Poet Leland Kinsey, "whose roots in Vermont can be found in the Northeast Kingdom towns his ancestors settled, and whose understanding of Vermont can be found in the books of poetry he wrote," died September 14, the Burlington Free Press reported. He was 66. Kinsey's books include the recently published collection Galvanized: New and Selected Poems, as well as Winter Ready and The Immigrant's Contract.
In a moving tribute to his friend posted on Facebook, Northeast Kingdom author Howard Frank Mosher wrote: "Lee was a poet's poet. By that I mean that he did not care one bit about renown. He cared about results, about writing powerful and beautiful poems, often about the Kingdom, where he was born and raised and lived all his adult life."
From Kinsey's poem "Fall Light":
unnoticed each by each, fall,
after they shine and fade
like individual frames in this part
of the movie we call Days,
till the last one passes from the light
into the rolling dark.
Katherine Minton, the longtime producer of literary programs at Symphony Space, died last Wednesday after a year-long battle with brain cancer.
After being part of the founding editorial staff of Working Mother magazine, she joined Symphony Space in 1990. During her tenure there, she produced Selected Shorts: A Celebration of the Short Story, which is performed live at Symphony Space and heard in across the U.S. on radio. She also took Selected Shorts on tour across the country, was instrumental in the creation and production of the Thalia Book Club discussion series, the Thalia Kids' Book Club, the Thalia Kids' Book Club Camp, the adult literacy series All Write, and Bloomsday on Broadway. In lieu of flowers, donations in Minton's memory may be made to Symphony Space, earmarked for the Thalia Kids Book Club Camp Scholarship Fund.