Salem State Professor J.D. Scrimgeour is the inaugural poet laureate of Salem, Massachusetts. He is the author of six books of poetry, the most recent being Small, Rectangular, Reflected World (Nixes Mate, 2025). He’s also written two books of nonfiction, including Themes for English B: A Professor’s Education In and Out of Class, which won the AWP Award for Nonfiction. A longtime resident of Salem, Scrimgeour has written in many genres about the city. His multi-genre collection, Poet in High Street Park: Prose & Poetry for Modern Salem (Loom Press), is a love song to the city by a writer who has grounded himself in the everyday realities of living in it for the past 30 years, from playgrounds to classrooms to ballfields.

Rebecca Hart Olander is a Women’s National Book Association Poetry Award winner and the author of three poetry collections: Dressing the Wounds (a chapbook from dancing girl press, 2019), Uncertain Acrobats (CavanKerry Press, 2021), a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award in Poetry and the Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry, and Singing from the Deep End (CavanKerry Press, 2026).

This event takes place in the Ellison Campus Center, 1 Meier Drive.

Street parking is available on Loring Avenue or Lafayette Street or the university parking garage at 43 Meier Drive.