LITTORAL BOOKS CELEBRATES A SECOND BOOK OF POETRY, 43 YEARS AFTER THE FIRST

Littoral Books, which began as a radical feminist press in 1975 and returned to the scene this fall with the publication of the novel “The House on Perry Street” by press co-founder Agnes Bushell, celebrates the publication of “Balancing Act 2,” an anthology of women’s poetry, with a reception from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday at Space Gallery in Portland. It is a successor to “Balancing Act,” one of two books the press published in 1975 before taking a 43-year pause.

“Balancing Act 2: An Anthology of Poems by 50 Maine Writers” includes 118 poems from widely published and emerging poets and offers what Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum said was “a vibrant view of the complexities of living.” Inaugural poet Richard Blanco called it “an important contribution to Maine letters.”

The poets live across Maine and represent many generations, from a high school senior to a woman who grew up during the Depression, said press editor James Bushell. Saturday’s Portland celebration will be the first of many, he said.

“We already have scheduled a number of readings by the poets in January and February,” he said, with a marathon reading from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 9 at the Portland Public Library and at 3 p.m. March 3 at the University of New England Library’s Maine Women Writers Room. “Additional events will be held at a number of bookstores throughout the state, including Belfast, Brunswick, Yarmouth and Westbrook and other locales,” Bushell said. “Their voices, each one so unique, create a rich and many-layered symphony, or as the poet Devi Laskar puts it, ‘a beautiful chorus of voices.’ ”

“Balancing Act 2” poets are Sherry Barker Abaldo, Linda Aldrich, Muriel Allen, Jeanne L. Bamforth, Laura Bonazzoli, Marcia F. Brown, Linda Buckmaster, Wendy Cannella, Deborah Cummins, Kara Douglas, Patricia Ferrara Fuchs, Elizabeth W. Garber, Shana Genre, Shirley Glubka, Katherine Hagopian-Berry, Jane Hendrick, Leonore Hildebrandt, Georgie Hunt, Rebecca Irene, Judy Kaber, Deborah Krainin, Susan T. Landry, Valerie Lawson, Laura Levenson, Jacqueline Moore, Leslie Moore, Susan Colburn Motta, Molana Oei, Anne Britting Oleson, Rachel Ouellette, Lolly Phoenix, Dawn Potter, Patricia Smith Ranzoni, Marie Louise St. Onge, Hanna Sanders, Annie Seikonia, Lee Sharkey, Betsy Sholl, Lynn Siefert, Meghan Sterling, Emily Blair Stribling, Kathleen Sullivan, Jeri Theriault, Mary Ainslie Tracy, Laura Trapletti, Emily Jackson Tupper, Mariana S. Tupper, Anna Turner, Meghan Vigeant, Nancy Romines Walters.