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      PEM Reads

      Poet in High Street Park

      Sunday, January 11, 2026 from 2—4 pm

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      Cover of the Book "Poet in High Street Park"

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      In person
      Morse Auditorium
      Included with admission. Pre-registration encouraged.

      Join the PEM Reads community for a live book launch! Hear Salem’s first-ever poet laureate J.D. Scrimgeour read from his new work Poet in High Street Park: Prose & Poetry for Modern Salem.  

      David Snider, PEM’s Director of Learning & Community Engagement, will host an author talk with Scrimgeour followed by a light reception and book signing.

      Poet in High Street Park: Prose & Poetry for Modern Salem is a love song to Salem by a writer who has grounded himself in the everyday realities of living in the city for the past 30 years, from playgrounds to classrooms to ballfields. It is testimony that, Halloween hoopla aside, people live here. Finding the universal in the local, this book asks who we are, and who we want to be.

      PEM Reads celebrates the art of literature and the creative act of writing through a year-round series of collaborative book club readings and author events, both in person and online. By gathering to read and discuss world-class literature and meet authors, PEM Reads seeks to deepen our sense of community and celebrate great storytelling. We hope you’ll join us!

      This program is part of Salem 400+ celebrations. Explore all of PEM's Salem 400+ activities here.

      About the presenters

      J.D. Scrimgeour
      J.D. Scrimgeour

      J.D. Scrimgeour has been a Professor of English at Salem State University since 1996 and is the author of six poetry collections, including The Last Miles and Banana Bread. His poems have appeared in Poetry and Ploughshares. His nonfiction book Themes for English B: A Professor’s Education In and Out of Class won the AWP Award for Nonfiction.  A dedicated advocate for the arts, he helped establish the Massachusetts Poetry Festival in Salem and directs the Salem Poetry Seminar, helping inspire and teach future poets. In 2025, he was named the city’s inaugural Poet Laureate.
       

      David Snider
      David Snider

      David Snider oversees all of PEM’s learning and community engagement efforts, including public programming, internships and fellowships, community partnerships and educational programming from preschool to postgraduate studies. His focus is to develop an array of inclusive offerings that engage visitors of all ages and backgrounds and to cultivate partnerships with schools, universities, museum volunteers and community organizations at the local, national and international levels. He holds an M.F.A. from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and earned his bachelor’s in English Literature and Russian Language from Dickinson College, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa.