Milford Author Marenghi Back Home For Poetry Tour

MILFORD, MA — A Milford native who has written two books based in town will return in April as part of a tour for National Poetry Month. Catherine Marenghi most recently released "Our Good Name," which focuses on the experiences of Italian immigrants in Milford in the 19th and earth 20th centuries.

Here's more from a Shawna Foundation news release:

The Shawna Foundation presents The Library Poetry Tour is proud to feature Catherine Marenghi on April 5 at 7 p.m. at the Milford Town Library and on April 6 at 7 p.m. at the Uxbridge Free Public Library for National Poetry Month.

A Milford native, Catherine is an award-winning poet, novelist and memoirist. She is the author of "Breaking Bread: Poems" (2020), "Glad Farm: A Memoir" (2016) and "Our Good Name" (2022), an historical novel based on her immigrant ancestors. Her next poetry book, "Unfurled: Love Poems," is forthcoming in 2023.

Among her awards, she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her poem "First Day of Kindergarten." The acclaimed poets Richard Blanco and Jennifer Clement separately selected her poems as first-place winners of poetry contests sponsored by Crossroads Magazine. Her poems also twice received first-place honors from the Academy of American Poets university prize program. Her work has appeared in numerous international publications including Sisyphus, Cider Press Review, Ruminate, High Shelf Press, Wingless Dreamer and Bangalore Review to name a few. Her memoir “Glad Farm,” which President Jimmy Carter called “inspiring,” tells of a life rooted in poverty on a former gladiolus farm in Milford, MA and the power of a house to change our destiny. She received an M.A., B.A. Summa Cum Laude from Tufts University, where she studied with poets Denise Levertov and X.J. Kennedy.

She currently divides her time between San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Massachusetts. She has served on the board of the San Miguel Poetry Café and also co-founded Poetry Mesa, an international poetry community, along with poet Judyth Hill.

Skip Shea, Executive Director of the Shawna Foundation, said, “April is National Poetry Month and we decided to honor that with a special Library Poetry Tour installment featuring Catherine. She was born and raised in Milford, and we are thrilled and honored that she will join our Library Tour lineup for this special event in April. Giving a platform to local poets for live readings is the heart of our intention and having Catherine read her poetry is the best of what this program offers—a poetic homecoming. We know that Milford and Uxbridge audiences will welcome her enthusiastically.”

The Library Poetry Tour is a program of the Shawna Foundation, bringing live poetry readings to the Milford Town Library and the Uxbridge Free Library quarterly throughout 2023. The program is hosted by Worcester poet Tony Brown, the winner of the 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal, endowed by the late U.S. Poet Laureate and Worcester native and awarded annually to a poet for lifetime achievement and service to the Central Massachusetts poetry community.

The Library Poetry Tour is supported in part by the Milford Cultural Council, The Uxbridge Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The Shawna E. Shea Memorial Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to support and showcase artists in filmmaking, performance arts and creative endeavors with a focus on underrepresented communities.