Celebration of New Poetry

Salem has a long, distinguished literary history that continues today. This special event for National Poetry Month will highlight new writing by several authors who are members of the Athenaeum or North Shore residents — the poetry of your talented neighbors. Join us to get a taste of their work, explore their books, talk writing. Most authors will have copies of their books will be available for purchase too!

Check back here for updates to the line-up!

Kali Lightfoot, is a queer poet. Her poems in journals and anthologies, have been nominated for Pushcart prizes and Best of the Net. Before retirement she worked as Executive Director of the National Resource Center for Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes. Her first book, Pelted by Flowers (CavanKerry Press) was chosen a “Must Read” by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Second book, Big Band Night at the Good Life Bar, is available from Moon Pie Press.

Casey Lynn Roland is a writer, artist, and maker from Peabody, Massachusetts, and who also spends much of her time on Lake Winnipesaukee—her poetry attempts to reconcile her relationships to those places, the people in them, and how they’re always changing. If the House is Inclined to Collapse is her first full length poetry publication, conceptualized during her time at the University of New Hampshire, where she earned an MFA in Poetry in 2020. Her work has previously appeared in Plainsongs, Red Ogre Review, Rougarou Journal, West Trade Review, and Soundings East among others. For more, visit www.caseyroland.com.

Melissa J. Varnavas (1973-2022), an award-winning journalist and editor for The Beverly Citizen, was a gifted and accomplished poet,with publications in Amethyst Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Blast Furnace, End Times, Margie, The New Guard, Oberon, and Oddball Magazine. Melissa earned an MFA from the Solstice program at Pine Manor College and was active in Tin Box Poets of Swampscott and the Salem Writers Group. After she succumbed to breast

cancer at age 48, a committee from Tin Box, including her husband Chris Terrell, assembled, selected, arranged. and edited her poems and oversaw the design, production, and publication of Instructions for Performing Cartwheels, released in December 2025.

Clay Ventre lives and writes in New England.

Tickets: $20 | Free to Members | Card to Culture

This is a hybrid event. Zoom link will be sent to all registrants an hour before the program starts.

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Ticket Policies

Tickets are refundable if canceled up to 24 hours before the event.

By attending an event at the Salem Athenaeum, you may be photographed or recorded. Your presence indicates consent to the use of your image, voice, and name in any media related to the Salem Athenaeum’s work, including on websites, social media, news, and promotional materials.

If you have questions regarding accessibility, please email staff@salemathenaeum.net
We are not currently wheelchair accessible. Walking a flight of stairs is required to enter and exit the building.