MILFORD/UXBRIDGE - The Shawna Foundation presents The Library Poetry Tour, bringing live poetry readings to the Milford Town Library and the Uxbridge Free Library quarterly throughout 2023. The readings will be held quarterly, hosted by Tony Brown, the winner of the 2022 Stanley Kunitz Medal, endowed by the late U.S. Poet Laureate and Worcester native and awarded annually to a poet for lifetime achievement and service to the Central Massachusetts poetry community. 

Robin Ballou Boucher is the featured poet for February. Robin is on the Board of Directors of the Worcester County Poetry Association and has studied with local poets, attended writing retreats and workshops and has taken classes through Grub Street and with Stanford University.

Executive Director of the Shawna Foundation Skip Shea says “We are excited to start this new program in the towns of Milford and Uxbridge. Uxbridge was Shawna’s hometown and she had a love of poetry and was a writer herself. We felt this was a great way to continue to honor her memory. Having Tony Brown host and Robin Ballou Boucher the first reader of the program is also very special as they both have Uxbridge roots.”

The first readings of 2023 will be held on February 8, 7 p.m. at the Milford Town Library and February 16, 7 p.m. at the Uxbridge Free Library. The program is financed in part by the Milford Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The Shawna E. Shea Memorial Foundation, Inc is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to support and showcase artists in filmmaking, performance arts and creative endeavors with a focus on underrepresented communities. 

We do it all in memory of Shawna Shea who passed away in 1999 at the age of 16.

For more information visit the shawnafoundation.org