As well-intentioned as your best friend, co-worker, or father-in-law may be, at the end of the day their book suggestions just might not be cutting it for you. We get it. Luckily, a handful of esteemed poets laureate from around New England have got your literary backs. Not only have they enlightened us on what they’re up to this year, but they’ve also graciously divulged their literary picks for the season. Move aside those tomes gathering dust on your nightstand: these tantalizing reads just might make you wish for a few more snow days.

Chard deNiord

It’s hard to know when Vermont Poet Laureate Chard deNiord even has time to read! But here’s what tops his list when he’s not giving readings around the state, teaching at Providence College, writing his next collection, or collaborating on an up-and-coming anthology Anonymoi with New Hampshire Laureate Alice Fogel.

 Chard deNiord’s top reading picks:
The Elephant’s Journey by Jose Saramago
Troubling Love by Elena Ferrante
The Last Shift by Philip Levine
Fast by Jorie Graham

Stu Kestenbaum

Hailing from Vacationland, Stuart Kestenbaum has been reading Maine-based poetry every week on Maine Public Radio as a part of his project, Poems from Here, in addition to writing his own work and producing his podcast Make/Time where he interviews creative makers and thinkers.

Stuart Kestenbaum’s top reading picks:
Our Only World, a collection of essays by Wendell Berry
Otherwise, a book of poems by Jane Kenyon
Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard

Tina Cane

Recently appointed Rhode Island Laureate, Tina Cane is heroically bringing poetry to young people through her organization Writers-in-the-Schools, RI and relishing in the release of her latest book, Dear Elena: Letters for Elena Ferrante.

Tina Cane’s top reading picks:
The Car Thief by Theodore Weesner
Night Sky With Exit Wounds, poems by Ocean Vuong
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone, by Olivia Laing
Why Poetry by Matthew Zapruder

Alice Fogel

Alice Fogel, New Hampshire Laureate, has her sights set on an active 2017, both physically and politically. She hopes to continue hiking segments of the Appalachian Trail, and when she’s back in the state, she’ll be getting involved with literacy and refugees while also preparing for the spring release of her new book, A Doubtful House.

Alice Fogel’s picks:
The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman
Landscape and Memory by Simon Schama
Black Square by Tadeusz Dabrowski
Disinheritance by John Sibley Williams

Emma Young

Representing the town of West Tisbury on Martha’s Vineyard is poet and printmaker Emma Young. Her upcoming book of poetry, Adamantine, will be finished in 2017, and, in typical Emma Young style, will be completely handmade, designed, bound, and printed on her nineteenth-century printing press.

Emma Young’s picks:
Songs of S. by Robert Seydel
The Woman Who Borrowed Memories by Tove Jansson
My Journey To Lhasa by Alexandra David-Neel

So there you have it. A list of reads from the most reputable source we could think of—a group of active, engaged New Englanders who have chosen to surround themselves with words for a living. So get crackin’. That groundhog says winter ain’t over yet.

Top photo Emma Young | Photography by Hannah Marlin

The post Welcome to Your Winter Reading List appeared first on Take Magazine.

I was moving like a monsoon through a forest. I was thinking about where I saw myself in two thousand years . . . And where I saw myself was a tiny subspace ripple sliding through the corridors with a plastic horse in my hand. – Bianca Stone, Poetry Comics from the Book of Hours

Bianca Stone was born and raised in Vermont. She is the granddaughter of American poet, Ruth Stone; the daughter of fiction writer, Abigail Stone; and she herself is a poet, visual artist, and Chair of the Ruth Stone Foundation.

A proud descendent of a strong line of women, it makes sense that Stone would want to work hard to preserve the history and creative vigor of her family. “I moved to New York City for graduate school, and lived there for almost 10 years. I’ve just moved back so that I can work full time on the Ruth Stone Foundation,” said Stone. “My husband and I loved Brooklyn so much, but we knew if we were really going to make our dream happen with the foundation, we would have to be here putting everything into it.”

Being raised by a single mother, Stone spent a lot of time with her grandmother growing up.

“She encouraged me to constantly write, as did my mother,” said Stone.

After her grandmother’s death in 2011, Stone was appointed trustee of her estate along with Poet Laureate of Vermont, Chard deNiord, and Nora Swan. Together they have founded The Ruth Stone Foundation at the site of her home in Goshen, VT.

Page from I am Full of Mythos by Bianca Stone

“We’ve just started a new project called The Ruth Stone House Reader, which features chapbook-length collections of poetry from Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Jennifer Tamayo, Cathy Linh Che, and Carolina Ebeid,” Stone says.

Established in 2013, The Foundation serves to fulfill Ruth Stone’s wish that her physical and literary estate would be used for the furthering of poetry and the creative arts. It was created not only to nurture contemporary poetry and art in its many forms, but also to cultivate and celebrate the works and legacy of the poet herself.

Stone says, “as a yearly anthology, the Reader looks to Ruth Stone’s legacy of supporting her community and offers each author a residency in Vermont. Taking on a range of voices, styles, and subjects, the collection highlights the boldness and complexity of poetry in the early 21st century. This is writing that embraces those who offer care and confronts those who don’t. This is writing that spans narrative meditation, intertextual performance, and lyrical bravado. This is poetry that will challenge and engross you.”

When she’s not working with the Ruth Stone Foundation, Stone is publishing books of poetry and poetry comics on her own. She is the author of the poetry collections Someone Else’s Wedding Vows (Tin House/Octopus Books, 2014), Poetry Comics from the Book of Hours (Pleiades Books, 2016), and multiple chapbooks.

“I’ve always been a visual artist as well as a writer, but it wasn’t until graduate school at NYU that I had to opportunity to work with Anne Carson and Matthew Rohrer that I heard the term ‘poetry comics’ and I leapt on the chance to start experimenting on deliberately combining text and image in the form of poetry,” said Stone.

She is also a contributing artist for a special edition of Anne Carson‘s Antigonick, and along with her husband, the poet Ben Pease, Stone co-edits the small poetry press Monk Books.

“Currently I’m working on my new book of poetry,” shares Stone. “I’m about the have a baby so I’m trying to get the first draft done before she comes!”

With the newest Stone daughter on her way, we can’t help but wonder…will she be a writer too?

For more information on Bianca Stone please visit her Website for a deeper exploration of her work. 

All images courtesy Bianca Stone

The post The Daughters Stone appeared first on Take Magazine.