Thursday, April 10, 2025, 7 – 9 pm
Featuring Magdalena Gómez, Linda Carney-Goodrich, U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo
Magdalena Gómez, Poet Laureate of Springfield, MA (2019-2022) and an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow (2021-2022) has been a cultural worker since 1976. Her memoir noir, Mi’ja, received the 2024 International Latino Book Award, in the autobiography category. In 2019 she received the Latinas 50 Plus Literature Award at Fordham University and the Latinx Excellence on the Hill Award from the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus of MA at the State House. Her solo play on iconoclastic Puerto Rican labor leader, activist, feminist and journalist Luisa Capetillo, (October 28, 1879 – April 10, 1922) is included in The Routledge Companion to Latine Theatre and Performance (2024). Ms. Gómez has been a volunteer writer for An African American Point of View for over fourteen years. She was the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Springfield’s first intergenerational Latinx theater, Teatro V!da and the youth open mic series, Ign!te the M!c – from 2006 – 2020. She also initiated and helped launch the first public LGBTQIA2S+ open mic series in Western Massachusetts at the Bing Arts Center. She is currently working on the sequel to her memoir, a new collection of poetry, and a new multi-media solo show based on her memoir. Ms. Gómez is currently a Commissioner with the Massachusetts Commission in the Status of Women for Hampden County and a Trustee with the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. www.mijamemoir.com
Linda Carney-Goodrich,is a writer and teacher from Boston. She is the author of Dot Girl (Nixes Mate Books, 2024) which was a finalist for New England Poetry Club’s 2024 Sheila Margaret Motton Book Prize. Her work has appeared in Lily Poetry Review, The MacGuffin, Literary Mama, Anti-Heroin Chic, Muddy River, Gyroscope Review, Wordgathering Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature, among others. Her story, “Park Street Station” won third prize in the 2024 Boston in 100 Words Contest and her poems have been displayed at Boston City Hall as part of the Boston Mayor’s Poetry Program. Her one person shows include The Secret Childhood Diary of a Welfare Mother and My Life in Barbie. Linda has a Masters from Harvard Graduate School of Education and has taught people of all ages and backgrounds for over two decades. She is the owner of Home Scholars of Boston (https://www.homescholarsofboston.com/) and the Poetry Coordinator at the MAC. Linda also coordinates and hosts open mics and readings at other venues such as The Switch Coop in Hyde Park and Athan’s Bakery in Brookline. https://lindacarneygoodrich.com/
U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo is a Boston-based, globally facing Zimbabwean-American poet, author, and educator whose work explores identity, memory, and social change. Her poetry collection, Soul Psalms (She Writes Press, 2016), was praised by Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis as “beautifully transparent.” Her writing is also featured in the New York TimesBestseller Under the Skin by Linda Villarosa. In 2025, she will release an audio edition of Soul Psalms, further expanding her literary reach. Mhlaba-Adebo’s work has been showcased in publications, festivals, and exhibitions worldwide. A Brother Thomas Fellow, she was recognized by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu for her contributions to arts, wellness, and inclusivity. Her poetic documentary, Reclamation: This is My Country, This is My Land, premiered at Boston’s We Create Festival in 2024, delving into themes of grief, ancestral ties, and land reclamation. As founder of The Maoko Project, she merges art, education, and healing. She also serves on the board of Mass Poetry, Zimbabwe Poets Society. A sample of collaborators she has worked with include Castle of Our Skins, Danza Organica, Center for New Americans and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, fostering dialogue between Boston’s literary and artistic communities and the African diaspora. In 2024, she was awarded the Lantern Art Space Fellowship in Lagos, Nigeria, a Goethe-Institut Nigeria and Sahara Center residency, leading to The Sinmi Bench Project, a public art initiative securing ₦3.2 million in funding for expansion. https://u-meleni.com