body, in 2022. For the last decade, Guez has worked with Teach For America New York; she’s currently the senior managing director of design and implementation. She also teaches creative writing at NYU and Rutgers. www.juliaguez.net Twitter: @G_U_E_Z Instagram: julia.elizabeth.guez Publisher Twitter and IG: @fourwaybooks
Book of Poems in Translation: https://www.afterhourseditions.com/equestrian-monuments
"Forty" is originally published is originally published on Queer Poem-a-Day at the Deerfield Public Library on June 12, 2021.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlib…
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Jun 11, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Rachel Mennies "[unsent draft]"
Rachel Mennies is the author of the poetry collections The Naomi Letters (BOA Editions, 2021) and The Glad Hand of God Points Backwards, the 2014 winner of the Walt McDonald First-Book Prize in Poetry at Texas Tech University Press and finalist for a National Jewish Book Award. Her poetry has recently appeared at The Believer, Kenyon Review, American Poetry Review, and elsewhere. Rachel's essays, criticism, and other articles have appeared at The Millions, The Poetry Foundation, LitHub, and numerous other outlets. Mennies took over in 2016 as the series editor of the Walt McDonald First-Book Prize in Poetry; she also serves as the reviews editor for AGNI. https://www.rachelmennies.com Twitter: @rmennies, Instagram: @rmennies
"[unsent draft]" originally appeared at On the Seawall, an online poetry community helmed by Ron Slate.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our li…
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Jun 10, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Richie Hofmann "Male Beauty"
Richie Hofmann's new book of poems, A Hundred Lovers, will be published by Knopf in 2022. A former Stegner Fellow, he currently teaches at Stanford University. Twitter: @richiehof, Instagram: @richiehof
"Male Beauty" originally appeared in The Sewanee Review (Summer 2020).
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult language.
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Jun 9, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Henri Cole "Embers"
Henri Cole was born in Fukuoka, Japan, in 1956. He has published over half a dozen collections of poetry, including Touch, Pierce the Skin, and Blizzard; a memoir, Orphic Paris; and has received many awards for his work, including the Jackson Poetry Prize, the Kingsley Tufts Award, the Rome Prize, the Berlin Prize, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and the Award of Merit Medal in Poetry from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He teaches at Claremont McKenna College. Twitter: @ColeHenri
Audio recorded by Naoe Suzuki.
"Embers" previously appeared in the poetry collection Blackbird and Wolf.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber,…
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Jun 8, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Chen Chen "Summer"
Chen Chen is the author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities (BOA Editions, 2017), which was long listed for the National Book Award and won the Thom Gunn Award, among other honors. His work appears/is forthcoming in many publications, including Ploughshares, Poem-a-Day, and three editions of The Best American Poetry (2015, 2019, and 2021). He has received a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from Kundiman and the National Endowment for the Arts. With a brilliant team, he edits the journal Underblong. He teaches at Brandeis University as the Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence and lives in Waltham, MA with his partner Jeff Gilbert and their pug Mr. Rupert Giles. Twitter: @chenchenwrites, Instagram: chenchenwrites
"Summer" was previously published in Poetry Magazine.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is dire…
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Jun 7, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: H. Melt "Prayer for My Trans Siblings"
H. Melt is a poet, artist and educator whose work celebrates trans people, history and culture. They are the author of The Plural, The Blurring and editor of Subject to Change: Trans Poetry & Conversation. Lambda Literary awarded them the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ Writers. Their next book, There Are Trans People Here, is forthcoming from Haymarket Books in the fall of 2021. Twitter: @hmeltchicago, Instagram: @hmeltchi
Books are available here: https://hi-buddy.org/search?q=h.+melt or on hmeltchicago.com/books
"Prayer for My Trans Siblings" is originally published on Queer Poem-a-Day at the Deerfield Public Library on June 7, 2021.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is…
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Jun 6, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Ruben Quesada "Billow of Thistles"
Ruben Quesada is the author of Revelations and Next Extinct Mammal. His writing has appeared in the Best American Poetry, Harvard Review, American Poetry Review, and other anthologies and journals. He is a blogger at The Kenyon Review, the founding director of the monthly Mercy Street Readings. He lives in Chicago. Twitter: @rubenquesada. https://www.rubenquesada.com/
"Billow of Thistles" originally appeared in Mumber Magazine, Issue 2. Dec. 2020.
Ruben Quesada's chapbook Revelations is recently out from Sibling Rivalry Press: https://siblingrivalrypress.bigcartel.com/product/revelations
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performe…
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Jun 5, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Andrea Cohen "Eavesdropping on Adam and Eve"
Andrea Cohen's poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Threepenny Review, and elsewhere. Her most recent poetry collections are Everything, Nightshade and Unfathoming. Cohen directs the Blacksmith House Poetry Series in Cambridge, MA. https://www.andreacohen.org/
"Eavesdropping on Adam and Eve" was originally published in Copper Nickel.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult la…
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Jun 4, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Gala Mukomolova "Ana I Don't Forget"
Gala Mukomolova is a Moscow-born, Brooklyn-raised, poet and essayist. Her full length book, Without Protection, is available through Coffee House Press. Her chapbook, One Above One Below: Positions & Lamentations, is available with YesYes Books. She is a recipient of the 2016 Discovery Prize from 92nd St Y & Boston Review and has held residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Pink Door, and ASYLUM Arts. Gala currently writes astrology articles for Refinery29 , co-hosts Big Dyke Energy Podcast, and is one of the creators of QueerHealers.com. She is a founder and part of The Cheburashka Collective.
https://galacticrabbit.com
"Ana I Don't Forget" was originally published in Home is Where You Queer Your Heart Anthology, https://foglifterjournal.com/product/home-is-where-you-queer-your-heart-anthology/
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Da…
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Jun 3, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Sam Herschel Wein "Nature Poem"
Sam Herschel Wein (he/they) is a Chicago-based poet who specializes in perpetual frolicking. Their second chapbook, GESUNDHEIT!, a collaboration with Chen Chen, was part of the 2019-2020 Glass Poetry Press Series. He co-founded and edits Underblong. Recent work can be found in Moon City Review, Sundog Lit, and Bat City Review, among others. Instagram: @samforbreakfast, samherschelwein.com.
