A Peters (left) and Beverly Matherne (right) answer questions about their favorite moments as poets

At our February event, we were treated to poetry reading by our two resident poets, A. Peters and Beverly Matherne. Each presented some poems about love from other writers that have provided them with inspiration, followed by several favorite readings of their own love poems.

A. Leigh Peters won an Academy of American Poets Prize in 2010. Her poetry has been published in Michigan Quarterly Review, Dunes Review, Cavalier Literary Couture, Burner Magazine, Avatar Review, and elsewhere.

She is an journalist, poet, songwiter, publisher, editor, author and activist for human rights; public education; the end of domestic and sexual violence, human trafficking, and white supremacy; and the empowerment of women and girls around the world.

She earned an Honors BA in English Language & Literature and a minor in Film & Media from the University of Michigan and her MFA in Creative Writing at Northern Michigan University, where she wrote a collection of original poems and an academic thesis about the nature of poetry called Levity. Her first poetry book is forthcoming. Allison leads an independent writing studio, offering creative and editorial services to community organizations, scholars, publishers, and other professionals.

U.P. Poet Laureate Beverly Matherne is the author of seven books of bilingual poetry in French and English. Her latest, from Harvard Square Press, is Potions d’amour, thés, incantations /Love Potions, Teas, Incantations. She has received seven first-place prizes, including the Cecil Hackney Literary Award for Poetry, and four Pushcart nominations.

Well-travelled, she has done over 480 readings and performances across the U.P., the U.S., Canada, and France, and in Belgium, Germany, Spain, and Wales. Special venues that have welcomed her are Shakespeare and Company in Paris and the United Nations in New York, where she participated in a millennial event with Stanley Kunitz, Gerald Stern, and others.

Professor Emerita of English at Northern Michigan University, Beverly served as director of the MFA program in English and poetry editor of Passages North literary magazine. She is working on collection of haiku, a tribute to the U.P., the result of crisscrossing its 15 counties offering readings and workshops to middle and high school students, her special U.P. Poet Laureate mission.