Past Poet Laureates
Richard Michelson
Poet Laureate of Northampton 2012-2015
His children’s books have been listed among the Ten Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and The New Yorker; and among the 12 Best Books of the Decade by Amazon.com. He has been a Massachusetts Book Award Finalist (2x), a Harlem Book Fest Wheatley Award Finalist and a National Jewish Book Award Finalist (3X), as well as receiving a National Parenting Publication Gold Medal and an International Reading Association Teacher’s Choice Award.
In 2009 Michelson received both a Sydney Taylor Gold and Silver Medal from the Association of Jewish Librarians, the only author so honored in AJL’s 45 year history. (see a full list of awards here)
Michelson’s poetry for adults has been published in many anthologies, including The Norton Introduction to Poetry. Clemson University named Michelson their Calhoun Distinguished Reader in American Literature in 2008. The Jerusalem Post called his latest collection Battles & Lullabies, “a touching masterpiece.” Michelson is the current Poet Laureate of Northampton Massachusetts.
In addition to being an author, Michelson is a popular guest speaker. He has traveled throughout the world talking to children and teachers about his love of poetry, and social justice. Michelson represented the US at the Bratislava Biennial in Slovakia, and he is the founder and owner of R. Michelson Galleries.
Activities that Richard has done as the Northampton Poet Laureate:
EAT LOCAL/READ LOCAL -Nourish the Body, Nourish the Soul—a Northampton “April is Poetry Month” Celebration
50 Northampton restaurants featured a poem by a local Northampton area poet in their window or on their menu. You could not go out to eat in the city without encountering poetry.
Each restaurant provided a dinner for two to their “house poet.”
You can read local coverage here:
NPR on WHMP- Northampton Poetry Radio (bi-monthly radio interview program
I have interviewed National Poet Laureates like WS Merwin
Robert Pinsky and Kay Ryan, prominent award winning poets such as Mark Doty and Eleanor Wilner—but also many interviews with our Northampton area presses Open Field, Levellers, Perugia, Shape and Nature. and more than a dozen local Poets
Hosted Transperformance 22: Food Groups as Emily Dickinson and John Keats
Selected local readings:
Brought my fellow Laureates to Boston for AWP and Mass Poetry Conference
Forbes Library Jewish Writers
Straw dog Writers Group Northampton
Highlighted local events:
Tell It Slant- Emily Dickinson House
Introduced Open Field Reading
Introduced Shape and Nature Reading
Introduced 30 poems/30 days
Reviewed poetry by local poets in local publications. Example: http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=16978