Grid Books Celebration- A Poetry Reading
A Grid Books Celebration!
Join us in collaboration with Moonstone Arts Center in introducing a stellar lineup of poets representing Grid Books Press and their strong ties to the Philadelphia area and its more than two decades of independent publishing.
The free event will take place in the Skyline Room on the fourth floor at 5:45pm.
In 2003, poets Tam Lin Neville and Bert Stern began Grid Books, under the name Off the Grid Press, with a mission to celebrate the work of older poets, whom they saw as too often sidelined by mainstream publishing. They established this mission with the press’s first offering, a volume of New & Selected Poems by the Philadelphia-based poet, teacher, and social justice activist Henry Braun.
JoAnne McFarland is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and independent curator. Her poetry collection American Graphic was awarded the 2024 Wishing Jewel Prize for poetic innovation from Green Linden Press. Other collections include: A Domestic Lookbook and Pullman, both published by Grid Books, and Identifying the Body, published by the Word Works. JoAnne's artwork is represented by Accola Griefen Fine Arts.
Elaine Sexton is a writer, critic, teacher, and maker. Her fifth collection, Site Specific: New and Selected Poems, is forthcoming with Grid Books (May, 2025). She is the author of The Post Office, a chamber opera in poems, in collaboration with composer Laura Kaminsky, commissioned by Queen City Opera and produced by The Cincinnati Opera/Opera Fusion: New Works (March, 2025). She teaches at the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute.
Lisa Sewell is the author several books of poetry, including Impossible Object and Birds of North America, a collaboration with artist Susan Hagen and poet Nathalie Anderson. Her fifth book, Flood Plain, was published this January by Grid Books. Recent work has appeared on Major Jackson’s The Slowdown and on the Academy of American Poets “Poem-a-Day” website, and in numerous journals including Prairie Schooner, Ploughshares, Posit, Laurel Review and Crab Orchard Review. She lives in Philadelphia and teaches in the English Department at Villanova University.
Elaine Terranova was born in Philadelphia where she still lives. She has taught at the Community College of Philadelphia and Temple University. She has published ten poetry collections, including most recently Rinse (Grid Books, 2023), and a memoir, The Diamond Cutter’s Daughter. Awards include a Pushcart Prize, PA, NEA, and Pew Fellowships, and the 2024 Maurice English Poetry Award.
Parkway Central Library
1901 Vine Street (between 19th and 20th Streets on the Parkway)
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215-567-4341