The first Wednesday of every month is Poetry Night at Caffe Lena. Hosted by Carol Graser, this event includes an open mic reading and a featured poet. The doors open for signups at 6:30, and the readings start at 7 PM. In May, we have two features, Leslie Neustadt & Richard Michelson. The featured readings will also be livestreamed, please visit caffelena.org for links and information.
Leslie B. Neustadt is a poet, collage artist and a retired attorney. She is the author of two poetry collections; The Sustenance of Stars (Kelsay Books, 2024) and Bearing Fruit: A Poetic Journey (Spirit Wind Books, 2014). Her work explores the beauty and power of the natural world, life’s joys and struggles, and is grounded in a commitment to human and civil rights Her poems have been published in a number of anthologies, including Veils, Halos & Shackles: International Poetry on the Oppression and Empowerment of Women; The Bloomsbury Anthology of Contemporary American Jewish Poetry; and Heels into the Soil: Stories & Poems Resisting the Silence. She is a board member of the International Women’s Writing Guild and chairs its program committee. She also produces a popular workshop series for the Guild, which she created during the pandemic. Leslie lives in Niskayuna, NY, with her husband, Gary Kronick.
Richard Michelson’s many books for children, teens, and adults have been listed among the Ten Best of the Year by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and The New Yorker, and among the best Dozen of the Decade by Amazon.com. He has received a National Jewish Book Award and two Sydney Taylor Gold Medals (and two Silver) from the Association of Jewish Libraries. Michelson’s work was chosen to “highlight the literary culture and history of Massachusetts” at the 2018 Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington, DC. In 201,9 he became the sixth recipient of the Samuel Minot Jones Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement. Michelson’s most recent poetry collection, Sleeping as Fast as I Can, was one of 12 finalists for the Forward Indies Award (books published by independent presses). His previous collection, More Money than God (University of Pittsburgh Press), was a finalist for the Paterson Prize. Michelson hosts Northampton Poetry Radio and served two terms as Poet Laureate of Northampton, MA.
