First Writers' Series: Kevin Carey & Jennifer Jean
October 9, 2014
By: Jessica Tower
The first Writers’ Series event of the semester was held on Tuesday, September 30th, at 7:30pm at the Salem Athenaeum. It featured faculty members Jennifer Jean and Kevin Carey. Jennifer Jean read poetry, while Kevin Carey read short fiction. The event also featured an open mike for members of the Salem Writers’ Group.
Kevin Carey read from his new book The Beach People, which discusses people who enjoy going to the beach and also about the lives of the people at a takeout stand on a beachfront. Jennifer Jean read from her new book of poetry titled The Fool. Some of the poems that she read were “The Prisoner,” which took her seven years to write, a poem about Halloween titled “Grace,” and “Same Old,” a poem about looking back into a hard past and human trafficking.
When speaking with Professor January O’Neil after the event, she stated: “This event is a tremendous example of the vitality and energy emanating from the North of Boston and Salem State University is at the heart of it.”
The next Writers’ Series event of the semester will be held on Thursday, October 9th at 7:30pm in the Metro Room of the Ellison Campus Center. It will feature poet Todd Davis and fiction writer Steve Yarbrough. We hope to see you there!
Contributor’s Note: Jessica Tower is a senior at Salem State studying English with a concentration in Creative Writing, and is a tutor at the Writing Center. She has a minor in Spanish. Jessica wants to go on to graduate school to receive her MFA in poetry.