A performance by Sonic Chambers Quartet from New Orleans and New York City, alongside celebrated Vermont Poet Toussaint St. Negritude.

Sonic Chambers Quartet (“Wonderful, wildly melodic and a rhythmic dynamo" —Bandcamp Daily Best of Jazz) is a new formation co-led by New Orleans-based clarinetist and saxophonist Byron Asher and New York City-based saxophonist and clarinetist Tomas Majcherski. The multi-instrumentalists and composers have known each other and performed together for over 10 years, primarily in the New Orleans music scene. Their collaboration explores dialogues around improvisation and composition, performance, art and collectivity.

Their debut recording Kiss of the Earth was released April 11, 2025 on noted Brooklyn-based adventurous music label 577 Records. Learn more here.

P&T Knitwear, a bookstore on the Lower East Side, welcomes C.O. Moed for a discussion and celebration of her book, It Was Her New York. A mosaic of intimate photo-illustrated vignettes, the book celebrates the fierce moxie of New Yorkers, a sixty-year-old hidden love between two women, the definition of home as it slowly disappears into gentrification and what it means to be family.

Moed will be joined by author Amy Ferris. After the conversation and audience Q&A, Moed will also sign copies.

Polly Merritt Ingraham will be reading from Unconverted: Memoir of a Marriage at The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Her story explores how a union between a religious leader and a secular woman survives and thrives.

She will be joined in conversation by Katie Allan Zobel.

Free and open to the public. Please register ahead of time here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/polly-ingraham-in-person-tickets-1376525517879?aff=oddtdtcreator

Melissa Perley, author of The Violin Family, will be reading and signing books at the Greensboro Free Library. Children of all ages are welcome!

The author will share news of her forthcoming second book, The Violin Family Plays New Music, illustrated by Tim Knickerbocker.

An opening reception for “Cut and Paste” and “Fire,” a ceramic and collage exhibition by the Collagistas & Ceramicist Betsy Chodorkoff will be held at the Marshfield public library. Learn more here.

The afternoon includes a poetry reading at 3 pm. Jane Shore, author of six poetry books, and Mary Elder Jacobsen, author of Stonechat, will read.

Meghan A. Patricia Wentworth, author of Stay Until Tomorrow, is a featured local author at this meet and greet book signing at Barnes & Noble Salem. Free and open to the public.

All are invited to the launch of The Mountain Troubadour 2025, the annual anthology featuring the poetry of members of the Poetry Society of Vermont. This issue is the first collaboration with Rootstock, bringing this volume to a wider audience.

The mixer and poetry readings will be in the Hayes Room at the Kellogg Hubbard Library. Learn more here at poetrysocietyofvermont.org/psov-book-launch-party.

Join Rootstock at the 52nd Annual Craftsbury Antiques and Uniques Festival on the historic Craftsbury Common, featuring more than 100 vendors, live music, and food. Publisher Samantha Kolber will be selling books and answering questions about publishing, and these authors will be signing their books:

9-11 AM

• Mary Elder Jacobsen, “Stonechat: Poems”

• Ginny Sassaman, “Preaching Happiness: Creating a Just and Joyful World”

11 AM-1 PM

• J. Peter Cobb, “Some Things Aren’t Meant to Be,” and “To Alice”

• Tamara Mathieu, “All Who Believed: A Memoir of Life in the Twelve Tribes”

1-3 PM

• Michael Freed-Thall, “Horodno Burning: A Novel”

• Roberta Harold, “Portrait of an Unseen Woman: A Novel of Annie Shaw”

• Toussaint St. Negritude, “Mountain Spells: Poems”

Admission is free with a $5 parking fee. Learn more at www.craftsburyantiquesanduniques.com.

Polly Merritt Ingraham celebrates the release of her book, Unconverted: Memoir of a Marriage, at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord. In lyrical prose, the story traces how an extroverted nonbeliever remained true to herself as her husband rose through the ranks to become an Episcopal bishop.

After the reading, the author will sign copies.

Roberta Harold will be reading from her novel, Portrait of an Unseen Woman: A Novel of Annie Shaw, at Ventfort Hall in the Museum of the Gilded Age. It’s a fitting location for this fictionalized account of the creative life of a Civil War widow who flourishes in 1890s Paris.

This is a ticketed event. Learn more at this link.

Author Jill McCroskey Coupe will celebrate the release of her third novel, Gemma Sommerset at the Poultney Public Library. Gemma Sommerset is the story of a woman, hampered by expectations of marriage and motherhood, who dares to pursue a different future for herself. The free event includes a reading and book signing.

Roberta Harold, author of Portrait of an Unseen Woman: A Novel of Annie Shaw, will be among the more than thirty authors from the Northeast at the Arlington Common Authors Book Festival. The free event features author talks and book signings, titles for sale, and refreshments.

For more information, visit: www.arlingtoncommon.org/book-festival.

Mary Elder Jacobsen will be reading from Stonechat, at the June Poetry Salon in the Shelburne public library. She and Angela Patten, author of Feeding the Wild Rabbit, are the featured poets.

To learn more, visit piersonlibrary.org.

Discover the world of 1890s Paris at a reading by Roberta Harold, author of Portrait of an Unseen Woman: A Novel of Annie Shaw. The author will sign copies of her book, which are available for purchase at the bookstore.

Please join Toussaint St. Negritude and Nadine Budbill as they honor and celebrate two important events: Juneteenth, which recognizes the end of slavery in the United States—as well as the ongoing struggle for racial justice; and the recent release of a new and revised edition of David Budbill's Judevine: A Love Song for a Place and Its People.

With interconnected themes of social, economic, and racial injustice, this free event features poetry, community, conversation, and love for the Northeast Kingdom. Readings will be given by Toussaint St. Negritude, Nadine Budbill, and students from Hazen Union School's drama program.

