Buffalo Poets

Welcome to conversation and poetry with Louise Nayer, a native New Yorker, now San Franciscan. She has published two books of poetry: Keeping Watch (with funding from the NEA) and The Houses Are Covered in Sound (Blue Light Press). Louise attended SUNY at Buffalo for graduate school where she studied with poets Robert Creeley and John Logan. She co-authored a non-fiction book with Virginia Lang, How to Bury a Goldfish: Celebrations and Ceremonies for Everyday Life (Rodale). Her book Burned: A Memoir (Atlas and Co.) was published in 2010 and won the 2011 Wisconsin Library Association Award and was a finalist for the USA Book News Award.

Welcome to conversation and poetry with Cecilia Driscoll.Cecilia’s poems include observations and reflections on nature and the events of ordinary days. She is inspired by the music of language and voices of others in the community of writers. She is often found in local poetry venues with notebook and pen in hand to record those inspirations. Her poems have appeared on the Buffalo News Poetry Page, earned awards in student publications, and have been featured in area readings.

Welcome to conversation and poetry with Martha Deed, who has been writing ever since she could hold a crayon or pencil. Academically, she started off in history, completed her B.A. in Psychology at the New School for Social Research in Greenwich Village (New York City) when the village was teaming with poets?Ashbery, Creeley, Ginsberg, Dylan Thomas and others?who were meeting in places where she did not dare to go and consuming liquids and other substances she wished to avoid. Next stop: Boston University where she earned her PhD and launched her career as a psychologist. She studied one building away from the famous Robert Lowell seminar that included Anne Sexton, Maxine Kumin and others. But she was unaware of them. For the next 30 years, she combined writing with her career as a psychologist, retiring early in 2000 to write full time. Since then, she has published four books (one as editor), several chapbooks and dozens of poems. Two Pushcart nominations and winner of the Ice Boom contest. She has read at many Buffalo area venues as well as in Rochester and Albany, NY and Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Welcome to conversation and poetrywith Bruce McCausland. Bruce iss a Western New York artist, potter, poet, and humorist whose family historically, is very familiar to the Buffalo art community; his mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother were all noted artists in Western New York. His experience in pottery and writing poetry dates back to around 1980 when he lived in Connecticut and was in the US Navy. Some ofBruce’s other interests include photography, singing, collecting acoustical 78’s,and restoring old wind-up cylinder machines and Victrolas.Read his full biography at buffalopoets.blogspot.com. Visit his webiste at http://www.wise-arts.com/Bruce_McCausland.html . Links to his pottery are at http://buffalopotteryfaces.blogspot.com /and http://ussboston-ssn703.blogspot.com/ .

Welcome to conversation and poetry withFranklin LaVoie,a Visionary Artistfrom Buffalo, New York. He’s a poet, a story-teller, and a puppeteer. Franklin hasmade many intricate puppets for use in performances, as well as complex floats for local parades, including the Elmwood Art Festival.Franklin has also been nominated for numerous Artie Awards. Also an accomplished playwright, Franklin's self-produced original worksTHE BEDEVILED CHESTandMEDIUM RAREhave earned much critical acclaim. A true renaissance man, heis a painter and musician, as well. Visit Franklin's website at: www.franklinlavoie.com