"Nature Poem" is originally published in Queer Poem-a-Day at the Deerfield Public Library on June 3rd, 2021.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends…
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Jun 2, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Derrick Austin "Is This or Is This True as Happiness"
Derrick Austin is the author of Tenderness, forthcoming from BOA Editions in Fall 2021, and Trouble the Water (BOA Editions). He is a 2019-2021 Stegner Fellow in Poetry at Stanford University. He currently lives in Oakland, CA. Twitter: @ParadiseLaust, Instagram: @ParadiseLaust
“Is This or Is This True as Happiness” was previously published in Tin House.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by pianist Daniel Baer. Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by a generous donation from the Friends of the Deerfield Public Library. Queer Poem-a-Day is a program from the Adult Services Department at the Library and may include adult lan…
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Jun 1, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day: Shelley Wong "Pride Month"
Shelley Wong is the author of As She Appears (YesYes Books, 2022), winner of the 2019 Pamet River Prize, and the chapbook RARE BIRDS (Diode Editions, 2017). Her poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Gulf Coast, Kenyon Review, and The New Republic. She has received a Pushcart Prize and fellowships from MacDowell, Kundiman, and Vermont Studio Center. She is an affiliate artist at Headlands Center for the Arts and lives in San Francisco.
Twitter: @shhelleywong, Instagram: @poetshelley, www.shelley-wong.com
“Pride Month” was previously published at the Kenyon Review Online.
Text of today’s poem and more details about our program can be found at: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday/
Find books from participating poets in our library's catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Deerfield Public Library. Music for our series is from Excursions Op. 20, Movement 1, by Samuel Barber, performed by p…
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May 20, 2021
Queer Poem-a-Day, an introduction with Lisa Hiton & Dylan Zavagno
For Pride Month we are reinventing our regular podcast interview series as a new daily poetry podcast featuring poems written and read by contemporary queer poets. We intend this series as a sort of "literary Pride Parade"; a celebration of the vitality and variety of queer poetry today. Whether you’re a poetry fan, a student or educator, or just curious, Queer Poem-a-Day will connect you to this vibrant world of literature.
A transcript of this introduction episode is available here.
You’ll be able to read the text of the poems and find more information about our poets on our special series website: deerfieldlibrary.org/queerpoemaday. Additionally, you can find books and ebooks by our participating poets in our Library’s catalog.
Queer Poem-a-Day is founded and co-directed by poet and teacher Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno, Adult Services Coordinator at the Library and host of the Deerfield Public Library Podcast.
Queer Poem-a-Day is supported by The Friends of the Deerfield…
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Apr 15, 2021
48: Dr. Jason Oliver Chang on "Unmasking Yellow Peril"
Dr. Jason Oliver Chang is Associate Professor of History, as well as Asian and Asian American Studies at the University of Connecticut. We use Dr. Chang's zine “Unmasking Yellow Peril” (co-written with Turner Willman and the group 18 Million Rising) as a jumping-off point for discussing the history and present of exclusion, discrimination, and violence against Asian Americans, as well as the field of Asian American Studies more generally.
In this time of rising anti-Asian rhetoric and violence, many have looked for educational resources. As Dr. Chang tells us, the lack of familiarity with this history is itself a familiar dynamic because of the “perpetual foreigner” stereotype, which leaves out Asian Americans from the American story. For Dr. Chang, Asian American Studies isn’t only about adding another lost chapter to history, but also about interrogating how our “common sense” historical narratives depend on the absence of certain stories.
We also discuss Dr. Chang’…
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Mar 18, 2021
47: Jasmon Drain, author of Stateway's Garden: Stories
Stateway’s Garden by our guest Jasmon Drain is a debut collection of linked short stories that explore characters who live in and are shaped by the Chicago public housing project Stateway Gardens, which was torn down in 2007.
We discuss how a writer navigates the responsibility and expectations involved in writing about a real place. Jasmon also reveals the careful craft of weaving markers of time, nature, and Chicago political history into the lives of his characters. Our conversation is a celebration of the short story as a way of knowing about the world.
We at the library think this book is a major contribution to the literature of Chicago. But you don’t have to take our word for it--Sandra Cisneros says of Jasmon Drain’s work “I bow to this writer in gratitude.”
You can check out Stateway’s Garden at the Deerfield Public Library, or find it at your local library or bookstore.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More…
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Feb 11, 2021
46: Patrick T. Reardon, author of The Loop: The “L” Tracks that Shaped and Saved Chicago
The Loop: The “L” Tracks that Shaped and Saved Chicago by our guest Patrick T. Reardon argues that the rectangular loop of elevated train tracks in downtown Chicago is the single most important structure in Chicago’s history. The Loop traces the development of the physical structure, but also the effect of the idea--bringing a diverse and divided city together in one concentrated, shared area of commerce, government, culture, and recreation. Though derided over the years as a nuisance--and often threatened to be razed--the loop tracks have become so important and identified with the city, that they lent downtown its name.
Reardon was the urban affairs writer and a feature writer at the Chicago Tribune during a 33-year career at the newspaper. He is also an essayist, poet, literary critic and Chicago history expert and brings many disciplines together for a fascinating study that invites you to consider what makes Chicago a unique world city.
You can check out The Loop: The “…
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Jan 14, 2021
45: Dan Chiasson, author of The Math Campers: Poems
The Math Campers is Dan Chiasson’s fifth book of poetry. He is the poetry critic for The New Yorker, a frequent contributor to the New York Review of Books, and teaches English at Wellesley College.
You can checkout The Math Campers at the Deerfield Public Library, and find Dan Chiasson on Twitter @dchiasso.
The Math Campers has a thrilling and unique structure. Imagining a reader who narrates her correspondence with a poet named Dan Chiasson, the book contains poetic scraps, drafts, and blank spaces, which only sometimes lead to more completed poems. This “making-of” structure coincides with Chiasson’s continued investigations into his childhood and adolescence, as his sons enter adolescence themselves. Add a science fiction plot about a group of teen summer campers trying to stop time, and you have a collection both zany and elegiac that questions the nature of art.
