Bullets Into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence

Poets Major Jackson, Brian Clements, Matthew Olzmann, and Kerrin McCadden, along with survivor and GunSense VT Executive Director Clai Lasher-Sommers, Sandy Hook Elementary School teacher Abbey Clements, and a representative of Moms Demand Action will read their work and selections from the anthology "Bullets Into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence" (Beacon Press, 2018). 

Tickets - $5. Available at Bear Pond Books or at the Unitarian Church beginning at 7pm Friday.

From bulletsintobells.com: We live in an age where gun violence and mass shootings have become commonplace in the US. Edited by Brian Clements, Alexandra Teague, and Dean Rader, Bullets into Bells: Poets & Citizens Respond to Gun Violence brings together the voices of poets and citizens most impacted to call for the end of gun violence with the activist power of poetry.

“Survivors, advocates, and allies can change hearts and minds—and move more people to join the fight for solutions—by telling stories about the irreparable damage that gun violence does to families and communities across the country.”  —from the foreword by Gabrielle Giffords and Mark Kelly.

The poetry reading will take place on Friday, November 2, 2018 at 7:30 pm at the Unitarian Church in Montpelier, with:

• Major Jackson, poet, UVM professor, 2016 VT Book Award Winner;
• Brian Clements, poet, editor of Bullets Into Bells;
• Matthew Olzmann, poet, Dartmouth professor;
• Kerrin McCadden, poet, MHS teacher, 2015 VT Book Award Winner;
• Abbey Clements, 4th grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary School, gun violence prevention activist;
• Clai Lasher-Sommers, executive director of GunSense Vermont.

Poets will read their poems and responses that are in the anthology, and will talk about the events and reasons they wrote that particular poem. Abbey and Clai will read their own responses and talk about their own stories of survival. The editor will talk about why he put the book together, and the impact it has made on the communities affected by gun violence.

Co-sponsored by GunSense Vermont.

Proud to be a Vermont Arts 2018 event, a program of the Vermont Arts Council.

Tickets: $5 per person, with proceeds supporting Gun Sense Vermont.

Location: Unitarian Church of Montpelier, 130 Main Street, Montpelier, VT.

Tickets may be purchased at Bear Pond Books or at the door at the Unitarian Church on Friday at 7pm.