Author: Kate Sahagian

Poetry Society of NH begins search for new poet laureate

The last four years for state Poet Laureate Alexandria Peary have been filled with readings, assorted projects, and making poetry as accessible for people as she could.

“It’s been a total joy to serve the state,” Peary said about her tenure. “I’m really happy with the initiatives I’ve started and that they are continuing. I feel like it’s been a whirlwind of all these activities and engagement, and I hope people have benefited from it.”

Her appointment will be over in March 2024. As of now, the submission gates are open for the Poetry Society of New Hampshire, as it begins the search for the next state poet laureate.

Melanie Chicoine, the president of PSNH, said that, while this will be her first time leading the search for a poet laureate, she was excited to be finding the new statewide voice for the artform.

Chicoine said the process for finding the next laureate will be a long one. Submissions are currently open online and will be until Tuesday, Aug. 1. She said that applicants could be nominated by a third party or self-nominated, so long as they meet the criteria the committee is looking at.

The guidelines are simple, Chicoine said. The writer must be a Granite State resident, must have published a full-length book of poetry (with a hardcover copy sent into PSNH) and must indicate what they plan to do with the position once they are appointed.

“That’s the really important part,” Chicoine said about the last requirement.

To her, a winning application will have something like what Peary has done through her international literary magazine Under the Madness, which relies on a teenage staff to sift through submissions and to edit and design. She also spent her time as laureate doing readings and workshops with poetry lovers of all ages and setting up a time to read poetry submissions on air with New Hampshire Public Radio.

Chicoine wants nominees to set goals in their submissions about making poetry available to study, read and create for as many members of the state as possible.

“Bringing poetry to people all over the state in different contexts that makes it something relatable is something important,” Chicoine said. “‘Make poetry more accessible,’ that’s my mantra. [The poet laureate] is representing poetry in the state; what is their plan for how to do that?”

Peary said that while the last four years have been exhilarating she’s also excited to have time to spend with her family and at her profession as well. Being a laureate is an unpaid appointment, and Peary said she would easily work 30 hours a week in addition to her teaching schedule.

While it has been demanding, Peary said it was equally rewarding, remembering a time she met an amateur poet whose work she had read during her poetry hour on NHPR. She said she remembered his poem clearly, and to see his excitement meeting her and expressing what he experienced was amazing.

“To basically do good like that for other writers, from anyone from a kid just starting, to someone older, or someone struggling with writer’s block, just helping out, that’s one of the purposes of life, to cause some good in the world,” Peary said. “I’ll miss that. I’ll miss giving people those bursts of pure joy and pleasure about writing.”

Submissions for New Hampshire Poet Laureate
Detailed guidelines can be found at psnh.org/2024-laureate-nomination-guidelines.
Submission deadline: Tuesday, Aug. 1

Featured photo: Alexandria Peary. Courtesy photo.

Conservation group accepting submissions for amateur photo contest

Photography hobbyists have until early September to get shoots ready for a photography contest by the New Hampshire Association of Conservation Commissions.

The contest, called the Natural World Photography Competition, wants photos that make the landscapes and wildlife of New Hampshire the star of the show.

“Important government entities and NHACC provide support, technical assistance, training, and education for these volunteers. We really wanted to showcase the work they do protecting the local lands,” said Barbara Richter, the executive director at NHACC. “We thought an ideal way would be through a photo contest to encourage residents to take pictures of these beautiful places that are on their back doorstep.”

Photos are accepted in three categories: those taken by kids up to 12 years old, by teens ages 12 to 18, and by adults over 18. The top photo in each age group will win $250, with the runner up winning $50. Each photographer can submit up to three photos in the competition, and Richter said that there have already been a few submissions.

The competition will have a theme, Richter said, focusing on the wetlands and water in the Granite State.

“We’ve done a lot of wetland training this year. The theme for the whole year is wetlands,” said Richter. “Water is the big theme [for the contest]. The bay, the ocean, especially in the summer, those are the places we love to visit, the beautiful beaches and lakes.”

While the Association has its own protected lands, Richter said the photos don’t need to be taken on its lands. She said that so long as the photos are of nature in New Hampshire, they’re fair game.

The competition will be judged by three photography specialists, including a member of the Association’s board. Richter said that, because the judges know a lot about photography, it might be best for submissions to be minimally edited, just because the judges had mentioned highly edited photos wouldn’t be considered as seriously.

In addition to prizes, and bragging rights, NHACC will be using some of the submitted photos for their marketing, Richter said. This means that photographers who want to seek professional gigs could have a published photo in their portfolios.

While the competition has a lot of benefits to photographers and the Association, Richter said the real emphasis is on getting the people of the state out into nature and being inspired by it.

“The connection to art is really important in New Hampshire,” Richter said. “While this is focused on amateur photographers, I think there’s a lot of people who enjoy taking pictures and being outside and I think it’s a great connection.”

