30 Poems in November!

30 Poems in November! is a literary fundraiser to support Center for New Americans’ free English classes for immigrants, refugees, migrants, and asylum-seekers. Writers write a poem each day in November and encourage family and friends to sponsor them.

Our annual “Poem-a-thon,” the literary equivalent of a charity road race, raises awareness of immigrants in our community and valuable support for our free English classes. Writing poetry has become a fall tradition. Participating writers are inspired by daily prompts from our Event Chair, Nerissa Nields. Several of our English teachers also write and raise while infusing poetry into our English classes.

We celebrate our success and honor our writers with an annual Reading & Celebration and publication of an anthology featuring their new poems. The date of our annual Reading & Celebration will be announced soon.

Here’s how the event works:

Writers write one poem a day for 30 days in November
Friends and family donate $$ for each poem ($1 x 30 poems = $30)
If you are new to this wonderful tradition, just follow the prompts!

For Writers

Create or log into your fundraising page

If you’ve forgotten your password, click “Forgot your password?”
You’ll then be directed to a fresh page, ready for you to fill out for this year’s event. Who can remember from last year?! (PS: We strongly advise setting up your page on a computer or tablet. You can do it on a phone but it will be clearer, at least for now, on a computer.)

For Friends and Supporters

Support a participating writer or make a general donation

Event Leadership

Nerissa Nields
Event Chair

Nerissa has been devoted to the written (and spoken and sung) word for her entire life. Best known as primary song writer for the acclaimed folk-rock band The Nields, she has written 21 CD’s worth of songs.

Nerissa’s publications include a YA novel Plastic Angel (Scholastic 2005), and All Together Singing in the Kitchen: Creative Ways to Make and Listen to Music as a Family (Roost Books/Shambala, 2011), as well as How to Be an Adult: A Creative Guide to Navigating Your Twenties (Mercy House, 2013). Her work has been published in Brevity, American Songwriter, J Journal: New Writing on Justice, Performing Songwriter, The Huffington Post, The Maine Review, and the Boston Globe.

As Nerissa worked on her first drafts, she began encouraging others to write in short, regular, timed burst in a group setting. In 2003, Writing It Up in the Garden was born. Today she teaches students from all over the country in person as well as via Zoom.

Even before signing on as 30 Poems Event Chair, Nerissa recruited writers ranging from high school students to such veteran writers as outgoing Event Chair, Sarah Sullivan, to write and raise for 30 Poems in November! Center For New Americans thanks Nerissa Nields for guiding us through this year’s event.