Poet Anthony Febo did his best work in Lowell for a long time, but has moved on with a family and new goals as a teacher and writer. Kudos to “Febo” for publishing his first book, “Becoming an Island” (Game Over Books, 2021). Please consider ordering a copy. He may…
Tom Brady By Sean Casey If you are from New England, you might have a question: Who is Tom Brady? In society today, a lot depends on Tom Brady. It’s Tom Brady this, Tom Brady that, but few New Englanders know just who or what Tom Brady is. You can’t…
Peuo Tuy is the author of Khmer Girl (2014) in which the poem below appears. She is a contributor to the anthology Atlantic Currents: Connecting Cork and Lowell (2020). Running Water & Soap Suds By Peuo Tuy R.I.P. 3.4.21 Ngem Chea My Grandmother’s mocha-colored hands mingle with soap suds underneath…
Tom Sexton lives in Alaska most of the time and sometimes Down East in Maine. He and his wife, Sharyn, are bicoastal citizens of North America. He grew up in Lowell and stayed through high school years, and has come back regularly to check on the city. He’s in the…
In the spirit of Lowell Walks, here’s a reprise of a blog post from March 2009. Michael Creasey, then-national park superintendent, joined me for a hike along the Pawtucket Canal, the western reach. This sketch appears as a sidebar in my book MILL POWER, about the Lowell comeback starting in…
Every month is Black History Month even though February stands out in the spotlight. We’re happy to share news of a special resource at the UMass Lowell Center for Lowell History, based at the Patrick J. Mogan Cultural Center as well as online. “Untold Lowell Stories: Black History” brings together…
ATLANTIC CURRENTS II Enter Your Original Writing—Compete for Cash Prizes Attention, writers! Alumni and students of UMass Lowell and University College Cork are invited to submit original prose or poetry for a writing competition this spring. Winners will be awarded a cash prize up to $500. The competition is…
STUFF YOU KNOW BUT CAN’T NAME The following is a cross-post from my own blog (PaulMarion.com) on January 4, 2021. It took more than a year, but I compiled the best comments from a discussion thread on social media provoked by a question I threw out to the crowd. With…
Gary Metras directed Adastra Press for many years. Now he fishes for trout and writes poems. This poem is from his recent collection Captive in the Here (Cervena Barva Press 2018). At Adastra, Gary brought out several books by Mike Casey and Tom Sexton, regular contributors to our blog. That…
Ernest Hebert posted this reflection on bookshops on Facebook on Feb. 20. When I asked him if he’d let me reprint it on the Howe blog, he gave me the green light. I told him that the gang at Howe shares his enthusiasm and reverence for books, authors, bookstores, and…