We discuss where these ideas come from, and why poetry does what it does. You’ll also hear Dan read some…
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Nov 12, 2020
44: Dr. Kishonna Gray, author of Intersectional Tech
Intersectional Tech: Black Users in Digital Gaming (Louisiana State University Press) by Dr. Kishonna Gray documents and analyzes how the intersectional identities of race, gender, sexuality, and ability are experienced by black video gamers. Conversations about racial justice can sometimes overlook gaming and related social media, even though these activities make up a large part of many people’s everyday lives.
We touch on a lot, including the work of libraries (which often circulate and promote video games), #blacklivesmatter, digital redlining, as well how black users develop self-sustaining, empowering practices, create new resources, and collaborate with allies, to navigate digital life.
You can find out more about Dr. Kishonna Gray at her website, kishonnagray.com, or follow her on Twitter: @KishonnaGray. Check out Intersectional Tech at the library, in our podcast collection.
You can also check out the resource caniplaythat.com for game reviews and more from an ability le…
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Oct 15, 2020
43: Cool Careers! Family episode with Ashley Wolff, Peter L., & Dr. Liz Rampe
Our first Youth and Family episode--with the theme “Cool Careers!”
Kary Henry, our School Outreach Coordinator, joins as co-host to share three interviews she conducted with a youth audience in mind.
First is Ashley Wolff, author and illustrator of many popular books, including Baby Bear Sees Blue and the beloved Miss Bindergarten series. Then it's Peter L., a commercial airline pilot, who tells us what it’s like to be a pilot, including going to school, flying around thunderstorms, and why training makes flying safe, even in “emergency” situations. Finally, we talk to Dr. Liz Rampe, a NASA scientist who focuses on Mars geology. Dr. Liz is the deputy principal investigator of the CheMin instrument on the Mars Science laboratory Curiosity rover. She tells us about analyzing minerals with the current rover Curiosity, as well as what scientists like her hope to learn from Perseverance, the new Mars rover that launched in July. We also hear about the excitement and challenges…
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Sep 17, 2020
42: Erik Gellman, author of Troublemakers: Chicago Freedom Struggles through the Lens of Art Shay
Troublemakers: Chicago Freedom Struggles through the Lens of Art Shay, by our guest Erik Gellman, fuses photography and history to explore many “movements and moments” in the struggle for a more free and democratic society in our city, from the post-war years through 1970.
Troublemakers use the photographs of acclaimed photographer, longtime Deerfield resident (and past DPL podcast guest) Art Shay (1922 - 2018), and it also contains a whole chapter on the fight over integrated housing in Deerfield. That history, explored in our 2019 series The Fight to Integrate Deerfield: 60 Year Reflection, is given a fascinating new historical analysis, plus new insights into many Chicago protest histories, from Dr. King's activism, the '68 Democratic Convention, the Black Panthers and Fred Hampton, as well as under-known, and seemingly unconnected histories like the rise of teenagers, of racialized policing, suburban mom's group Women for Peace, the Division Street riots, gang organizing, figu…
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Aug 13, 2020
41: Jordan Melic, author of A Tree to Take Us Up to Heaven
A Tree to Take Us Up to Heaven is a fascinating debut novel by our guest, Jordan Melic.
A Young Adult novel combining adventure, history, and mythology, A Tree to Take Us Up to Heaven follows siblings Ah Ti and Kueny as they find themselves in different times and places that led to modern day Singapore, spanning many generations and belief systems, from ancient China to colonial Malaysia. Jordan, who grew up in Singapore and now lives in Paris, tells us how his depictions of past eras reflect a personal and universal struggle to reckon with one’s own history.
Here are the rules to enter our drawing to win a copy: email podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org, with your name before midnight on Thursday August 27th (CST). We’ll put all entries through a randomizer and select two lucky readers to receive a copy. The only requirement is that you (or someone you know) must be able to pick up the book from the Deerfield Public Library. (We can do curbside pickup or you can pick up during our ope…
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Jul 16, 2020
40: "How can white people accelerate racial justice?" with Christine Saxman
Racial and social justice facilitator Christine Saxman discusses the question, “how can white people accelerate racial justice?”
Christine describes herself as a “white woman fighting for racial justice and anti-racism as long as this social construct of race exists.” She has worked for Courageous Conversations about Race, the National SEED Project (Seeking Education Equity and Diversity) as part of the National Staff, and prior to full time facilitation she was an educator at our own Deerfield High School.
In our current era of ongoing protests against systemic racism and police brutality, we’ve had many white patrons asking for programs on how they can get involved in furthering racial justice. Christine knows the Deerfield community well and our conversation--recorded live with a virtual audience earlier this week--includes her perspective on how to address Deerfield’s history of segregation, how to talk to young people about race, and how to do “the work” of racia…
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Jun 11, 2020
39: Sarah MacLean and Jen Prokop of Fated Mates
Sarah MacLean and Jen Prokop are the hosts of the romance literature podcast, Fated Mates. Sarah MacLean is a bestselling author of historical romance novels and Jen Prokop is a romance critic and teacher. Together on the Fated Mates podcast they have some of the most intellectually stimulating and joyful conversations about what romance does and why it’s important.
You can check out books by Sarah MacLean in many formats here at the library. Her newest novel Daring and the Duke, comes out June 30th. We’ve also tagged some of the many books Sarah and Jen recommended on this episode in our catalog, check out the list here.
We also acknowledge in this episode that we are having this conversation at a difficult time. Mentioned in the episode is our Library Director’s statement on inclusion and diversity, as well as our lists of resources on antiracism and Black Lives Matter and our series on the fight over integration in Deerfield.
We welcome your comments and feedback--pleas…
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May 14, 2020
38: Bulls in Deerfield; K.C. Johnson on The Last Dance and more
K.C. Johnson, Bulls Insider for NBC Sports Chicago, discusses The Last Dance and memories of the Chicago Bulls in Deerfield.
The Last Dance, ESPN’s popular 10-part documentary series on Michael Jordan’s last season with the Chicago Bulls, features previously unseen footage from that ’97-’98 season--much of it shot here in Deerfield, IL at the Bulls former practice facility, the Berto Center.
K.C. Johnson shares his firsthand perspective on the documentary, Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, Jerry Krause, and many “unforgettabull” stories from when the Chicago Bulls made their home in our village. The Bulls will always be part of sports history--and Deerfield history.
