Selected Residencies and Recent Speaking Engagements

Richard does dozens of book-signings, school visits, library conferences and poetry readings every year. Below are selected events where he was a keynote speaker or scholar in residence. 

2024

• Saturday, September 30– Garlic and Arts Festival– 12 PM (In Person) Orange, MA- Poetry Reading with Doug Anderson
• Sunday, October 1– Emily Dickinson Museum– 12:30 PM (Hybrid) Amherst, MA- Writing Poetry for Children, Teens, and Adults: Commonalities and Differences
• Sunday, October 14– Brattleboro Literary Festival– 11 AM (In Person) Brattleboro, VT- Poetry Reading with Madeleine May Kunin
• Saturday, October 28- Applewood Retirement Community– 10:30 AM (In Person) Amherst, MA- Poetry Reading
• Saturday, October 28- Jewish Community of Amherst– 7:30 PM (Hybrid) Amherst, MA- Poetry Reading with Rabbi Ben Weiner and JCA Poet Laureate Jena Schwartz
• Tuesday, November 7- Forbes Library- Straw Dog Writers Guild– 6 PM (In Person) Northampton, MA- Writer’s Night Out
• Sunday, November 12th– Eric Carle Museum– Telling Tales and Painting Pictures: Writing and Illustrating Jewish Children’s Books- 1 PM (In Person) Amherst, MA- Panel discussion with author/artist Jane Breskin Zalben, author Jane Yolen, and publisher Christy Ottaviano. Moderated by Heidi E.Y. Stemple.

2018

• Sunday, March 10th at the Academy of Music in Northampton, MA
• Sunday, March 11, book signing at the first annual New York Festival of Jewish Books — The Temple Emanuel Streicker Center, One East 65th Street NYC

2017

• San Miguel de Allende Writers Festival Two lectures and a Reading
• PCCC- Paterson New Jersey Reading: Paterson Poetry Prize Awardees
• Massachusetts Poetry Festival Reading: Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship Awardees
• Seoul, South Korea Talk on the history of the American Picture Book

2016

• Nantucket Book Festival Featured Poet with Mark Doty and Billy Collins
• Associate Writers Program Conference, Los Angeles Panels on Poetry and Grief with Robin Becker, Jan Freeman and Richard Hoffman
• Split the Rock Poetry Conference, Washington, DC Panels on Race and Poetry with Martin Espada, Nikky Finney and Solmaz Sharif

2015

• Featherstone Arts Center, Martha’s Vineyard Featured Poet
• Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Salem, Massachusetts Writing Race: Poets on the Complexity and Contradictions of Race in America, with Martin Espada and John Murillo
• Bowery Poetry Club, New York City Featured Poet

2013

• Massachusetts Poetry Festival Northampton Poet laureate Reading
• Massachusetts School Library Association Annual Conference Guest Speaker

2012

• Harvard University’s Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice with Charles Ogletree
• Festival of Faith and Writing Exploring religious and cultural traditions outside of one’s own- Crossing the border between exploitation and celebration

2011

• Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, NY Lipman Pike: America’s First Home Run King
• Center for Children’s & Young Adult Literature The Power of the Picture Book
• Foundation for Children’s Books & 826 Boston

2010

• Boston Book Festival Border Crossing: Understanding Social Justice Through Fiction
• Skirball Cultural Center Monsters and Miracles: A Journey Through Jewish Picture Books

2009

• Association of Jewish Librarians Convention Sydney Taylor Award Lecture
• Anti-Defamation League Next Generation Philanthropy Lecture

2008

• Clemson University Richard J. Calhoun Distinguished Reader in American Literature for 2008
• Dover Reads 2008 Tuttle’s Red Barn: A Community Wide Reading Project
• Associated Writers Program Conference, New York City Poets in the Hood: Jews, Blacks, and Hispanics, with Martin Espada and E. Ethelbert Miller
• Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust with CK Williams

2007

• Simmons College Center for the Study of Children’s Literature Lecturer
• Boston College Foundation for Children’s Books Keynote Speaker
• Vanderbilt University Peabody Library Inaugural Book Festival Speaker

2006

• Association of Jewish Librarians Guest Speaker at Annual Convention
• Pskov Writers Association, Russia Poetry Readings and discussions

2005

• Jewish Family Services Springfield, Massachusetts Keynote Speaker at Annual Convention
• Bratislava International Biennial, Bratislava, Slovakia Represented the United States at international literary conference of 48 countries. Lectured and served as cultural emissary, meeting with the Slovakian Minister of Culture, American Ambassador, and numerous arts groups
• Society of Illustrators, New York City Served as judge for the 25th Anniversary of “THE ORIGINAL ART SHOW”. This is the premier American exhibition celebrating the Fine Art of Children’s Book Illustrations
• American Embassy School, New Delhi, India One-week residency working with international students and their teachers

2004

• Mazza Museum of International Art, Findlay, Ohio The world’s largest museum devoted to literacy and the art of children’s picture books: One-week residency lecturing to teachers and librarians
• Western Massachusetts Society of Women Educators Reading and lecturing
• Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City Visiting Writer, grades 1st through 8th
• CAJE 29 (Conference for Alternatives in Jewish Education), Hofstra University New Guest Lecture, How Young is Too Young: Picture Books About the Holocaust
• Perspective in Children’s Literature Conference, University of Massachusetts Guest Lecturer at Conference of Educators