Bookstores and libraries respond to L.R.’s reading from Indebted to Wind

L.R. Berger has been busy ever since her new book Indebted to Wind came out last August. Here are some testimonials from readings she gave.

Belding Memorial Library was grateful to host L.R. Berger. She captivated the room at her reading, sharing anecdotes between poems and offering an intimate Q&A at the end. Her wisdom, graciousness, and humor made for a wonderful hour. We have been conspiring to get her back to Ashfield ever since!

—Sarah Hertel-Fernandez, Library Director, Belding Library, Ashfield MA.

L.R. Berger gave a poetry reading at our library to a rapt crowd. Her work is lovely, thought provoking, often funny and beautifully delivered. Program participants left asking for more programs like this one, which was music to my ears.

—Donna V. Dunlop, Library Director, Hopkinton Town Library, Hopkinton, NH

L.R. Berger has a thoughtful and resonant poetry reading style that thrums into the heart of the listener. Engaging and comfortable in front of the camera, her verse gave us one of the most chatty and responsive virtual audiences we’ve had in a long while. L.R. was also a delight to work with on the lead-up to the event, responsive to emails and quick to organize details with me.

—Elisabeth Jewell, Events Coordinator, Gibson’s Bookstore, Concord, NH

It was such a pleasure to have L.R. Berger return to our bookstore to release her latest book of poetry, Indebted to Wind. We had about 50 people in her appreciative gathering, and sold as many of her books. She is a NH poet widely sought after, and easy to work with.

—Katharine Nevins, MainStreet BookEnds owner, Warner, NH

L.R. Berger’s participation as Featured Poet on Episode 9 of the Rice Pudding Poetry Podcast was elegant from beginning to end. Sensitive to the strict parameters of time, and well-prepared for the recording itself, L.R.’s themed reading for this audio project was generously collaborative. Her theme, The Sacred in the Ordinary, allowed her to gather from her collections poems of great beauty and grace, and her voice is exquisite! Podcast listeners responded to her show with abundant pleasure and gratitude. https://ricepudding.podbean.com/

—Kimberly Green, Host of Rice Pudding Poetry Podcast, Rice Library, Kittery, ME

Rice Pudding Poetry Presents L.R. Berger December 16, 2021

                                                                   Click on the cover to order.

This year’s Rice Pudding Poetry Podcast, featuring L.R. Berger, continues December 16 with a show that illumines “the sacred in the ordinary” through poetry and music.

L.R. is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the PEN New England Discovery Award, the NH State Council on the Arts, The MacDowell Colony, Hedgebrook, the Blue Mountain Center, and Wellspring, and a Visiting Artist at The American Academy in Rome.  Her collection of poems, “The Unexpected Aviary,” received the Jane Kenyon Award for Outstanding Book of Poetry. L.R’s newest collection, called Indebted to Wind, was published in August by Deerbrook Editions.

L.R. also received a grant from NH Audubon and the Blue Mountain Center to research, write and live at Rachel Carson’s home in Southport, Maine, which inspired poems and an essay on Carson for the eco-philosophical primer, “In Praise of Nature.”

For 15 years L.R. taught creative writing at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. With the late Palestinian artist and writer, Kamal Boullatta, she assisted in the translation from the Arabic of “Beginnings,” by the poet Adonis (Pyramid Atlantic Press).

L.R. is joined by musician Jon Prichard, who plays Native American Flute for this show. Our Community Readers Elizabeth Antalek, David Phreaner, Mimi White, and Cathy Wolff will read poems they have selected for the theme.

This episode will be published on December 16 and will be available thereafter at: https://ricepudding.podbean.com/

Or find us on Spotify by searching Rice Pudding Poetry.