The 2025 Massachusetts Poetry Festival

Lisa DeSiro is the author of Simple as a Sonnet (Kelsay Books, 2021); Labor (Nixes Mate, 2018); and Grief Dreams (White Knuckle Press, 2017). She is featured in Writers Resist: The Anthology (Running Wild Press, 2018); Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse (Lost Horse Press, 2017); and Thirty Days: The Best of the Tupelo Press 30/30 Project’s First Year (Tupelo Press, 2015). Her poem “In Lieu of Flowers” was a winner in the 2017 City of Cambridge Sidewalk Poetry Contest and is imprinted in front of the Cambridge Public Library Main Branch. Her poems have been published in many journals, and set to music by several composers. Along with her MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University, Lisa has degrees from Binghamton University, Boston Conservatory, and Longy School of Music; she also studied at Emerson College. She has worked for various schools and non-profit organizations as an educator, administrator, production assistant, editor, and musician. Lisa is an accomplished pianist and hosts the Solidarity Salon, an inclusive performance series featuring creative artists of all genres. Her interests include: formal poetry, translation, art song, and interdisciplinary collaboration.