Paulette Demers Turco began writing poetry when she learned she was about to become a grandmother. She feels so fortunate to have moved to Newburyport, MA, where she took her first poetry class in 2014, taught by Rhina P. Espaillat, who became an ongoing inspiring poetry mentor, soon followed by Alfred Nicol, welcoming her into a vibrant poetry community.
Most recently, she served as editor of The Powow River Poets Anthology II (Able Muse Press, 2021). Her first chapbook, In Silence, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2018. Her poetry has appeared in The Lyric, Ibbetson Street, The Poetry Porch, Loch Raven Review, Mezzo Cammin, 2020 Hippocrates Prize Anthology, and others; her poetry and artwork, in Quill & Parchment, Merrimac Mic Anthologies III–V, and Word Play.
A Powow River Poet since 2018, she is a co-organizer and host of the group’s monthly reading series. Awards include the 2020 Robert Frost Poetry Award; the MFA in Writing President’s Award at Lesley University, Cambridge, MA; commendation in the 2020 FPM-Hippocrates Health Professional Prize for Poetry and Medicine; first place ekphrastic poetry prize for the 2019 Rockport, MA, Poetry Festival.
Since taking classes in drawing and painting with acrylics on canvas at the Newburyport Art Association, her art has been exhibited there, Newburyport’s Paula Estey Gallery, Amesbury City Hall, and selected as cover images for her chapbook and two poetry anthologies. She has served as a featured artist, and images of her paintings, as ekphrastic prompts in Quill & Parchment.
Retired from academic and clinical optometry, she enjoys and is inspired by family, friends, artists and poets, life and the natural surroundings in and around Newburyport, where she lives.
Paperback: 81 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (April 27, 2023)