Paulette Demers Turco began writing poetry when she learned she was about to become a grandmother. She took her first formal poetry course with Rhina P. Espaillat and soon joined the bimonthly poetry workshop of Alfred Nicol. She attended the first Frost Farm poetry conference in Derry, NH, with Deborah Warren as her mentor, and returns each year.

Since being welcomed into the Powows in 2018, she has been a co-organizer of the Powow Reading Series. She earned her MFA in Writing, her genre—poetry, from Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, August 2019. Her first sonnet, “Work or Play,” appeared in The Lyric. Her poems also appear in Ibbetson Street, the Sonnet Scroll feature of The Poetry Porch, Merrimac Mic Anthologies II-V, the chapbook, Poems for Plovers (Hawk & Whippoorwill, 2020), and the 2020 Hippocrates Awards Anthology. She is editor for The Powow River Poets Anthology II (Able Muse Press, January 2021). She is a contributing poet in Poems for Plovers, a Pen & Anvil chapbook pending early 2020. She is retired from her career in optometry and thrilled to have more time for poetry and grandchildren.

Photo credit: Greg Nikas Photography, Newburyport, MA

Author Site: https://www.PauletteDemersTurco.com

Books

Shimmer (Kelsay Books, Soft Cover, 2023),review The Powow River Poets Anthology II , editor, Paulette Demers Turco (Able Muse Press, 2021) In Silence (Finishing Line Press, 2018)

Poetry Online

“Ruth” and “Emmett Till on July 25, 2020,” Mezzo Cammin
“The Parish Didn’t Prepare My Mother” and “The Touch of Wood,” the Sonnet Scroll feature of The Poetry Porch “Winter Morning,” Quill & Parchment
“Sunset on Plum Island,” Quill & Parchment
“A Poem Stolen in Celebration of David Davis,” Quill & Parchment “Let Morning Come,” Quill & Parchment

Anthologies

The Powow River Poets Anthology II (Able Muse Press, 2021)
2020 Hippocrates Prize Anthology (Hippocrates Press, 2020)
WordPlay, ed. Isabelle VanMerlin, 2021
Merrimac Mic Takes the Fifth, ed. Isabelle VanMerlin, 2019
Merrimac Mic Anthology IV, ed. Isabelle VanMerlin, 2018
Merrimac Mic Anthology III , ed. Isabelle VanMerlin, 2017
Merrimac Mic Anthology II, ed. Isabelle VanMerlin, 2016

Honors

Robert Frost Poetry Award: Winner, 2020; Runner-up: 2020
Commendation in the FPM-Hippocrates Health, Professional Prize for Poetry and Medicine: 2020
Rockport Art Association Ekphrastic Poetry Contest, First Prize (2019), Second Prize (2023).
MFA in Writing President’s Award, Lesley University, Cambridge MA: 2017-19.
Naomi Cherkofsky Memorial North Shore Poetry Contest, Honorable Mention: 2014.

Readings and Performances

Write Now: Paulette Demers Turco - November 2023 - HC Media

The Frost Foundation reading 05.08.23 As Emily Dickinson, Rockport Poetry Festival, 2019, 2023