A Literary Cocktail Hour with former Vermont State Poet Sydney Lea
On Friday, September 13 at 5:00 pm, the Brattleboro Literary Festival hosted the former Vermont State Poet Sydney Lea, author of his new book “Now Look,” is a moving novel about second chances, missed chances, and redemption. SYDNEY LEA was Poet Laureate of Vermont from 2011-2015. In 2021, He received Vermont’s highest artistic distinction, The Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. In 2022, he published Seen from all Sides: Lyric and Everyday Life, a collection of newspaper columns on poetry, composed during Lea’s laureate tenure. A third edition of Roads Taken: Contemporary Vermont Poets, an anthology he co-edited with Chard deNiord, his successor as state poet, is now available. His sixteenth collection of poems, What Shines?, was published in September 2023. In early 2024, his collection of personal essays, Such Dancing as We Can, will appear, In May, 2024, his second novel, Now Look was published. He lives in Newbury, Vermont. Lea is in conversation with Brattleboro Literary Festival Committee member and poet, Tim Mayo
2021 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts
VERMONT ARTS COUNCIL
Sydney Lea of Newbury received the 2021 Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. This award is the most distinguished recognition bestowed by the State of Vermont. Accordingly, it is reserved for Vermont artists who have had a profound impact on their field within the state of Vermont and beyond. The Governor selects the recipient from a list of nominations compiled from across the state and vetted by the Arts Council. View the video from Governor Phil Scott in bestowing the 2021 Governor’s Award to former Vermont Poet Laureate Sydney Lea of Newbury.
Read the full article here: https://www.vermontartscouncil.org/programs/arts-awards/2021-recipients
Original Source: https://youtu.be/fHxPzrAmdu0
Trailer for HERE with Four Way Books
FOUR WAY BOOKS
Sydney Lea reads from his book “Here” which is forthcoming from Four Way Books in September 2019.
Original Source: https://youtu.be/uwyaT6I7jn4
Reading of HERE at Bear Pond Books
BEAR POND BOOKS
Sydney Lea reads from his book “Here”.
Original Source: https://youtu.be/MuXBdNLsjTI
Video Interview with PBS
VERMONT PBS: VERMONT POETRY
Poets and Their Craft – Sydney Lea
Episode | 24m 58s | 2016/03/23 | NR
Vermont poets read their works and discuss their sources of inspiration. In this episode, former Vermont Poet Laureate Sydney Lea reads at Norwich Bookstore in Norwich.
Original Source: https://www.vermontpbs.org/poetry
Audio Interview with Shelagh Connor Shapiro
SHELAGH CONNOR SHAPIRO of shelaughswithoutus.com
Sydney Lea – Interview #388
Mar 2nd, 2016 by writethebook
A new interview with Sydney Lea, who has just finished his term as Vermont’s Poet Laureate. His new books are No Doubt the Nameless (Four Way Books) and What’s the Story? Reflections on a Life Grown Long (Green Writers Press).
Original Source: https://writethebook.podbean.com/e/sydney-lea-interview-388-22216
Music credits: 1) “Dreaming 1″ – John Fink; 2) “Filter” – Dorset Greens (a Vermont band featuring several former South Burlington High School students).
Audio Interview with Mikaela Lefrak
Lea joined Vermont Edition to discuss his new book and his decades-long career as a poet and novelist. He founded the New England Review in 1977 and was once a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. He was Vermont’s poet laureate from 2011 to 2015 and received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2021.