Pablo Medina Poetry Reading with Special Guest Dede Cummings

SOUTH NEWFANE, VT— Join us for a special evening at the South Newfane Schoolhouse on Thursday, April 11 at 7:00 pm, with world-renowned, award-winning, poet, author, and Williamsville resident, Pablo Medina reading from his newly released book of poetry Sea of Broken Mirrors. Celebrated Vermont poet and publisher, Dede Cummings will join as his special guest. Proceeds from book sales at the event will be donated to the South Newfane Schoolhouse accessibility ramp project.

Medina’s new collection, Sea of Broken Mirrors, is a book of questions and incantations. Full of lush sonics and surreal yet contemporary imagery, the book offers Medina’s take on biblical canticles. His work is grounded in descriptions of Vermont’s nature —still beautiful despite the ravages of global warming—as well as memories of his youth and family.

Born in Cuba and raised there until the age of twelve, Medina infuses his work with Cuban culture. For him, cultural identity is not a static reality, but a vessel riding the sea into the unknown.  The poems explore how the diminishment of self (indeed, its ultimate disappearance) can be a way of engaging with the world, the essence of which is found in the language of poetry.

Medina is the author of twenty-one published books, including poetry, fiction and works in translation. His prose and poetry have been translated into various languages, among them Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Arabic. He has won a number of awards and honors for his writing, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Oscar B. Cintas Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and others. His work has appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, The New Yorker, and many other publications. He is Professor Emeritus of Fiction, Translation, and Poetry at Emerson College in Boston and is on faculty at the Warren Wilson College low residency MFA Program for Writers in Asheville, North Carolina.

Dede Cummings is a poet, book designer, and a Vermont publisher. Born in Providence, RI, she has published two poetry books and seven non-fiction titles. Her poetry has been published in Mademoiselle, The Lake, InQuire, Vending Machine Press, Kentucky Review, Connotation Press, Mom Egg Review, Figroot Press, Green Mountains Review, and Bloodroot Literary Magazine. She was a Discover/The Nation poetry semi-finalist and, in 2016, was awarded a writer’s grant and a partial fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center. Dede was the recipient of the 2016 Homebound Publications Poetry Prize and her full length poetry book entitled To Look Out From was published in April 2017. Her second poetry collection entitled The Meeting Place was released in 2020. She is founder and publisher of Green Writers Press, and lives in West Brattleboro, VT.

The South Newfane Schoolhouse is located at 387 Dover Rd, South Newfane, VT, 05351. The event is free and open to all. Proceeds from book sales at the event will be donated to the South Newfane Schoolhouse accessibility ramp project.

Built in 1865, the South Newfane Schoolhouse is owned and operated as a community center by an all-volunteer board of the South Newfane Community Association (SNCA). The SNCA is currently engaged in raising funds for the RAMP UP the South Newfane Schoolhouse project to ensure accessibility for all community members. More information at https://www.facebook.com/SouthNewfaneSchoolhouse.