You can read K.C. Johnson’s work for NBC Sports Chicago, or his twitter @KCJHoop.
Share your Bulls-in-Deerfield story with us on our social media (links below) or email us at podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http:…
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Apr 16, 2020
37: 1918 Pandemic in Illinois with Graham Ambrose
Graham Ambrose on Illinois during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Graham (twitter) is currently a reporter for the Quad City Times, where last month he wrote an article titled “102 years ago, the Spanish flu slammed the Quad Cities. Here’s what it teaches us about pandemics." Link
The 1918 flu pandemic had a huge impact on modern life and consciousness, yet it’s a history we don’t always talk about. We discuss the lessons we can learn from this history as we face the COVID-19 pandemic today, using news stories and literature from all over Illinois, including our own North Shore communities, Chicago, and the Quad Cities.
Graham Ambrose was previously on episode 23 of our podcast to discuss his Yale history thesis on Deerfield’s racial integration history, as part of our Fight to Integrate Deerfield series. You can find a list of sources and ways the library can be a portal for your own history deep dives here. Or check out an ebook of some of the literature from the 1918 pand…
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Mar 12, 2020
36: Author Rosellen Brown, Part 2
Part 2 of our 2 part conversation with acclaimed author Rosellen Brown. We discuss her new novel The Lake on Fire (Sarabande Books, 2018) and it fits in to her whole career. Rosellen Brown's website.
You can check out books by Rosellen Brown here at the library, as part of our new Podcast Collection, which features books (and other media) from our past 3+ years of podcast guests.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast
Follow us: Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest Snapchat
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Feb 13, 2020
35: Author Rosellen Brown, Part 1
Part 1 of our 2 part conversation with acclaimed author Rosellen Brown. We discuss themes that run through Brown’s whole career, and how she uses form to approach difficult emotional and political subjects. Rosellen Brown's website.
You can check out books by Rosellen Brown here at the library, as part of our new Podcast Collection, which features books (and other media) from our past 3+ years of podcast guests.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast
Follow us: Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinterest Snapchat
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Jan 23, 2020
34: Sam Herschel Wein, poet
A conversation with the Chicago-based poet Sam Herschel Wein, author of the chapbooks Fruit Mansion (2017) and, in collaboration with the poet Chen Chen, Gesundheit! (2019). He is also an enthusiastic ambassador for the vibrant scene of online poetry and edits (with Chen Chen) the online poetry journal Underblong. Listen to hear Sam read his poems and reflect on queer life, friendship, the power of joy, and the inner life of a shy painted ghost!
You can check out Sam’s poetry chapbooks from the Library’s new Podcast Collection. The Podcast Collection features books (and more) from all our past podcast guests over the last three years. We invite you to find a new book and listen to our interview with the author! The collection is at the bottom of the main staircase, by the Adult Services Desk.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast
Follow us: Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Pinter…
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Nov 12, 2019
33: Nina Barrett, author of The Leopold and Loeb Files
The Leopold and Loeb Files: An Intimate Look at One of America’s Most Infamous Crimes by Nina Barrett illuminates one of the most mythologized crime stories in America, and Chicagoland particularly; the 1924 murder of 14 year old Bobby Franks by University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold & Richard Loeb.
Barrett's book introduces and annotates excerpts from rare primary source documents from the case, including psychiatric reports, court transcripts, and photographs, to give us a fascinating look into the past as it really happened. Our conversation gets into the layers of meaning that have made this inscrutable murder endlessly interesting.
Check out The Leopold and Loeb Files
Nina’s website, with info on Rosehill Cemetery
Bookends & Beginnings, the bookstore Nina owns in Evanston
Our digitized archives which include: The Fight to Integrate Deerfield Collection Deerfield High School Yearbook Collection and more!
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podc…
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Oct 10, 2019
32: Legalized Cannabis with Rep. Bob Morgan
Illinois State Rep. Bob Morgan talks about the new Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, which legalizes recreational marijuana use in Illinois starting on January 1st, 2020.
Rep. Morgan (of our 58th district) helped shape the new law. He has worked as a healthcare lawyer on medical cannabis issues and previously ran the state’s medical cannabis program.
Our conversation covers the why, how, and where of purchasing legal cannabis. We also address parents’ concerns, quality control for consumers, and the unique social justice elements of this law.
Rep. Morgan is a Deerfield resident, so you’ll hear hyper-local information about how recreational cannabis will affect our village directly, especially with medical cannabis dispensaries already operating in Deerfield and nearby Highland Park and Buffalo Grove.
You can contact Rep. Morgan’s office at https://www.repbobmorgan.com/.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http:/…
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Sep 12, 2019
31: Marina Shifrin, author of 30 Before 30: How I Made a Mess of My 20s and You Can Too
30 Before 30: How I Made a Mess of My 20s and You Can Too, documents Marina Shifrin's quest to complete 30 goals before turning 30. Each chapter in the book covers one of her goals, from riding a bike across the Brooklyn Bridge and living in a different country, to becoming famous and falling in love.
Marina, who works as a TV writer and freelancer, is also known for her 2013 viral video where she quit her job while dancing to Kanye West and for her Modern Love column in the New York Times. Our conversation gets into the backstories behind these public sensations and the pressures of writing (and living) in the digital age. Marina was born in Russian and grew up in Skokie and Highland Park and attended Deerfield High School, so we also hear about how her time at DHS influenced her outlook.
Listen for a truly funny and heartfelt conversation about Marina’s many lives, her advice for twenty-somethings, and how she writes her way through the strange demands on our generation.
You ca…
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Aug 8, 2019
30: Howard Reich, author of The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel
The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel recounts Howard Reich’s four years of friendship and conversation with Wiesel, the great author, humanitarian, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and Holocaust survivor who profoundly shaped our understanding of the Holocaust.
Howard Reich has been working as an arts critic at the Chicago Tribune since 1978. His friendship with Wiesel began in 2012 when the Tribune presented Wiesel with their literary award, and they both connected over a shared history. Reich, himself the child of Holocaust survivors, was able to ask Wiesel all the questions he couldn’t ask his parents about the difficult legacy of the Holocaust for his family and the world. Hear moving reflections on how Wiesel was able to “invent hope” from the darkest history.
