Watershed kicks off its 2026 season featuring poet Nicole Cooley and memoirist Gabriella D’Italia on Sunday, March 22, at 3 pm. The Skate House is located at the intersection of Mead Street and Meadowbrook Lane in South Orange, NJ.

Watershed is sponsored by the Department of Recreation and Cultural Affairs and the Meadowland Park Conservancy of South Orange. The events are free and open to the public.

Nicole Cooley is the author of seven poetry collections, including most recently Mother Water Ash (LSU Press, 2024) and Trash: Poems, forthcoming from Alice James Books in 2027. Her work has appeared in the journals Poetry, Field, Ploughshares, Poetry Northwest, The Paris Review, PEN America, The Missouri Review, and The Nation. Cooley grew up in New Orleans and currently teaches in the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College, City University of New York. She lives in Glen Ridge.

Gabriella D’Italia is an interdisciplinary, award-winning fine artist, writer, and Master Gardener. Her recently published memoir, Getting Dressed In The Dark: An Artist's Way Home (Unsolicited Press, 2025) was called “strikingly intimate and beautifully layered” by Emmy-winning director Lana Wilson. D’Italia has exhibited her visual art internationally at biennials, salons, embassies, and galleries. A Morristown native, she worked extensively in costume design and quilting and currently lives in Mt. Tabor.

For more information about Watershed, contact Blake Smith at arts@southorange.org.