Happy National Poetry Month! Brownstone Poets is excited to feature 3 poet laureates on Saturday, April 26th at 2 pm ET
Maria Lisella, Poet Laureate of Queens, New York, since 2015
Mike Jurkovic, 2025 Poet Laureate of Ulster County, New York
Anne Wallace, former Poet Laureate of Jersey City, New Jersey (2023-24)
Plus a limited open mic. Your $5 contribution keeps our annual anthology in print. Hosted by Patricia Carragon, our Brooklyn girl and Editor-in-Chief.
Please follow the directions below, completing both steps at least two days before the reading to avoid delays entering the meeting room. Note the order of the open mic follows the order of signup. Sign up early to read early in the program. Last-minute signup means you will read at the end of the program. The cutoff for Zoom access for an open mic slot Is noon the day of reading. After noon, late registrants are not guaranteed Zoom access to join the open but will receive a link to watch the reading live-streamed on YouTube.
Please follow these instructions:
Step 1: Make your $5 contribution: https://bit.ly/3bkqFmO
(Note that your contribution is not refundable.)
Step 2: Register in advance for this meeting:
https://bit.ly/3hnpy8D
Step 3: After making your contribution and completing your registration, you will receive a confidential confirmation email containing your unique link to join the event.
Looking forward to seeing you at our reading!
Bios:
Maria Lisella
The sixth Queens Poet Laureate, Maria Lisella was awarded an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. Her books include: Thieves in the Family (NYQ Books), Amore on Hope Street (Finishing Line Press) and Two Naked Feet (Poets Wear Prada). Her work has appeared in Mom Egg Review (MER), New Verse News, Paterson Literary Review, Presence, and won first prize in the Venera Fazio Poetry Contest sponsored by the AICW and third prize in the Amilcare Solferini International Poetry Competition. She curates the Italian American Writers Association readings; is poetry editor for Voices in Italian Americana and is a freelance writer.
Mike Jurkovic
2025 Ulster County Poet Laureate. Published globally with little reportable income. Full- length collections include Buckshot Reckoning, mooncussers, AmericanMental, (Luchador Press 2023, 2022, 2020); haiku collections Monet’s Bamboo (CAPS Press, 2025) Blue Fan Whirring, (Nirala Press, 2018). President, Calling All Poets, celebrating 26 years in the Hudson Valley. Co-chair, Music Fan Film Series, Rosendale Theatre, Rosendale, NY. Online CD reviews at. All About Jazz and lightwoodpress.com The Rock n Roll Curmudgeon appeared in Rhythm and News Magazine, (1996-2003). Chronogram, (2003-2007). Van Wyck Gazzette, (2013-2022) Elmore Magazine, (2013-2017). Hosts NuJazzXcursions, Monday 9-10am, WVKR-91.3FM Vassar College. He loves Emily most of all.
Ann Wallace
Ann E. Wallace, PhD is the 2023-24 Poet Laureate of Jersey City, New Jersey. As a long-time survivor of ovarian cancer, a woman with multiple sclerosis, and one of the nation’s first Long Covid patients, she has lived and written through illness for thirty years. Her second poetry collection, Days of Grace and Silence: A Chronicle of COVID’s Long Haul (Kelsay Books, 2024), was written over three years, beginning when Wallace was first sick with severe acute COVID and following her teenage daughters’ and her long journey of recovery. Wallace’s first collection of poetry, Counting by Sevens (Main Street Rag, 2019), is a reflection on motherhood, illness, and contemporary life in America. Wallace is host and producer of The WildStory: A Podcast of Poetry and Plants by the Native Plant Society of New Jersey and Professor of English at New Jersey City University.