The Millburn Library celebrates National Poetry Month with our third annual showcase of local poets. The reading will be followed by a question and answer period. Books will be available for purchase and signing. This year we are delighted to welcome the following poets to the library:

Mary Brancaccio is a poet and teacher. She is the author of Fierce Geometry: Poems, which was recommended by the Academy of American Poets. Her work has appeared in Terrain.org, Naugatuck River Review, Minerva Rising, Edison Literary Review, Rattle, as well as on Major Jackson’s poetry podcast, The Slowdown. Brancaccio’s poetry is included in several Writing the Land anthologies and two international anthologies, Veils, Halos and Shackles: International Poetry on the Oppression and Empowerment of Women; and Farewell to Nuclear, Welcome to Renewable Energy (Japanese/English bilingual edition). She is a Pushcart Prize nominee. She is actively involved in Arts by the People and currently works as a poetry editor for The Platform Review. You can find out more by visiting her website at ghostgirlpoet.com.

David Stanford Burr authored Ledger Domain (poems), The Poet’s Notebook: Inspiration, Techniques, and Advice on Craft, and was the selection editor of seven hardcover poetry anthologies. His poems have appeared in dozens of periodicals such as Poetry, Barrow Street, Paterson Literary Review, Wrath-Bearing Tree, and in three anthologies. He was twice a semifinalist in the “Discovery”/The Nation Poetry Contest. David taught at New York University as an adjunct associate professor, leading poetry workshops, for twenty-five years, was a managing editor at Macmillan Publishers for thirty-six years, and has edited 296 poetry books, including the last sixteen Best American Poetry series annuals. He has a second MS seeking a home. His current project is a collection of his own World War I poems from the perspective of the British Expeditionary Force in the trenches on the Western Front. See his Poets & Writers profile: https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/david_stanford_burr.

Anu Mahadev is a New Jersey based poet, and a 2016 MFA in Poetry graduate from Drew University. She is Poetry Editor for the Wild Word, and was prior to this Editor-in-Chief for Jaggery Lit, and a Senior Editor for the Woman Inc. Her latest collection of poetry, A Mouthful of Sky was released in April 2022 by Get Fresh Books LLC. Her work has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies, and she is a 2023 alumna of the Kenyon Writers’ Workshop. In her spare time, she loves spending time with her family, which includes her dog, walks, music, books and mindfulness meditation.

Soraya Shalforoosh is the author of a collection of poems, This Version of Earth, published by Barrow Street. Shalforoosh has poems, reviews and interviews in Brooklyn Rail, Black Earth Institute, Apogee Journal, Columbia Poetry Review, Taos Journal, Court Green, WSQ, Lumina Journal, Bomb, New York Quarterly, Tribes.org, etc.