NEPC @ Chesterwood, with Patrick Donnelly and Cammy Thomas
The New England Poetry Club is delighted to join forces with Chesterwood, the former summer home and studio of Daniel Chester French, for “We (too) the People: Voices from the New England Poetry Club.” This is the first of two NEPC events included in the 2026 ArtsAlive! series, held in Daniel Chester French’s studio. The event is free of charge and open to all. This month’s reading features NEPC members Patrick Donnelly and Cammy Thomas.
Patrick Donnelly is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Willow Hammer (Four Way Books, 2025). Former poet laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts, Donnelly is program director of The Frost Place, a center for poetry and the arts at Robert Frost’s old homestead in Franconia, New Hampshire. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, The Georgia Review, The Iowa Review, The Massachusetts Review, Ploughshares, Slate, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Yale Review, and many other journals. Donnelly’s translations with Stephen D. Miller of classical Japanese poetry were awarded the 2015-2016 Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature. Donnelly’s other awards include a U.S./Japan Creative Artists Program Award, an Artist Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and an Amy Clampitt Residency Award. More at: patrickdonnellypoetry.com
Cammy Thomas’s most recent work is Odysseus’ Daughter, poems written in response to the Odyssey (Parkman Press chapbook, 2023). Three previous poetry collections are published by Four Way Books. Cathedral of Wish received the Norma Farber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. Tremors received 2022 Poetry Honors from the Mass Book Awards. A fellowship from the Ragdale Foundation helped her complete Inscriptions. Poems have recently appeared in Hampden-Sydney Review, Smartish Pace, Cider Press Review, J Journal, and The Baltimore Review. Her poem, “Far Past War,” was set to music by her sister, composer Augusta Read Thomas, and premiered with the Cathedral Choral Society in Washington DC in 2022. She wrote her PhD dissertation on the poetry of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. She lives near Boston, where she teaches literature to adults. www.cammythomas.com
Daniel Chester French (1850-1931) was the famed sculptor of the Minute Man for Concord, MA, and the seated Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. Owned and operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Chesterwood is located in idyllic Stockbridge, MA with multiple buildings set within 122 acres. The site includes French’s Studio, the recently restored Colonial Revival Residence, and the gardens and woodland walks that he designed.
The Residence retains original antiques and decorative objects. French’s works are featured prominently throughout the property alongside paintings and sculptures by other prominent artists. For more information about a trip to Chesterwood, visit https://www.chesterwood.org/.