The Perugia Press book launch for Apostasies will be held at the Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College on Thursday, November 6, from 7:00-8:30pm. The evening is free and open to the public and will feature readings by Holli Carrell, Adrie Rose, and Nicole Young-Martin.

Holli Carrell (she/they) is the author of Apostasies (Perugia Press, 2025), winner of the 2025 Perugia Press Prize. She holds a Ph.D. in Creative Writing and Literature and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from the University of Cincinnati—where she was a 2024-2025 Taft Research Center Dissertation Fellow. Her poetry and prose have appeared in publications such as Fence, Gulf Coast, 32 Poems, The Cincinnati Review, Poetry Northwest, The Journal, Bennington Review, and Ninth Letter, among others. She currently lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Apostasies is her first book.

Adrie Rose (she/they) lives next to an orchard in western MA and is the editor of Nine Syllables Press. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, Beloit Poetry Journal, The Massachusetts Review, Ploughshares blog, and more. Her chapbook I Will Write a Love Poem was published in 2023 by Porkbelly Press, and her chapbook Rupture was published in 2024 by Gold Line Press and longlisted for the MA Book Award. She was a finalist for The Pablo Neruda Prize, commended for the International Gingko Prize, and won the Radar Coniston Prize and the Anne Bradstreet Prize from the Academy of American Poets. She holds an MFA in Poetry from Warren Wilson College.

Nicole Young-Martin (she/her) released her debut spoken word album, In/Put: Live from the Valley in 2019. Her play, get (t)his!, received a 2009 James Baldwin Award. Nicole is the producer and host of the award-winning podcast, Black Writers Read, the recipient of the 2024 Black Podcasting Award for Best Literary Podcast. Her poetry has been published in Meat for Tea: The Valley Review, the 2022 Connecticut Bards Poetry Review, and The Rebel’s Digest. Nicole teaches at Bard Microcollege Holyoke, Holyoke Community College, and UMass Amherst. Originally from Detroit and now living in CT, she recently received a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from Bay Path University.