Top Poets to Inaugurate Monthly Poetry Readings at Montclair Library on Thursday

Poetry readings and slams have been hot topics the past few years and the annual "National Poetry Out Loud Competition" attracts many entrants and viewers on YouTube.  

On Thursday, December 2, the Montclair poetry thermostat is going to be set on high: Two critically acclaimed poets inaugurate the Montclair Public Library's free Monthly Poetry Reading Series at 7 p.m. in their main auditorium at 50 South Fullerton Ave. The evening will kick off with Laura Boss reading from her new collection "Flashlight," which will be followed after a brief intermission by Maria Mazziotti-Gillan reading from her new book "What We Pass On: Collected Poems 1980-2009." Both books were published by Guernica Press in 2010.

Frank Niccoletti, a well-recognized poet in his own right and past Director of Curriculum and Instruction for English, Arts and the Humanities at the River Dell Schools, talked about the event:

"There are many widely published poets in Essex County and this new series is most welcome," Niccoletti said. "Boss and Mazziotti-Gillan are great poets and have done much for poetry in the area."

Boss has deep roots in the Montclair poetry community. This reading and the new poetry series mark her return to the Montclair Public Library: 30 years ago she ran a reading series here for the contributors to "LIPS," a poetry journal she founded in 1981 and continues to edit. Until recently, Boss ran a well subscribed series of readings in the nearby Clifton Barnes & Noble. In addition, she has long led a popular poetry writing workshop at the Montclair Adult School and publishes a small anthology of workshop poems.

Boss reads her works both nationally and worldwide. Past appearances have been at the Dylan Thomas Center in Wales, the 2010 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, The United Nations, The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., and the New York Public Library. As a young poet, Boss was the sole U.S. representative at the XXVI International Poetry Readings in Europe. 

The recipient of three New Jersey State Council of the Arts poetry fellowships, Boss is a past first place winner in the Poetry Society of America's Gordon Barber Poetry Contest.

Maria Mazziotti-Gillan similarly has a long list of awards and credentials. She won the American Book Award for one of her earlier books, "All That Lies Between Us." She is the founder and executive director of the Poetry Center at Passaic County Community College in Paterson and directs the Creative Writing Program at the State University of New York in Binghamton, where she is a professor of poetry.

Among her 11 published books are "The Weather of Old Seasons," "Where I Come From, Things My Mother Told Me," and "Italian Women in Black Dresses." She and her daughter Jennifer have co-edited four poetry anthologies, many on the themes of identity and ethnicity. Mazziotti-Gillan is also the editor of the "Paterson Literary Review."

Bring a poem of your own. After the readings there will be an open mic. For more information see http://www.montclairlibrary.org/ or call 973-744-0500 ext.2235.