Banswallow Books will feature four Midcoast poets reading from their work Saturday, April 16, at 3 p.m. The poets are Karie Friedman, of Montville; Ellen Goldsmith, of Cushing; Judy Kaber, of Belfast; and Sandy Weisman, of South Thomaston.

Karie Friedman holds an master’s of fine arts in poetry from New England College. Her poems have appeared in the Atlanta Review, Barrow Street, Cardinal Flower, Fifth Wednesday, Indian River Review, The Naugatuck River Review, Off the Coast, and the 2013 anthology Best Indie Lit New England. 

Ellen Goldsmith is a poet and teacher, the author of Where to Look, Such Distances and No Pine Tree in This Forest Is Perfect, which won the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center 1997 chapbook contest. “The Secret of Life” from Such Distances was read by Garrison Keillor on Writer’s Almanac. She teaches poetry for the Coastal Senior College, Five Town CSD Adult and Community Education and Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance. 

Judy Kaber's work has appeared in The Guardian, Off the Coast, The Comstock Review, Wolf Moon Journal, Eclectica, and The Café Review.  In 2009 she won the Maine Postmark Poetry Contest and her chapbook Rehearsing in the Dark won the Larry Kramer Memorial Chapbook Contest in 2011.

Sandy Weisman is primarily an artist book maker, collage artist, and poet – often combining all three. She is perpetually editing a manuscript of poems, entitled The Spacious, Sudden. In much of her poetry, her deeply religious past contrasts with her current views of religion, and her faith in the natural world.

Her poetry is included in two anthologies and several journals, including Barrow Street, Off the Coast, the Aurorean, and Muddy River Review. Sandy is the owner and creator of 26 Split Rock Cove, an artist community of studios, artist living space, and workshops in South Thomaston.

This is a free event and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to arrive promptly at 3 p.m. so that the audience can be seated prior to the readings, which will begin shortly thereafter.

A reception will immediately follow the reading. Some of the poets will have books available for purchase.  

Barnswallow Books is at 166 Russell Avenue in the heart of Rockport Village (directly next door to the former CMCA building and across the street from the former library building). It is a curated bookshop featuring both new and old titles. Barnswallow Books is open six days a week, Tuesday through Sunday, from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. 

The bookstore features a small cafe and gift items. This summer, it will swing open the barn door again and offer an expanded menu of "to go" items. The bookstore has cafe tables on the front porch and also on the back deck, which affords a view of Rockport Harbor.

For more information or questions about the upcoming poetry event, email Teresa.BarnswallowBooks@gmail.com