Burns Library is pleased to celebrate National Poetry Month with readings and discussion of new and recent works by several Boston College poets:

• Allison Adair
• Mary Elliot
• Suzanne Matson
• Maxim D. Shrayer
• Andrew Sofer

The program will be moderated by Eric Weiskott with welcoming remarks by Burns Librarian Christian Dupont. Refreshments and conversation to follow. Books available for sale and signing.

All are welcome.

Allison Adair is author of The Clearing, winner of Milkweed's Max Ritvo Poetry Prize and a New York Times “New & Noteworthy” book. Her work appears in Best American Poetry, Threepenny, Georgia Review, and elsewhere, and has received the Pushcart Prize, Florida Review Editors’ Award, and Orlando Prize. 

Mary Elliot is an MFA Candidate in Creative Writing, Poetry at Boston University, and Assistant Director of the Lonergan Institute at Boston College. Her poetry has been published in Trampoline, Ekstasis, Macrina Magazine, and Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts. She is finishing a collection of poetry.

Suzanne Matson is the author of two volumes of poetry from Alice James Books, Sea Level and Durable Goods; and four novels, most recently, Ultraviolet. She has a new poetry collection, As Creatures, and a book of nonfiction, Winnowing, forthcoming in fall 2026. Her poems have appeared widely in journals.

Maxim D. Shrayer is a Professor of Russian, English, and Jewish Studies and a bilingual author and scholar. His recent books of poetry include the Russian language Voina (War, Babel Tel Aviv 2025), the English-language Zion Square (Ben Yehuda Press, 2025), and the bilingual Parallel Letters (Sandermoen, 2025). 

Andrew Sofer's poems have appeared in Poetry International, Southwest Review, North American Review, Southern Poetry Review, and elsewhere. Andrew has written two books about theatre, The Stage Life of Props and Dark Matter, as well as Wave, a collection of poetry. He teaches in the English Department.

Eric Weiskott teaches in the English Department. He is the author most recently of the scholarly monograph Unheard Melodies: Apophatic Poetics and Literary Reading (Fordham University Press, forthcoming) and the poetry book Cycle of Dreams (punctum books, 2024).