Throughout the year we host readings that feature alumni of our juried residency program in Ithaca and around the state. 

Stephen Kuusisto (’15) and Sigrid Nunez (’16)
Buffalo Street Books
March 31, 2017

Steve’s most recent book, the memoir Have Dog, Will Travel, was published in March by Simon & Schuster.

From the publisher: “In this vivid and lyrical memoir, Stephen Kuusisto recounts how an incredible partnership with a guide dog changed his life and the heart-stopping, wondrous adventure that began for him in midlife. Profound and deeply moving, this is a spiritual journey, the story of discovering that life with a guide dog is both a method and a state of mind.”

Read a wonderful Q&A with Steve published in The Bark.

Sigrid’s new novel, The Friend — a moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog” — was published in February by Penguin Random House.

A recent review on NPR describes the book as “a penetrating, moving meditation on loss, comfort, memory, what it means to be a writer today, and various forms of love and friendship… Nunez has a wry, withering wit.”

This dog-loving reading will also feature some special, furry guests: guide-dogs-in-training from the Finger Lakes Chapter of Guiding Eyes for the Blind.

Monica Sok and Javier Zamora
Buffalo Street Books
November 15, 2017

The Saltonstall Foundation was proud to host alums Javier Zamora (’15) and Monica Sok (’16)  in November. Javier and Monica read from their debut publications, Unaccompanied (published by Copper Canyon Press in September), and Year Zero (2015) at Buffalo Street Books in Downtown Ithaca on November 15, 2017.

Monica Sok is the author of Year Zero, selected by Marilyn Chin for the 2015 Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship.

Her poems appear in Narrative, The New Republic, The Offing, and TriQuarterly Review, among others.

Her honors include fellowships and grants from the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Elizabeth George Foundation, Hedgebrook, Kundiman, MacDowell Colony, and others.

She is the 2016-2018 Stadler Fellow at Bucknell University.

 Javier Zamora was born in La Herradura, El Salvador in 1990. His father fled El Salvador when he was a year old; and his mother when he was about to turn five. Both parents’ migrations were caused by the US-funded Salvadoran Civil War (1980-1992).

Zamora is a 2016-2018 Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and is a 2016 Ruth Lilly/Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellow. He holds fellowships from CantoMundo, Colgate University (Olive B. O’Connor), MacDowell, Macondo, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Yaddo. In 2016, Barnes and Noble granted him the Writers for Writers Award for his work in the Undocupoets Campaign.

Chen Chen and Eric Berlin
Buffalo Street Books
September 23, 2017

Graciously introduced by another Saltonstall Fellow and poet R.A. Villanueva (’17), alums Chen Chen and Eric Berlin read to a standing room-only audience at Buffalo Street Books on September 23, 2017. What a fantastic evening!

Chen Chen (’14) is the author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize and published this past spring from BOA Editions, Ltd.

A Kundiman and Lambda Literary Fellow, Chen’s work has appeared in two chapbooks as well as in publications such as Poetry, The New York Times Magazine, Poem-a-Day, Best of the Net, and The Best American Poetry. Chen received his MFA from Syracuse University and is currently pursuing a PhD in English and Creative Writing at Texas Tech University.

Eric Berlin‘s (’16)  poems have won the National Poetry Prize 2015 and Ledge 2014 Poetry Prize, and were finalists for the Tupelo Quarterly Poetry Prize, Ruth Stone Prize, Able Muse Write Prize, and Tor House Poetry Award. They’ve appeared in North American Review, Jewish Currents, Stone Canoe and The Poetry Review among others.

Eric received an MFA in Sculpture from NY Academy of Art, an MFA in Poetry from Syracuse University, and a BA in English from Harvard University.

Lisa Ko Reads from The Leavers
Buffalo Street Books
October 1, 2017

Writer Lisa Ko (’10) returned to Ithaca’s Buffalo Street Books where she read excerpts from her critically acclaimed book The Leavers.

Lisa is a writer and editor living in New York City. Her fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2016, Apogee Journal, Narrative, Copper Nickel, Storychord, One Teen Story, Brooklyn Review, and elsewhere.

The Leavers was long-listed for the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction.

Saltonstall Alumni Celebrate First Books After 40
May 6, 2017

Saltonstall alums Jessica Cuello (’15), Lisa Harris (’97), and Michael Morse (’16) came together for a lively panel discussion on publishing their first books after 40.  The panel was offered as part of the Community Arts Partnership’s Spring Writes Literary Festival, on May 6, 2017 at Buffalo Street Books.

What Enters the Mouth by Poet Sarah Jeferis
Saltonstall Alumna Book Launch
February 19, 2017

We celebrated the publication of Sarah’s new poetry collection, What Enters the Mouth (Standing Stone Books) with a reading on Sunday, February 19, 2017.

Sarah Jefferis is an author, editor, and writing consultant based in Ithaca, New York. Her first poetry book, Forgetting the Salt was published by Foothills Press in 2008.  Her poems and nonfiction have appeared in Rhino, The Mississippi Review, The American Literary Review, Stone Canoe, Icon, The Hollins Critic, The Patterson Review, and other journals. She is the winner of the 2014 Stone Canoe poetry prize.

Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Poet Ocean Vuong (’13)
Saltonstall Alumna Book Launch
November 5, 2016

We celebrated the publication of Ocean’s first full-length book of poetry, Night Sky With Exit Wounds (Copper Canyon Press) with a reading and book signing on Saturday, November 5, 2016.