You can find The Art of Inventing Hope: Intimate Conversations with Elie Wiesel here at the library, as well as his memoir about mother and other writing. You can find out more about Howard…
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Jul 2, 2019
29: Derrick Procell, blues musician
Blues musician and longtime Deerfield resident Derrick Procell has made a name for himself in the music and ad industry for his energy, talent, and strong vocals. Today, Procell is the frontman of the Chicago soul and blues band "Derrick Procell and the Redeemers" and has been heard on everything from beer commercials to The Office, King of the Hill, and Ladybird.
Listen to this special **early release** musical episode to find out how Procell got his start at 16, how he found success as a voiceover actor, and his interactions with musicians like Charlie McCoy, Chicago saxaphonist Eddie Shaw, and his writing partner, Grammy-winning songwriter Terry Abrahamson.
You can check out Procell’s latest album and other music at www.derrickanamerican.com. To see what Procell and his band are up to, visit their facebook page or catch their free concert at the Deerfield Summer Sampler Concert Series on Sunday, July 7, from 5- to 6:30 p.m, at Mitchell Park, 951 Wilmot Road.
We welcome your co…
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Jun 13, 2019
28: Chris Claremont, legendary X-Men writer!
X-Men in Deerfield! In Chris Claremont's nearly 20-year run writing X-Men comics, he wrote many classic stories that made The Uncanny X-Men a bestseller and spawned blockbuster movies.
Claremont also made Deerfield the hometown of Kitty Pryde who was first introduced in “X-Men #129” as a 13½ year-old Jewish girl living in a split-level on Central Ave., whose strange headaches presage her mutant ability to phase through matter. It’s not long before Professor Xavier, Wolverine, Storm, and Colossus come through town to recruit her for the X-Men. That’s right, True Believers: Deerfield, IL is in the Marvel Universe!
Topics include: why Chris chose Deerfield as Kitty’s hometown, the theme of persecution and otherness that define the X-Men, the origin of Wolverine’s classic snikt! sound, remembering Stan Lee, the new Dark Phoenix movie (based on Chris's story), and what it’s like to created hundreds of beloved characters that, ultimately, you don’t own.
Chris Claremont ti…
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May 9, 2019
27: Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law
Richard Rothstein, author of The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Rothstein’s widely praised book makes clear that the laws and policy decisions passed by local, state, and federal governments actually promoted the discriminatory patterns that continue to this day--and uses Deerfield history as one of many examples. Video of the lecture is available, too.
This was the final program in our special series, The Fight to Integrate Deerfield: 60 Year Reflection, which featured discussions, lectures, and exhibits all focused on the history of Deerfield residents voting to block an integrated housing development intended for the Village in 1959.
Listen to past podcast episodes on The Fight to Integrate Deerfield: Graham Ambrose on his Yale thesis on Deerfield history, or longtime resident and photographer Art Shay.
While our programs are over, you can still see our exhibits of photographs and displays of original materials through the end of thi…
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Apr 11, 2019
26: Congressman Brad Schneider
Rep. Brad Schneider has a special connection to Deerfield. Not only does he represent our village as part of Illinois’ 10th District in the U.S. House of Representatives, but he also lives here in Deerfield.
We ask Rep. Schneider about the life of a Member of Congress from juggling the logistics of traveling back and forth to D.C., to preparing for a hearing, to how he incorporates feedback from constituents. We also ask him about some of the local issues he’s discussed on his recent “listening tour” around the district, including immigration, gun control, and climate change, among other issues like the SALT deduction and the racial wealth gap.
You can connect with Rep. Schneider’s office here. And, listen to our past interviews with other elected officials representing Deerfield: Mayor Harriet Rosenthal and State Senator Julie Morrison.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast…
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Mar 14, 2019
25: Molly Page & Masala Sapphire, recent Library program presenters!
Two of our most popular recent program presenters are featured! First up, Molly Page, author of 100 Things to Do in Chicago Before You Die. She fills us in on some of her favorite things to do in the city, including some hidden secrets. Molly’s enthusiasm for Chicagoland is super contagious and we know you’ll get some great ideas for your next family outing or solo exploring trip. And you can check out Molly’s book here at the Library!
Then we hear from Masala Sapphire, a Chicago-based drag queen who presented at our hugely popular program Drag Queen Story Hour last week. Masala tells us what drag means to her and what it was like to read picture books and perform for a unique Library audience.
Drag Queen Story Hour is a nationally recognized event that gives kids (and everyone!) a space to be themselves and provides them with glamorous, positive queer role models. All the books read are on our Youth Department’s “Be Who You Are!” book list. You can check them out below:…
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Feb 7, 2019
24: Ken Krimstein, cartoonist-author of The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt
The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt, a comics biography of the Jewish-German philosopher by Ken Krimstein. Ken is also a frequent cartoonist for The New Yorker and other publications—and he grew up in Deerfield!
Ken tells us how he became a cartoonist and how a cartoonist approaches the difficult life and ideas of Hannah Arendt.
You can check out The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt here at the library. Ken’s book will be celebrated in an upcoming exhibition of his drawings at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership in Chicago next month.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast
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Jan 10, 2019
23: Graham Ambrose, writer & the Fight to Integrate Deerfield
Graham Ambrose has written for The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. Graham wrote a recent history thesis at Yale about his hometown’s history and the housing integration crisis that began in Deerfield in 1959. In our conversation, Graham details the history and reads from his thesis, "“The Little Rock of the North”: Racial Integration and NIMBYism in Suburban Chicago, 1959.”
The Library is hosting a months-long series of programs, exhibits, and other opportunities to reflect on the 60 year anniversary of the integration crisis called the Fight to Integrate Deerfield. You can find out more about the history and our unique program series at our website deerfieldlibrary.org/FID or listen here to our episode:
Graham Ambrose and others will be speaking at our 60 Year Reflection Community Panel Discussion on March 12, 2019, 7pm. Registration opens February 13th.
If you have a story, memory, physical artifact, or reflection to share with the library for our archives, email dee…
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Nov 8, 2018
22: William Hazelgrove, author of Madam President & Wright Brothers, Wrong Story
William Hazelgrove is a Chicago author of many novels and nonfiction books, and is a frequent and popular speaker here at the Library. Bill is currently working on a movie for PBS based his book, Madame President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson.