Natural World Photography Competition
When: Now through Sept. 8. Winner will be announced on Nov. 4
Visit: nhacc.org

Featured photo: Cherry Mtn by Rick Van de Poll. Courtesy photo.

Black Heritage Trail presents discussion panel with immigrants and refugees

The Currier Museum of Art is promoting a different type of art: the human experience. The museum has partnered with The Black Heritage Trail NH in hosting a panel discussion about the lives of Black immigrants and refugees in the Granite State.

The discussion is based around Uprooted: Heartache and Hope in New Hampshire, a 2009 documentary produced and created by the University of New Hampshire.

“It’s a great documentary and it tells stories of life in refugee camps,” said Anne Romney, one of the organizers for the event.

Romney said the plan originally was to invite the subjects of the documentary to discuss where they are now, but it became clear that due to the passage of time it wouldn’t be possible. She said several of the people in the documentary were now elderly and at least one had died.

Organizers reached out to younger refugees and immigrants to create the new panel. Romney said they are just as impressive and just as incredible to hear speak.

“It’s very powerful to hear these stories, based on real people and real experiences,” Romney said. “We had a Zoom meeting to make sure everyone [on the panel] is on the same page and it was an amazing hour I spent with these folks.”

The speakers are Rashida Eltag Mohamed, a domestic sexual violence advocate through the Manchester Police Department; Anzura Gakwaya, a community building specialist with NeighborWorks Southern New Hampshire, and Fisto Ndayishimiye, the lead organizer for Change for Concord. The panel will be moderated by Grace Kindeke, a program coordinator for American Friends Service Committee NH.

Romney said it was important for the panel to be a discussion, not just a series of questions each expert was answering. She said the Black Heritage Trail wanted to highlight the human element and the lived experience each person brings to the table.

“You can read an article about immigration and it might be interesting, but you can start and stop reading,” Romney said. “If you’re talking and listening to some human being talk and you can feel the humanity of it, you get drawn in.”

Romney said the Black Heritage Trail is about educating people on Black history in New Hampshire and also on what the current Black experience is. This panel, she said, brings to light the modern experience for Black refugees and immigrants coming to this state.

“I think it takes courage and it’s exhausting to people to always be educating, to help others understand,” Romney said. “[But] I think it felt that there’s an appreciation of having a platform to speak, as hard and exhausting it is, I think it’s necessary and I think they believe it’s necessary.”

A month of celebration

The Black Heritage Trail of NH has several events scheduled in June as part of its Juneteenth Celebration. Other events include these:

• “African Roots: Herbal Medicine, Inoculation & The Shaker Connection” This tour at the Canterbury Shaker Village starts at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 10 (with a bus pickup in Portsmouth at 9:15 a.m). The day will feature a talk and tour on the history of medicine at the Canterbury Shaker Village and Sister Edith Green, an African American Shaker who lived at Canterbury Shaker Village, according to the website. Tickets cost $35 for the tour; $45 with the bus ride.
• “If You Knew, Let It Be Us” An opening reception for this exhibit at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth will take place Friday, June 16, at 5 p.m. The exhibit features McKinley Wallace III, “a mixed-media painter and art educator,” who “paints, draws and collages to tell stories of power manifested in resilient peoples,” according to the website. The event is free.
• “Chanting Down Babylon: Redemption Songs of the Diaspora” This Reggae Festival will take place Saturday, June 17, from noon to 10 p.m. at the Strawbery Banke Museum grounds in Portsmouth. In addition to music (see the line-up of scheduled artists online), the day will include food and craft vendors, drumming, dance, kids’ activities and more, according to the website. Tickets cost $60 general admission, $10 for kids ages 6 to 18; kids 5 and under get in free.
• “Camille A. Brown & Dancers: Reclaiming Black Narratives” This dance performance will take place at the Music Hall in Portsmouth on Sunday, June 18, at 4 p.m. Tickets cost $30 to $70.
• The Healing Rhythm of the Drums This African drumming performance featuring Akwaaba Ensemble will take place at the Portsmouth African Burying Ground on Monday, June 19, at 11 a.m. and include a ceremony by Rev. Robert Thompson, according to the website. The event is free and open to the public.
• “From Africa to America: We Are the Drums” The Howard Gospel Choir will perform at the South Church Unitarian Universalist Church in Portsmouth on Monday, June 19, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $35.

Still Uprooted? Heartache and Hope in New Hampshire
Where: The Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org, 669-6144)
When: Wednesday, June 16, at 6 p.m. with a coffee hour before the panel at 5 p.m.
Tickets: Register at blackheritagetrailnh.org/juneteenth-celebration-2023 for the in-person or virtual presentation.

Featured photo: From left to right: Grace Kindeke, Anzura Gakwaya, Fisto Ndayishimiye and Rashida Eltag Mohamed. Courtesy photos.