August has been August in New Jersey, and while I enjoy slowing down, I don’t end up slowing down. I love being involved and active. For instance, I am taking part in The Sealey Challenge for the third year, where poetry lovers read one book of poetry a day for the month of August. I’m scheduling readings, writing reviews and taking on more writing projects. Our family is also gearing up for our son and his partner’s wedding in September. There are more events on the horizon and writing projects emerging. 

Enjoy the remaining days of summer. Try to relax.
 
Upcoming Events

• Starting in August, Quintessential Poetry Book Club, with Michael Anthony Ingram at the helm, will launch their first podcast episodes. I am thrilled to be invited to talk about my books. Stay tuned for details.
• Date Change: 10/8/24, Poetic Voices: A Night of Poetry at the Library. Host: Ray Cicetti Mountain Lakes Public Library, 9 Elm Road, Mountain Lakes, NJ. Featured reading (with Mary Brancaccio.) Tuesday, 6:30-8:30 pm. Open mic.
• Date Change: WordShed NYC, 10/27/24, Feature. Host: Leah Elimeliah, at P & T Knitwear, 180 Orchard Street, NYC. Featured reading (with Paul Rabinowitz.) Sunday, 5:00-7:00 pm.
• New Jersey Education Association Convention 11/7/24-11/8/24. I will sell and sign books at the convention in Atlantic City. You must be a member of NJEA to attend.

Mentions
The following publishers and poetry sites kindly mentioned the publication of Even the Dog Was Quiet.

• Tiferet Journal, Donna Baier Stein, publisher
• Poetry Superhighway, Rick Lupert, founder. 
• Poetry Book Club

Reviews
Thanks to Vincent Sergiacomo and publisher Michelle Reale for reviewing Even the Dog Was Quiet in the latest issue of Ovunque Siamo.
 
Publications

• Paterson Literary Review, issue #52, published my poems “Dance Class” and “My Half-Moon Scar,” as well as “Anguish,” which won Honorable Mention in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest. Thanks to the indomitable Maria Mazziotti Gillan and the staff at the Paterson Poetry Center. 
• I missed the reading for Lips, issue #59/60 but the issue arrived with wonderful writers filling the pages. Special thanks to editor, Jim Gwyn, for accepting “You Won’t Feel a Thing.”
• Ovunque Siamo published my review of Drew Pisarra’s poetry collection, Fassbinder: His Movies, My Poems (Anxiety Press).
• Writing the Land: The Connecticut River, a thirty-minute, video with selected poems from the anthology, includes my poem, “Transformative.” Lis McLoughlin, Founder and Director of Writing the Land, and Liz Burton-Crow made this happen. If you like the video, you will love the anthology.

Congratulations to Friends and Family on their Recent Book Publications

*If you would like me to mention your book publications or exhibits, send an email to margaret@margaretsaraco.com.
Nishi Chawla, Random Circle of Belief (Human Error Publishing)
Phil Hebert, A Begging Bowl (Human Error Publishing)
Jessica Femiani, The American Gun (Finishing Line Press)
Mike Fiorito, For All We Know: A UFO Manifest (Apprentice House)
Karen Lee Ramos, Snow on Bare Dirt (Finishing Line Press)
Paul Richmond, The Ice Cream Melted (New Generation Beat Publications)
Cheryl Vargas, Repeat Slowly, Like Dance (Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books)
 
Exhibits

• Alex Polner’s pen and ink drawing, “Sunday Morning Shade,” is hanging at Studio Montclair’s State of the Art exhibit. The Leach Gallery is at 641 Bloomfield Ave, in Montclair, NJ and runs until 8/16/24.
• If you are near Port Townsend, Washington, from 8/23/24 to 9/29/24, stop by and see Aliza Sáraco-Polner’s oil pastel, “What Lies Beyond” accepted into Northwest Expressions at the Jeanette Best Gallery, 701 Water Street. Congratulations Aliza!

Pictures from Events
In June and July, I had the pleasure of featuring with the Brownstone Poets (with Jada Gordan and Ron Bremner) and the Italian America Writers Association at the New York Poetry Festival (with Kathy Curto, Jessica Femiani, Jane LeCroy Peter Marra.) 
 

If There Is No Wind and Even the Dog Was Quiet can be purchased from me, if you are in the neighborhood. Otherwise, you can purchase books online at most bookstores. I am booking events for the next few months. Please reach out if you are looking for featured readers. If anyone is interested in reviewing my books, let me know and I can ship you a review copy. Remember to post reviews on Amazon, Barnes and Noble Bookshop and Goodreads for writers. It helps.