Join us to hear about the downfall of Al Capone and the 1933 Chicago Fair, Edith Wilson as the first female president, and Bill’s upcoming book, Wright Brothers, Wrong Story, about the Wright Brothers, out December 4th.
Find out more about Bill though his website, williamhazelgrove.com, or check out his books here at the Library. And join us for Bill’s next presentation at the Library on January 24th, 7:00 pm. He will be talking about his new book, Wright Brothers, Wrong Story. Registration for this program (and all our Winter programs) opens on Wednesday, November 14th.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast
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Oct 11, 2018
21: The Center for Enriched Living with Harriet Levy, Executive Director
On this episode of the Deerfield Public Library Podcast, we celebrate the Center for Enriched Living, a local non-profit organization serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Center for Enriched Living (CEL) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. In honor of this achievement, Executive Director Harriet Levy joined us to talk about the history, present, and future of this unique organization.
Hear moving stories of how CEL impacts the lives of its members through their many programs that focus on social, post-school, and work life. As Harriet tells us, society has changed greatly since 1968, but there is still a long way to go towards integration for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
You’ll also learn how the Deerfield Public Library and other local groups partner with CEL. Find out more information on the Center for Enriched Living website.. You can learn more about accessibility at the Deerfield Public Library on our new a…
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Sep 13, 2018
20: Lake County Forest Preserves with Nan Buckardt, Dir. of Education
Dinosaurs in Deerfield? Endangered turtles? 300 year old trees? Yes!
On this episode of the Deerfield Public Library Podcast, we learn about the plant and animal life around us with with Nan Buckardt, Director of Education at the Lake County Forest Preserves. Hear how, in Nan’s words, “the land shapes the people and the people shape the land.” You’ll also learn what makes each of the preserves around Deerfield unique: Ryerson Woods, Prairie Wolf Forest Preserve and Dog Park, and Berkeley Prairie Forest Preserve.
Find out more more about the the Lake County Forest Preserves, the Dunn Museum in Libertyville or the Hike Lake County program, on their website LCFPD.org.
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Aug 9, 2018
19: Sonali Dev, author of A Distant Heart
Author of “books with a Bollywood beat," Sonali Dev tells us about her most recent novel, A Distant Heart, which tells the story of Kimi, whose childhood illness leaves her stuck in a kind of Rapunzel-style, over-protected ivory tower.
Sonali Dev tells us about writing about the Mumbai suburb in which she grew up and how she identifies with her main character’s optimism. Our conversation goes deep into how women are represented in romance, how illness and wellness are used as metaphors in Sonali’s stories, and issues of representation and diversity in the romance industry.
You can check out A Distant Heart and Sonali Dev’s other books here at the Deerfield Public Library. Or learn more about her work at sonalidev.com.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast
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Jul 12, 2018
18: Local poets: Herb Berman, MJ Gabrielsen, & Jacqueline Nicole Harris
Herb Berman, MJ Gabrielsen, and Jacqueline Nicole Harris. They are all members of the Library Poets group, which meets every Tuesday evening at the Library for a poetry workshop.
You’ll hear a wide variety of poems, covering nighttime walks through Deerfield, the drama of wild horses, and the politics of Beyoncé. We also discuss the inspirations and stories behind the poems.
Meet the poets
First up is Herb Berman, a retired labor lawyer, arbiter and mediator, and a co-founder of the Library Poets group. Herb reads his poems “Ugly Poets” (nominated for a Pushcart prize) and “Twilight.”
MJ Gabrielsen, another co-founder, is our second poet. MJ reads “Egret” and “After Wildfires,” the latter of which appears in her forthcoming chapbook Watching Earth, available from Redbird Chapbooks this summer.
Closing our show is Jacqueline Nicole Harris, whose most recent book On Life won the 2017 Black Caucus of the American Library Association Self-Publishing Literary Award…
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Jun 14, 2018
17: Colt Cabana, wrestler, with Erica Weisz, author & illustrator
Wrestler Colt Cabana is our guest. AKA Scott Colton, Colt grew up in Deerfield dreaming of one day becoming a professional wrestler. Colt has amassed a huge following through his infectious comedic stage persona and his popular behind-the-scenes podcast The Art of Wrestling. We talk about his career and the wonderfully weird world of professional wrestling.
Colt also has a recent autobiographical children’s book, Wrestling Dreams, written with author and illustrator Erica Weisz. Erica, herself a Deerfield resident, joins Colt at the end of the show to talk about the writing process and the message they hope to impart to young readers. You can check out Wrestling Dreams from the library in print and digital formats.
You can learn more about Erica’s writing and illustrating at mrsweiszbooks.com and find the book and more from Colt Cabana at coltcabana.com.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.or…
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May 10, 2018
16: Kyla Guru of Bits N' Bytes Cybersecurity Education
We talk all things cybersecurity with the inspiring Kyla Guru. Kyla is the founder of Bits N’ Bytes Cybersecurity Education, an educational and advocacy organization focused on spreading cybersecurity awareness and best practices to our community and beyond. She's also a student at Deerfield High School! Listen for Kyla’s cybersecurity tips on everything from passwords, phishing emails, and two-factor authentication to online activism.
Kyla tweets about cybersecurity education @GuruDetective. Kyla recommendations cybersecurity-related movies (WarGames, The Circle, The Imitation Game) and magazines to stay up to date on cybersecurity issues (Time, PC World, PC Online). You can find these in various formats at the library. Finally, Kyla also recommends the recent documentary, Do You Trust This Computer?
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast
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Apr 12, 2018
15: Martin Clancy; the opioid crisis from a local expert
Opioid abuse prevention and treatment with Martin Clancy, the Project Coordinator for Drug Overdose Prevention Programs at the Lake County Health Department. Martin gives us specific, local advice on where to go for help, tells us how this crisis came about, and tips on working with doctors and how to get Naloxone.
Illinois’ opioid and substance abuse help hotline, available 24/7: (833) 2FINDHELP--that's (833) 234 6343.
