Everyone Has a Voice: Carla Schwartz, Nicole Rocci, Hope Z. Fernandes
The NEPC continues our collaboration with Phillip Hasouris, recent Brockton Poet Laureate, for the Everyone Has a Voice” series, presented at the Brockton Public Library. These events pair an established poet with a student poet and include an open mic. This month’s reading is hosted by Queen of Ceremonies Hope Z. Fernandes and takes place in the Driscoll Art Gallery. The library offers ample off-street parking.
Carla Schwartz’s poems have appeared in her collections, including Signs of Marriage. Her poem “Pat Schroeder Was Our Mother” received the 2023 New England Poetry Club E.E. Cummings Prize. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including Contemporary Haibun Online, Cider Press Review, Door is a Jar, Euphony, Modern Haiku, New Verse Review, North Dakota Quarterly, One Art, Pan Haiku Review, Past Ten, Rattle Magazine, Pork Belly, Sense and Sensibility, and Verse-Virtual Online. Carla lives half the time in the greater Boston area, and half the time on an unbridged island in Lake Winnipesaukee. She is passionate about cycling, Nordic skiing, hiking, freshwater long-distance swimming, paddle-boarding, pedal kayaking, reading, and gardening. Learn more at https://carlapoet.com, or on all social media @cb99videos.
Nicole Rocci is a poet and essayist who describes her work as observational, curious, and raw. She always knew she was a writer- what started as songs about teenage heartbreak has transformed into pieces on sexuality, relationship dynamics, and how she sees herself in the world. Nic’s poems “The Valley”, “ Melpomene”, and “Orion” have been featured in the literary magazine Mill Pages. While she works as a Domestic Violence Counselor in the present day, she will always be a writer who welcomes discomfort, curiosity, and tenderness into her work and those who read it.
Hope Z. Fernandes, CAGS, is a Massachusetts professionally licensed educator in multiple areas who has taught for decades and was a school administrator almost as long. She has data-driven experience in equity and inclusion, as well as mindfulness and compassion education. She has been a teacher, Director of Language Acquisition, Assistant Principal of Discipline, Assistant Principal of Teaching, Learning, 504s and Special Education, a Principal, Visiting Lecturer at Bridgewater State College, and the University of Massachusetts Boston. As an Educational Leader, she has focused on Equity and Inclusion Practices as they relate to student success and educator inclusion.
Ms. Fernandes has been writing poetry since her formative years. Her first published poem, “The Gallery,” appeared in Silver Spectrum in 1989. She went on to be the Editor of her college poetry magazine, The Tree Well. She began the first High School competitive Poetry Slam Group on the South Shore in 1996, where her students competed orally in poetry competitions. She has coached three of the Massachusetts Poetry Out Loud State Champions and two second runners-up for Poetry Out Loud’s National Championships. Her love for poetry stems from her mother, who had a poem for every life situation. Hope describes Poetry as honoring and celebrating each other as humans in the most compassionate, mindful, and humble ways; her poetry celebrates Cape Verdean Culture, family, and her students.