Ocean Vuong is the 2016 winner of the Whiting Award and 2014 Ruth Lilly fellow, he has received honors from Poets House, the Elizabeth George Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, the Academy of American Poets, and a Pushcart Prize.

Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud by Elizabeth Greenwood (’11)
Saltonstall Alumna Book Launch
October 15, 2016

Writer Elizabeth Greenwood (’11) returned to Ithaca to celebrate the publication of Elizabeth’s nonfiction book, Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud (Simon & Schuster) for a reading and book signing on Saturday, October 15, 2016 at Buffalo Street Books.

Elizabeth Greenwood’s book about people who have faked their deaths, entitled Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud, was published by Simon & Schuster in August 2016.

A Hundred Thousand Words by Bob Proehl (’13)
Saltonstall Alumna Book Launch
August 18, 2016

We celebrated the publication of Bob’s novel, A HUNDRED THOUSAND WORLDS (Viking) and with a reading on Thursday, August 18, 2016.

Bob Proehl has worked as a bookseller and programming director for Buffalo Street Books, a DJ, a record store owner, and a bartender. Proehl currently lives in Ithaca, New York, with his wife, stepson, and daughter.

Love the Stranger by Poet Jay Deshpande (’13)
Saltonstall Alumna Book Launch
April 30, 2016 

Jay Deshpande (’13), held a reading and book signing of his first full-length poetry collection, Love the Stranger (YesYes Books) as a part of Ithaca’s Spring Writes Literary Festival.

Jay wrote key sections of Love the Stranger during his 2013 residency at Saltonstall, and returned to Ithaca to read sections of his collection, which was named one of the top debuts of 2015 by Poets & Writers, at Buffalo Street Books.

Stephen Kuusisto
Spring Writes Literary Festival
Buffalo Street Books
May 2, 2015 

In 2015 we hosted a reading and book signing with author, poet, and disability advocate Stephen Kuusisto (’15) on Saturday, May 2 as part of the Spring Writes Literary Festival in Ithaca.

Stephen Kuusisto is the author of the memoirs Planet of the Blind (a New York Times “Notable Book of the Year”) and Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening and of the poetry collections Only Bread, Only Light, and Letters to Borges.
A graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and a Fulbright Scholar, he has taught at the University of Iowa, Hobart & William Smith Colleges, and The Ohio State University.
Steve currently directs the Renée Crown Honors Program at Syracuse University where he holds a professorship in the Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies. He is a frequent speaker on disability and diversity issues around the US and abroad.

Poems by Jessica Cuello (’15), David Lloyd (’01), Devon Moore (’15), and Jesse Nissim (’13)
Reading in Syracuse | October 29, 2015

We hosted our first-ever event in Syracuse with an alumni poetry reading at Point of Contact Gallery on Thursday, October 29, 2015 from 6:00 – 7:30 pm. Four poet alums, Jessica Cuello (’15), David Lloyd (’01), Devon Moore (’15), and Jesse Nissim (’13), based in and around Syracuse read from their work.

Jessica Cuello is a poet and teacher in Syracuse, NY. She is the author of the chapbooks My Father’s Bargain (Finishing Line Press, 2015), By Fire (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013), and Curie (Kattywompus Press, 2011).

She was the winner of the 2013 New Letters Poetry Prize and the recipient of the 2014 Decker Award from Hollins University for outstanding secondary teaching. Her poems have appeared in such places as Verse Daily, Tampa Review, RHINO, Copper Nickel, and LUMINA. Her first full-length collection, Pricking, is forthcoming from Tiger Bark Press in 2016.

David Lloyd  is the author of nine books, including three poetry collections: Warriors (Salt Publishing, 2012), The Gospel According to Frank (New American Press, 2009), and The Everyday Apocalypse (Three Conditions Press, 2002).  He published a novel, Over the Line (2013), and a story collection, Boys: Stories and a Novella (2004) with Syracuse University Press.

Devon Moore hails from Buffalo, NY with a lot of time spent growing in Wilmington, NC.  Her poems have appeared in or are forthcoming from Gulf CoastHarpur PalateMeridian​, The Cortland ReviewNew Ohio ReviewJuked, and others. Apology of a Girl Who Is Told She Is Going to Hell, her debut collection, was released by Mayapple Press in May 2015.

Jesse Nissim is the author of Day cracks between the bones of the foot (Furniture Press Books, 2015) and Where They Would Never Be Invited (Black Radish Books, forthcoming in 2016). She is the author of the chapbooks: Nesting instinct (Nous-Zot 2014), SELF NAMED BODY (Finishing Line Press 2012), and Alphabet for M (Dancing Girl Press 2007).

Local Fellows:  Poet Fran Markover (’10), Essayist and Poet Sarah Jefferis (’14), Fiction Writer Bob Proehl (’13)
 Spring Writes Literary Festival | May 2014

Bob Proehl has worked as a bookseller and programming director for Buffalo Street Books, a DJ, a record store owner, and a bartender. He was a 2012 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Fiction and a 2013 resident at the Saltonstall Arts Colony. He has written for the 33⅓ book series and worked as a columnist and reviewer for the arts and culture site PopMatters.com.

Sarah Jefferis’ first poetry book Forgetting the Salt was published by Foothills Press in 2008. Recently she won the Bea Gonzalez poetry prize for her poem, Motherhood.” She has been both a poetry fellow and fiction fellow at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers Center in California. She is working on completing her first novel, entitled Running After Jesus, and a second book of poetry about how secrets destroy our teeth, and a collection of essays on grief.

Fran Markover, a Pushcart Prize nominee with poems published in many journals. Her chapbook, History’s Trail, was published by Finishing Line Press.