Lake County has adopted a program called “A Way Out”: http://awayoutlc.org/. This lists police stations where people seeking treatment can get help for drug abuse without being charged with a crime. The Deerfield Police Department is part of this program.
The Lake County Opioid Initiative and Community the Anti-Drug (CTAD) are local advocacy and awareness organizations. For learning more about the history of the crisis, Martin recommends Dreamland by Sam Quinones, available at the library.
You can contact Martin Clancy at mclancy@lakecountyil.gov or his cell:…
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Mar 15, 2018
14: J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader film critic
J.R. Jones, film critic and author of The Lives of Robert Ryan, tells us about what it's like to work as a movie reviewer today. Find his reviews and other writing for the Chicago Reader here.
Robert Ryan was known for his bigoted, violent characters in movies like The Wild Bunch, The Dirty Dozen, and Bad Day at Black Rock, but off the screen Ryan was a civil rights activist and pacifist, a fascinating dichotomy that Jones brings to life in his book and in our conversation.
Finally, I ask J.R. Jones to share some of his memories of the novelist and short story writer Richard Yates. Jones also grew up in Deerfield, so we hear a bit about how the Deerfield library and community inspired his early interest in film.
You can check out The Lives of Robert Ryan or explore the work of Robert Ryan or Richard Yates here at the library.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast
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Feb 8, 2018
13: Jeffrey Brown, cartoonist & author
Known for Darth Vader and Son and the Jedi Academy series as well as Clumsy, Funny Misshapen Body, & A Matter of Life, Jeffrey Brown has been a prolific cartoonist and author. We discuss why the Village of Deerfield is in every one of his books, some of the themes of his adult graphic memoirs, how his Star Wars books came about, why it's difficult to make jokes about R2-D2 and C-3PO, and how he gets all the science into his Lucy & Andy Neanderthal series.
His website is jeffreybrowncomics.com or check out his books through the library. You can also find My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Ferris at the library, which Jeff recommends.
Library News: Learn more about, Read Without Boundaries, our year-long adult reading program.
We welcome your comments and feedback--please send to: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast
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Jan 11, 2018
12: Art Shay, photographer & writer
Legendary photographer and writer Art Shay’s work has appeared in LIFE, Time, Sports Illustrated, and many other publications. Our conversation is full of first-hand accounts of some of the most the famous people and events of the 20th century--and local Deerfield history. We learn that Nelson Algren and Billy Corgan often visited Shay in Deerfield and Eleanor Roosevelt and James Baldwin were in town to support a proposed integrated housing development in the late 1950s and early 60s. Shay was part of the Deerfield Citizens for Human Rights, a group supporting integration.
We also hear about Shay’s interactions with Ernest Hemingway, Elizabeth Taylor, Judy Garland, John F. Kennedy and more! At 95, Shay was recently honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Lucie Foundation and has a current exhibit at the American Writers Museum, Capturing Stories, which features his photographs of authors (through Spring 2018).
Just a note that Shay does use a bit of colorful language…
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Dec 14, 2017
End-of-year break!
We're taking a break from our monthly episodes for this busy time of year, but we'll be back in January with perhaps our most notable local yet. Thanks for listening and happy holidays!
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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Nov 9, 2017
11: Elizabeth Rynecki, author of Chasing Portraits
Author of Chasing Portraits: A Great-Granddaughter’s Quest for Her Lost Art Legacy, Elizabeth Rynecki. We discuss about her amazing memoir and documentary film project that chronicles the search for the missing paintings of her great-grandfather, Moshe Rynecki.
chasingportraits.org
You can check out Chasing Portraits from the library or see the books and movies discussed in our conversation here.
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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Oct 12, 2017
10: Natalie Kirsch & Peter Fitzgerald, Deerfield Rotary Co- Presidents
Deerfield Rotary Club co-presidents Natalie Kirsch & Peter Fitzgerald. Check out deerfieldrotary.org for more info about their unique projects and how to get involved.
Vicki from Adult Services shares her Top 5 Spooky Reads list. Send in your own list of favorite Spooky Reads by 11:59 pm (Central), October 19th to podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. We’ll share all listener lists in a blog post and you’ll be entered in a random drawing to win a Halloween treat! (One entry per person.)
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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Sep 14, 2017
9: Dr. Mike Lubelfeld, Superintendent, Deerfield District 109
Dr. Michael Lubelfeld, the superintendent of District 109, Deerfield’s elementary schools is our guest. We discussed the state of education today in Deerfield and Mike's recent book (with co-author Nick Polyak) The Unlearning Leader. Check out District 109’s new podcast, “Sound Around 109.”
Library news this month highlights an author visit from Elizabeth Rynecki on October 8th, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m., to discuss her memoir and documentary project Chasing Portraits. Register by clicking here.
Finally, Elisa, our Youth Development Collection Librarian, recommends a beautiful new children’s book, The Grand Canyon by Jason Chin.
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org.
More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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Aug 10, 2017
Deerfield Public Art Audio Tour
Guided audio walking tour of public art in Deerfield, IL. Find map & guide and more info at deerfieldlibrary.org/arttour.
Tour features artists Lars-Birger Sponberg, Janet Austin, Robert Winslow, Javier Vilató, Antoine Poncet, Mary Block, and Ryan Wilde.
Find other local tours at deerfieldlibrary.org/localtours.
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Aug 10, 2017
8: Mary Block, sculptor & Lars-Birger Sponberg, painter
Mary Block, sculptor & Lars-Birger Sponberg, painter, both with longtime Deerfield connections and artwork in the community.
Check out the Deerfield Public Art Tour, in self-guided audio tour or 360 video tour formats. Our next in-person Public Art Tour, on Saturday Sept. 9th, from 10-11 am. Registration opens August 16th.
Multimedia Librarian Ted recommends a biography, Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow.
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org.
More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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Jul 17, 2017
7: Charlie Meyerson, proprietor of ChicagoPublicSquare.com & longtime Chicago-area "bringer of news"
Charlie Meyerson, proprietor of ChicagoPublicSquare.com, a free email news roundup. We talk “fake news” and the state of the media today. Charlie visited us in June as a panelist on our program The Real Story Behind Fake News, you can watch it here.
Library News: a new resource for our patrons in the market for a car: Auto Finance Resource. With this resource you can get the inside information on low rates for car loans that car dealers get.