Toussaint St. Negritude is the author and winner of the 2025 Firebird Award for his poetry collection Mountain Spells. He is the former Poet Laureate of Belfast, Maine, and 2024 Nominee for Poet Laureate of Vermont and bass clarinetist and composer. On an alpine sanctuary facing east, Toussaint St. Negritude continues to thrive in the farthest elevations of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.

Nadine Budbill stewards her beloved late father’s body of work and creative legacy as the Literary Executor of his estate. She is also a project management and fundraising expert with 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, focusing on gender and racial equity, social justice, and education (passions she inherited from her social-justice-minded father). Nadine grew up in Wolcott, surrounded by the hills, back roads, trees, and people that provided the inspiration for her father’s writing.

Join Roberta Harold in St. Albans for a reading from Portrait of an Unseen Woman: A Novel of Annie Shaw. This fictionalized account imagines the creative life of a Civil War widow who flourishes in 1890s Paris.

Books will be available for purchase and the author will be signing copies.

C.O. Moed, author of It Was Her New York, has been invited to appear on a nonfiction panel at the Beacon Litfest in Beacon, NY.

Among the other panelists are award-winning author Stacey D'Erasmo. The evening’s discussion will be guided by editor Caroline Eisner.

Immediately following the events, all attendees are invited to a book-signing reception and cocktail party at VFW Memorial Hall. For more information, visit Beacon Litfest.

Roberta Harold will be reading from her new book, Portrait of an Unseen Woman: A Novel of Annie Shaw, in Brattleboro. This fictionalized account imagines the creative life a Civil War widow who flourishes in 1890s Paris. Books will be available for purchase and the author will be signing copies.

Join Roberta Harold in conversation with Baron Wormser, author of Some Months in 1968 and other novels, to celebrate the launch of Harold's Portrait of an Unseen Woman: a Novel of Annie Shaw. Free and open to the public, with refreshments and book signing. 

Celebrate the launch and return to Judevine: A Love Song for a Place and Its People, David Budbill’s work about the beloved fictional community. This new and revised edition includes introductions by former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins, world-renowned musician and composer William Parker, and Lost Nation Theater Founding Director Kim Bent.

Nadine Budbill, David’s daughter, will be in conversation with actress and playwright Abby Paige, who has acted in Judevine and other Budbill plays. Paige’s first book, Piecework / Travail à la pièce, is a bilingual collection of her two plays about the Franco American experience. Both books will be available for signing and purchase.

There will be a livestream option as well. To sign up for it, please email boxoffice@lostnationtheater.org with "Launch Live Stream" in the subject line by 4:30pm on May 15th.

 No tickets/reservations necessary. Books will be available for purchase.

Poets, poetry lovers, and everyone interested in poetry are invited to gather at the historic Charlotte Grange Hall! Each month, a local guest poet is featured, and Rootstock Publisher Samantha Kolber is the guest for May, sharing her poems about motherhood ahead of Mother's Day.

After Kolber reads, audience members are then invited to recite poems, and prizes will be offered to those who can recite their poems from memory! Bring a few of your favorite poems or your own poetry to read or recite, or just come to listen.

Learn more at www.charlottegrange.org.

Nadine Budbill, daughter of David Budbill and his literary executor, will introduce his classic Judevine at the Craftsbury Public Library. Judevine: A Love Song for a Place and its People shines a light on the lives of his Wolcott neighbors who were, in turns, beautiful, ingenious, struggling to survive, and overlooked.

This event is hosted by the Vermont Humanities Council.

Join Nadine Budbill at the Hyde Park public library for a reading of David Budbill’s Judevine: A Love Song for a Place and its People. This talk introduces her father and his work, followed by a selection of his evocative and timeless poems.

This event is sponsored by Lamoille Neighbors, Lanpher Memorial Library, and VT Humanities.

Dr. Ian J. McCoog will give a reading and talk about his informative and reflective book, Leadership Bites: An Approachable Handbook for Emerging Leaders.

Meghan A. Patricia Wentworth, author of Stay Until Tomorrow, will open a celebration for National Poetry Month at Reedmor Books & Brews in New Hampshire. Copies of her poetry collection will be available for purchase and signing.

Her reading will be followed by headliner Diannely Antigua, followed by a Q&A with poet Cari Moll.

Poet Joyce Thomas celebrates the launch of her third book of poetry, Some Things in This World: Poems at the Castleton Library. Following a reading, she will be signing books.

Join us to celebrate the launch of the new PoemCity Anthology 2025 with readings from headlining poets Bianca Stone, Chard deNiord, and Toussaint St. Negritude on his bass clarinet; followed by an open mic for poets with poems in the anthology. Come and sign up at the door (first come, first serve) to read your poem from this year’s anthology! Free and open to the public. Refreshments served and autographed books for sale.

Bianca Stone is the Vermont Poet Laureate and author of seven books of poetry, most recently What is Otherwise Infinite (Tin House, 2022), which won the 2023 Vermont Book Award in Poetry. Chard deNiord is a former Vermont Poet Laureate (2015-19) and the author of nine books of poetry, most recently Westminster West (Tupelo Press, 2025), and One As Other (Green Writers Press, 2024). Toussaint St. Negritude is the former Poet Laureate of Belfast, Maine, and is the author of the poetry debut Mountain Spells (Rootstock, 2024).

Join poet Meghan A. Patricia Wentworth in celebrating the launch of her debut collection, Stay Until Tomorrow. These autobiographical poems shed light on trauma, heartache, love, loss, and the poet’s self-healing journey.

The author will read and sign books, available for sale by Reedmor Books & Brew. Light refreshments will be provided.