Jonathan Blake and Bill Tremblay in Person

A book where poems and peace can be found. A tribute to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont - rolling hills of the pastures on the horizon, the wildlife, the stillness needed for dreaming, have long been the wellspring for Jonathan Blake's writing.

Jonathan Blake has been following the gospel of his heart for as long as he can remember. Writer, educator, arts activist/organizer, he makes his home in
central Massachusetts. Currently, he teaches in the English department at Worcester State University, where for the past twelve years he has hosted a
round robin open reading series for students, faculty and staff, and the greater Worcester County poetry community called ONE POEM.

The Luminous Racetrack is a collection of frank and lyrical poems based on Bill Tremblay's childhood and youth in Southbridge, Massachusetts. It is a uniquely intimate coming-of-age story and a masterful witness to the details and beliefs of a bygone era. It is a graceful and magical narrative told with great skill and intelligence.

Bill TREMBLAY is an award-winning poet, novelist, teacher, editor, and reviewer whose work has appeared in ten full-length volumes of poetry including Crying in the Cheap Seats [University of Massachusetts Press], The Anarchist Heart [New Rivers Press], Duhamel:
Ideas of Order in Little Canada [BOA Editions Ltd.], Shooting Script: Door of Fire [Eastern Washington University Press]. Hundreds of his poems have appeared in literary magazines and in such anthologies as the Pushcart Prize, The Jazz Poetry Anthology, Best American
Poetry, 2003, In 1994, he published his first novel, The June Rise, which was widely and favorably reviewed, especially on NPRs ;'All Things Considered.'; In 2004, his book, Shooting Script: Door of Fire received the Colorado Book Award [2004]. He has received
awards and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as The Pushcart Prize Anthology and the Corporation at Yaddo. He was a Fulbright visiting Lecturer at the Univerisdade Nova in Lisbon, Portugal, .Mr.
Tremblay edited Colorado Review for 15 years, and is the recipient of the John F. Stern Distinguished Professor award for his thirty years teaching in and directing the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Colorado State University. In 2021 at the urging of his sons, Bill
and Cynthia returned to Massachusetts. His latest book is The Luminous Race Track, a series of memoirs about growing up in his Franco-American working-class family in the mill town of Southbridge, Massachusetts (The Eye of the Commonwealth).

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College Street, South Hadley, United States