Staff Picks segment: I take over for this month, recommending the new novel by Percival Everett, So Much Blue.
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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Jun 14, 2017
6: Gale Gand, James Beard Award-winning pastry chef, Food Network star, cookbook author, and more!
Chef Gale Gand, James Beard Award-winner, co-founder of the restaurant TRU, cookbook author, Food Network star on Sweet Dreams (and a whole lot more) is our guest this month. We talk about her long and fascinating career with a local spin--Gale grew up in Deerfield and has many connections to the area.
Library News: Summer Reading has started! Check at Youth or Adult desk or online for more info.
One of Gale’s favorite books: The Whip by Karen Kondazian.
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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May 11, 2017
5: Mary Kubica, author of The Good Girl, Pretty Baby, & Don't You Cry
Bestseller Mary Kubica, author of The Good Girl, Pretty Baby, and Don’t You Cry is our guest this month! We discuss the themes that run through her books, the local Chicago and suburban settings in her novels, and her love of libraries. Mary also shares some info about her new book, Every Last Lie, coming out this June.
Other segments in this episode—
Library News: we learn about the new Baby Garden in Youth Services from head of Youth Services, Meg Anthony.
Local History Corner: we answer the question “What does Charlton Heston have to do with Deerfield?”
Staff Pick: Readers Services Librarian Melissa recommends recent Pulitzer-Prize winner, The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead.
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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Apr 13, 2017
4: Julie Morrison, Illinois State Senator, 29th District
State Senator Julie Morrison of Illinois’s 29th District is our guest this month. Julie discusses her career path, how best to get involved in local government, and how she gets some of her ideas for legislation (hint: visit her office!).
Other segments on our April show include information from youth librarian Julia Frederick about the library’s new Discovery Kits available for checkout. Then, in our brand new segment, our “Local History Corner,” librarian Anne Jamieson shares two hilarious spring-time animal stories from Deerfield’s past. The animal theme continues with our staff picks segment: Acquisitions Assistant Tom Walsh recommends The Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat’s Walk Across America by William Stolzenburg.
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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Music in Local History Corner: https://archive.org/details/1950sJazzTrumpetGreats
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Mar 5, 2017
3: Deputy Chief Ray Larson of the Deerfield Bannockburn Fire District
Deputy Chief Ray Larson of the Deerfield Bannockburn Fire District is our guest this month. He discusses the path to becoming a firefighter, specific fire and life safety tips, when to call 911, and some of the unusual situations they’ve responded to. Follow the Fire Dept. on Facebook for more safety tips and news updates.
Bookending the conversation, Library Director Amy Falasz-Peterson tells us about the new Giving Tree project the Library Board has been working on. A reception honoring the first group of honorees will be held on Thursday, March 9 from 5-6:30 p.m. in the library’s front lobby and is open to the public. Finally, Multimedia Librarian Ted Gray recommends two TV shows, American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson and recent Oscar winner for Best Documentary, O. J.: Made in America.
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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Feb 8, 2017
2: Vicki Street, Executive Director of the Deerfield Bannockburn Riverwoods Chamber of Commerce
Executive Director of the Deerfield Bannockburn Riverwoods Chamber of Commerce, Vicki Street, is our feature interviewee this month. We discuss the Chamber’s role in the community, growing up in Deerfield, and the Chamber’s recent trip to Cuba! Bookending the conversation, Outreach Coordinator Judy Hoffman tells us about the food drive for the Deerfield Township Food Pantry (donate in the library lobby March 1st - 22nd) and Teen librarian Nina Michael recommends the memoir Ugly by Robert Hoge.
Read the transcript of a speech a Deerfield librarian gave to the local Woman's club in 1939 here.
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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Jan 11, 2017
1: Mayor Harriet Rosenthal
Deerfield’s current Mayor, Harriet Rosenthal is our feature interviewee this month. Mayor Rosenthal discusses her path from community volunteer to the Mayor's seat and what makes her job particularly fulfilling. Bookending the conversation, librarian John Phillips fills us in on the details of our new board game collection, available for checkout now, and librarian Anne Jamieson recommends The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell.
Mayor Rosenthal also shares some information on an upcoming volunteer project, Give Where You Live--Deerfield. Info on Jan. 16th event: http://www.deerfield.il.us/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=56
Comments and feedback: podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org. More info at http://deerfieldlibrary.org/podcast.
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Dec 26, 2016
Veteran's Day Audio Tour of the Deerfield Illinois Cemetery
Use this audio walking tour to explore Deerfield-area veterans (and other related people) in the historic cemetery in Deerfield Illinois. Narrator Dylan Zavagno will introduce the tour and guide you to the graves and librarian Anne Jamieson will detail the lives of those buried there. Along the way we’ll learn about veterans from nearly all of our country’s wars, with a special focus on the Civil War, World War I and II and the home front. The cemetery is located on Waukegan Rd. at the corner of Central Ave..
A .pdf map of the tour can be found here: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Veterans-Day-Cemetery-Tour-Route.pdf
A detailed guide, with map, pictures of graves, and written histories here: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CemeteryGuide_VeteransDay.pdf
And more info on this and our regular cemetery tour (which covers different people and different stories about some of the same people) can be found here: http://deerfieldlibrary.or…
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Dec 26, 2016
Deerfield Illinois Cemetery Audio Tour
Use this audio walking tour to explore the historic cemetery in Deerfield Illinois. Narrator Dylan Zavagno will introduce the tour and guide you to the graves and librarians Ted Gray and Anne Jamieson will detail the lives of those buried there. Along the way we’ll learn about early settlers, German immigrant families, abolitionists and veterans. We’ll get to know PTA and church members, famous local names, and a local historian, Marie Ward Reichelt. The cemetery is located on Waukegan Rd. at the corner of Central Ave..
A .pdf map of the tour can be found here: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Cemetery-Tour-Route.pdf
A detailed guide, with map, pictures of graves, and written histories here: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CemeteryGuide_Regular-Tour.pdf
And more info on this and our Veteran's Day cemetery can be found here: http://deerfieldlibrary.org/cemeterytours/
The Deerfield Cemetery Commission's website (where you can electro…
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