VJP readings are designed to deepen our connections as a community. Each poet will read for 15 minutes, followed by a brief period of audience comments.

A list of the readers and bios is below. Zoom link is here

Accessibility Services for our readings include:
Automated closed captioning available
Verbal Description of self and surroundings by facilitators and readers
Email here with further accessibility questions

Rick Agran
Rick Agran teaches as a poet in the schools for the Vermont Arts Council, the Children’s Literacy Foundation, and the NH State Council on the Arts. His work includes the picture book, Pumpkin Shivaree, a collection of poems, Crow Milk, and the anthology, Under the Legislature of Stars: 62 NH Poets. His poems have been read and anthologized by Garrison Keillor on The Writers’ Almanac and in Great Poems American Places. He hosts and produces Bon Mot, a weekly radio program of poetry and the literary arts on Central Vermont Community Radio, WGDR.org.

Photo description: Seen from the shoulders up, a pale skinned man with curly gray hair, wearing glasses, a blue suit with a yellow rose in his lapel, smiles in an outdoor setting with trees and the side of a house behind him.

Judith Chalmer
Judith Chalmer’s second book of poems is Minnow (Kelsay Books 2020). Her poems have been published in journals such as “Lilith,” “Image,” “The Jewish Literary Journal,” “Gashmius,” “Poetica,” “Watershed Review,” and in anthologies such as Roads Taken: Contemporary Vermont Poets, Rewilding: Poems for the Environment, and Queer Nature. She was recently a featured poet in “Judith Magazine.” After finding both learning and a supportive community at the international Yetzirah Conference on Jewish Poetry, she returned to found Vermont Jewish Poets, and has been delighted by the community here that gathers at readings, workshops and in-person events.

Photo description: Seen from the shoulders up, this is a photo of a pale skinned woman with short gray hair. She is wearing glasses and a blue sweater and just a hint of a smile.

Ellen Urman
I’m more of a sculptor in clay, but have always loved doing it with words too!