Policy Order O-2

WHEREAS: This day the Cambridge City Council honors Louisa Solano; and

WHEREAS: Louisa Solano was born on November 22, 1941 at Cambridge City Hospital; she graduated from Agassiz Grammar School in 1955 and Cambridge High and Latin in 1959; and

WHEREAS: While Louisa was in high school, she had a part-time job in the Cambridge Library, where a Circulation Desk librarian took an interest in her and introduced her to the Grolier Book Shop and the most memorable event of her life - first looking through the door of the Grolier with its tables of jumbled piles of books, armchair, and paintings and drawings, and feeling that she would own it one day; and

WHEREAS: Louisa graduated from Boston University in 1966 and went to work in Goodspeed's Book Shop (Antiquarian) as Mr. Goodspeed's assistant; and

WHEREAS: In 1974 Louisa Solano became the owner of the Grolier Book Shop, which by 1979 she had developed into an all poetry bookshop, the Grolier Poetry Book Shop, one of the cultural highlights of Harvard Square; and

WHEREAS: In her heyday of the Harvard Square independent bookstore, Louisa Solano's Grolier Poetry Book Shop was a creative wellspring for new and well-known poets; and

WHEREAS: In addition to sponsoring writing workshops, introducing the concept of autograph parties, establishing (with the Blacksmith House for the first few years) the Grolier Poetry Prize and the Grolier Poetry Reading Series (with support from Jeanne Henle's Ellen Forge Memorial Poetry Foundation) and poetry scholarships (with support from Cindi and Jason McLachan), and the Grolier Poetry Peace Prize, during the 1970's Grolier's sponsored the Grolier Rimes' softball and basketball teams of writers; and

WHEREAS: Louisa Solano's many awards include the Local Hero Award from New England Monthly, the Women's National Book Association Award, the Cambridge Peace and Justice Award, the Best of Boston Award (twice), a special Excellence in Business Award from the Cambridge Chamber of Commerce and the Harvard Square Business Association, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Ibbetson Press; and

WHEREAS: Louisa's critical knowledge and deep appreciation of poetry was widely acknowledged and celebrated; she was twice judge of the American Book Awards, judge of the Massachusetts Book Award, a repeat participant in the New England Poetry Conference at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, founder of the Intercollegiate Undergraduate Poetry Reading in the Greater Boston area and organizer of the first three poetry festivals in Cambridge; and

WHEREAS: Louisa Solano's vision, hard work and inspiration made the Grolier Poetry book Shop a precious Jewel in the Crown of Cambridge; now therefore be it

ORDERED: That the City Council go on record dedicating the corner of Bow Street and Plympton Street as

ORDERED: That the City Clerk be and hereby is requested to prepare a suitably engrossed copy of this resolution for presentation at the Dedication Ceremony on June 21, 2008 on behalf of the entire City Council.