June 19 - 7pm
The Galaxy Bookshop
Hardwick, VT - Free!
You are invited to join Toussaint St. Negritude and Nadine Budbill as we honor and celebrate two important events:
1) Juneteenth, which recognizes the official emancipation of enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865 (a whole two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Abraham Lincoln) - as well as the resilience of the Black community and the ongoing struggle for racial justice; and
2) Judevine: A Love Song for a Place & Its People, and the recent release of a new and revised edition of David Budbill's beloved collection of prose poems and stories about an overlooked Northern Vermont town and its inhabitants.
With interconnected themes of social, economic, and racial injustice, we are excited to weave together this event featuring poetry readings, community, conversation, and love for the Northeast Kingdom. Readings will be performed by Toussaint St. Negritude, Nadine Budbill, and students from Hazen Union School's drama program.
No tickets necessary! Books will be available for sale!
About Toussaint St. Negritude
Author and winner of the 2025 Firebird Award for the collection of poems Mountain Spells [Rootstock Publishing 2024], former Poet Laureate of Belfast, Maine, and 2024 Nominee for Poet Laureate of Vermont, poet, bass clarinetist, and composer Toussaint St. Negritude conjures whole liberations in full tempo. US Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks described his work as "full of sweet sounds and surprises." Originally from San Francisco, Toussaint has lived and broadly thrived across the African Diaspora, from the sacred mountains of Haiti to the Coltrane District of North Philadelphia. He, along with bassist Gahlord Dewald, is the leader of the band Jaguar Stereo!, a free-form ensemble of his own poetry and improvisational jazz, and his works have been widely published and recorded for over 40 years. On an alpine sanctuary facing east, Toussaint St. Negritude continues to thrive in the farthest elevations of Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.
About Nadine Budbill and Judevine
Through Nadine’s role as the Literary Executor of the David Budbill Literary Estate, she stewards her beloved late father’s body of work and creative legacy. In addition to this role, Nadine is a project management and fundraising expert with 20 year’s experience in the nonprofit sector, having worked with myriad mission-driven organizations focused on gender and racial equity, social justice, and education (passions she inherited from her social-justice-minded father). Nadine grew up in Wolcott, surrounded by the hills, back roads, trees, and people that provided the inspiration for her father’s writing. Judevine: A Love Song for a Place & Its People, just out from Rootstock Publishing, is a raucous and moving collection that resonates to this day with its enduring themes of rural poverty, injustice, and economic and social struggle.
Upcoming Speaker's Bureau Talks:
August 28 - 4pm
Old Stone House Museum
Brownington, VT
For more information about events and to book a Speaker's Bureau talk,
contact Nadine Budbill at the information below.