Poetry Reading by Ridgefield Poet Laureate Ira Joe Fisher

Sunday, March 10 at 2 PM

Ira Joe Fisher’s poetry has appeared in Poetry New York, The Alembic, The New York Quarterly, Entelechy International, Diner, Ridgefield Magazine, The New Hampshire Review and the anthology Confrontation. He is the author of the verse collections Some Holy Weight in the Village Air, Songs From an Earlier Century, The Creek at the End of the Lawns and a volume of essays, Wide and Wavy Out of Salamanca. Ira presents readings and conducts poetry workshops in New York and throughout New England. He has a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from New England College and has taught poetry, communications and broadcast history there. He teaches poetry and creative writing at the University of Connecticut, Stamford, and Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and Founders Hall in Ridgefield. Ira has lectured at Manhattanville College and Keene State College in New Hampshire.

In June of 2023, Fisher was named Poet Laureate of Ridgefield, Connecticut. Ira is a member of SAG/AFTRA and Actors’ Equity. He regularly performed in the long-running musical The Fantasticks for five years. He appeared in the role of “Henry VIII” in the musical The Prince and the Pauper at New York City’s Lambs Theatre. And as “Monsignor Buckley” in the reader’s theatre drama The Garden of Dromore at the New York University Hot Ink Festival. Ira has also acted in the film “California Girls” with Robbie Benson and in the ABC daytime drama “Loving.” He was a regular on the CBS Early Show. Ira and his wife, Shelly, live in Ridgefield.