CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Rose O’Neill Literary House will welcome poets Carrie Jerrell and Will Schutt, as well as the musicians of The Pam Ortiz Band, on Tuesday, May 27, at 4:30 p.m. for the first of three monthly events in the 2014 Summer Poetry Salon series. This afternoon salon will include poetry readings, live music, tasty food and drink, and good conversation about the literary life. 

Carrie Jerrell is the author of the poetry collection After the Revival, 2008 winner of the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize from Waywiser Press. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Image, Passages North, Birmingham Poetry Review, and The New York Times, among other publications. Jewell received her master’s degree from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University, and her doctorate in English from Texas Tech University. She is an assistant professor at Murray State University and poetry editor for Iron Horse Literary Review. 

Will Schutt is the author of Westerly, winner of the 2012 Yale Series of Younger Poets prize. A graduate of Oberlin College and Hollins University, he is the recipient of scholarships and fellowships from the Gilman School, the James Merrill House, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and the Stadler Center for Poetry. His poems and translations have appeared in AGNI, FIELD, The New Republic and elsewhere. 

Earlier in her career, singer and songwriter Pam Ortiz played to packed coffee houses in the Baltimore-Washington area with the group Terra Nova and saw her songs showcased in three albums. Today as leader of her eponymous band whose musicians include her husband, Bob Ortiz, on percussion and guitar, she’s writing new songs and has an album in the works. Known for her clear voice and turn of phrase and melody, she writes and performs songs that speak of “what we’ve won and lost, how we love and live.” Joining Pam and Bob for this performance will be bandmate Ford Schumann on guitar.

The second Summer Poetry Salon is scheduled for Tuesday, June 24, and will feature 2014 Cave Canem Fellow Jamaal May, poet Tarfia Faizullah, and the musical group Harp & Soul. The series will conclude with the third Summer Poetry Salon, scheduled for Tuesday, July 22, featuring a full roster of American Jewish poets: Julie Enszer, Erika Meitner, Mira Rosenthal, Jason Schneiderman, Yerra Sugarman, and Lit House Director Jehanne Dubrow. 

The Rose O’Neill Literary House at Washington College is located at 407 Washington Avenue. Its Summer Poetry Salons occur each year on the fourth Tuesday of May, June, and July, beginning at 4:30 p.m.