Reading and Conversation
Free; RSVP: adam@gloucesterwriters.org
Join us to kick off our fall season of programs with an evening celebrating Dogtown in the writer’s imagination today!
Featuring new work by storyteller Heather Atwood (The Other Cape, 1623 Studios) and writer and poet Diana Rose Lynch (Boston University), and a reading by James R. Scrimgeour from his celebrated poetry collection Voices of Dogtown. Opening remarks and a poem from GWC Board President Jay Featherstone. Followed by a roundtable discussion and reception.
Presented in conjunction with the 2022 Jonathan Bayliss Society conference, “Celebrating Dogtown Common: A Special Place”: https://jonathanbayliss.org/Celebrating-Dogtown-Common
Bios:
Heather Atwood is a producer at 1623 Studios, local television on the North Shore of Boston. She co-hosts Cape Ann Today, short interviews with local leaders about local stories, and produces an Art series called, “The Color of Light.” She is also the managing editor for The Other Cape. She has been covering local culture and a little national politics in print, blogs, magazines, video and podcasts for more than ten years. She is the author of “In Cod We Trust, the celebrated cuisine of coastal Massachusetts.” (Globe Pequot Press.) You can find her personal blog – “Shelves” – at http://heathershelves.com
Diana Rose Lynch is a language teacher who teaches writing at Boston University. Her first
poem was published by The Ekphrastic Review in 2020. When she’s not teaching, she writes
poetry, gardens, and hikes. Her favorite pastime is cooking lavish meals for her friends and
family. She lives in Gloucester, MA and is currently working on a collection of poetry.
Dr. James R. Scrimgeour received his BA from Clark University, his MA and PhD from UMass, Amherst, and he is a Professor Emeritus at Western Connecticut State University. He has published ten books of poetry and over 220 poems in anthologies and periodicals. One of his most recent books, Voices of Dogtown: Poems Arising Out of a Ghost Town Landscape (Loom Press, 2019), was listed as a “must read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. He has been nominated for several Pushcart Prizes, and he has given over 250 public readings of his work including one at an International Conference on Poetry and History, Stirling, Scotland. He served as Editor of Connecticut Review from September 1992-September 1995. He has been invited to participate in NEH Seminars on Modern Poetry at NYU and Princeton, and he was one of five Connecticut poets featured on a CBS poetry blog. Furthermore, he has published a critical biography of Sean O’Casey (G. K. Hall) along with numerous reviews and articles on poetry and drama. He currently resides in West Hartford Connecticut with his wife, Christine Xanthakos Scrimgeour.