Laurie Byro has been facilitating “Circle of Voices” poetry discussion
in New Jersey libraries for over 25 years. Laurie has garnered more IBPC
awards (InterBoard Poetry Community) than any other poet, stopping at
60. She began competing in 2002 and was named "Poet of the Decade" for
work produced between 2000-2010. She had two books of poetry published
in 2015: Luna (Aldrich Press) and Gertrude Stein's Salon and Other
Legends (Blue Horse Press). A chapbook was published in 2016, Wonder
(Little Lantern Press) out of Wales. She received a 2016 New Jersey
Poet's Prize for the first poem in the Stein collection and received a
NJ Poetry Prize for a poem in: The Bloomsberries and Other Curiosities
by Kelsay Books. Laurie had a 5th book published La Dogaressa & Other
Poems (Cowboy Buddha Press.) D'eux & Other Sorrows by Cowboy Buddha
Press, poems about Vincent Van Gogh and Isadora Duncan among others was
published in 2019. Laurie's latest collection Hopeless Romance was
published in 2021 by Cholla Needles Arts and Literary Library. Laurie
was a travel agent for 24 years, a librarian for 14 years. She has
traveled widely, most recently Italy, Greece, and Provence and has used
these explorations in order to write her "Salon" poems having visited
the places these events took place. She refers to her Salon poems as
"historical poetry." Laurie is currently Poet in Residence at the Albert
Wisner Public Library where "Circle of Voices" continues to meet and
Pacem in Terris, Warwick New York. She is proud to say her artist
husband, Michael Byro, has created all the paintings that grace the
covers of her books. D'eux has 8 pages of his paintings of Van Gogh in
pointillism.
in New Jersey libraries for over 25 years. Laurie has garnered more IBPC
awards (InterBoard Poetry Community) than any other poet, stopping at
60. She began competing in 2002 and was named "Poet of the Decade" for
work produced between 2000-2010. She had two books of poetry published
in 2015: Luna (Aldrich Press) and Gertrude Stein's Salon and Other
Legends (Blue Horse Press). A chapbook was published in 2016, Wonder
(Little Lantern Press) out of Wales. She received a 2016 New Jersey
Poet's Prize for the first poem in the Stein collection and received a
NJ Poetry Prize for a poem in: The Bloomsberries and Other Curiosities
by Kelsay Books. Laurie had a 5th book published La Dogaressa & Other
Poems (Cowboy Buddha Press.) D'eux & Other Sorrows by Cowboy Buddha
Press, poems about Vincent Van Gogh and Isadora Duncan among others was
published in 2019. Laurie's latest collection Hopeless Romance was
published in 2021 by Cholla Needles Arts and Literary Library. Laurie
was a travel agent for 24 years, a librarian for 14 years. She has
traveled widely, most recently Italy, Greece, and Provence and has used
these explorations in order to write her "Salon" poems having visited
the places these events took place. She refers to her Salon poems as
"historical poetry." Laurie is currently Poet in Residence at the Albert
Wisner Public Library where "Circle of Voices" continues to meet and
Pacem in Terris, Warwick New York. She is proud to say her artist
husband, Michael Byro, has created all the paintings that grace the
covers of her books. D'eux has 8 pages of his paintings of Van Gogh in
pointillism.