Relive the Massachusetts Poetry Festival 2013 through the responses of others to the event. More responses will be coming, including Tom Daley, Alice Kociemba, Laurin Macios, Joey Gould, Jade Sylvan and Tony Toledo. But if you are feeling down after having a wonderful weekend, here is a quick pick-me-up of remembrance with Lloyd Schwartz, Dawn Paul, Kevin Carey, Don McLagan, and Martha Carlson-Bradley.
Saturday Night Headliners
May 5, 2013 By
Reading last night at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival were the following:
- Eduardo C. Corral whose his first book, won the 2011 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. He’s the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.
- Terrance Hayes’ his first book won the 2011 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. He’s the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.
- Sharon Olds is the winner of this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her book Stag’s Leap. She is also the winner of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and the San Francisco Poetry Center Award for her first collection
Here is a poem by each one: [Read more...]
Recap of Friday’s Festival Events
May 4, 2013 By
Did you miss the opening day at the Mass Poetry Festival? Then you missed readings, workshops, music, belly dancers, performance poetry, flash mob singing. Poetry in a museum, poetry in cafes, poetry in churches. Poetry and global warming, poetry and war, poetry and nature, poetry and the inner lives of object. A play about Emily Dickerson. Ballads, blues and poetry. Dancers dialoging with poetry and books.
Tracy K. Smith
And you missed wonderful food on a wonderfully sunny day, in a wonderful cobblestone-lovely town.
In the evening featured poets had the audience rolling in the aisles with laughter and awe-struck with mingling of cosmic vastness and intimacy. Nick Flynn imbued physics with the wonder of a child’s mind as it accepts the implausible situations of cartoons, and he gave voice to creatures like bees. Jill McDonough gave life to human foibles and cross-cultural misunderstandings that nevertheless show generosity of spirit. And Tracy K. Smith meditatively blends science and science fiction as they illuminate her memory of her father.
Jill McDonough
There’s still today and tomorrow for experiencing the vast world of the Mass Poetry Festival.The Saturday feature poets are Pulitzer Prize winner Sharon Olds, Terrance Hayes, and Eduardo C. Corral. And Sunday’s features are Martin Espada, John Murillo, Amanda Torres, Arthur Sze, Gail Mazur, Erica
Nick Flynn
Funkhouser, Kevin Goodan, and Yusef Komunyaaka.
See you there?
What People Said about Last Year’s Festival They’ll Say about This Year’s
May 3, 2013 By
If you want to get a feel for the Festival before you come to Salem this weekend, look at what people said about it last year.
Jill McDonough, Pushcart winner and a feature poet for this year, compares the festival favorably to the AWP Convention.
J.D. Scrimgeour, who is a poet and teaches at Salem State University, gives a wonderful sense of the camaraderie at the festival.Richard Hoffman, winner of the 2006 Barrow Street Press Poetry Prize and the New England Poetry Club’s Sheila Motton Book Award, gives us the essence of his presentation on the state of contemporary poetry.
The Morning After describes the exhilaration and wonderful exhaustion the first morning after the festival is over.
Come and see for yourself what the festival holds for you!
Top Ten Reasons to Attend the 2013 Massachusetts Poetry Festival
May 2, 2013 By
10. Poetry Meets Bellydance. Enough said.
9. North Shore Poets in the Round: all the excitement of spin the bottle with none of the awkward kissing
8. Whole lotta slammin’ goin’ on
7. Experience Life on Mars without leaving Mass
6. We’re actually celebrating BAD POETRY! Not that you’ve ever written any, of course.
5. Try to convince January O’Neil to get bangs like Michelle Obama over drinks at Howling Wolf
4. The chance to badger publishers and lit mags at the Small Press & Literary Fair! And by “badger,” we mean “buy books from.”
3. Because nothing says “Cinco de Mayo” like a haiku
2. Duende vs Witches
And the No. 1 reason you should attend the Massachusetts Poetry Festival:
1. I mean…have you seen our line-up?
Register for the Festival Now!
May 2, 2013 By
Don’t miss out on your favorite events at the Massachusetts Poetry Festival, which is May 3-5 in Salem. Many of the workshops, readings, panels, etc. are already filled.
You’ll see the four easy steps to follow:
- Create a profile.
- Browse the schedule.
- Click the Plus sign to add an event to your personal schedule
- Buy a registration button, which grants you entry to events. ($15 regular; $7 for students and seniors, and $5 for workshops)
Now you are ready to print out your own personal agenda.
Salem with a “Poetry Dress” in the Window . . .
May 1, 2013 By
Salem is waiting for you this weekend!
Where else will you see a store with a poetry dress in the window?
In addition to roses and bows, the dress is made with original poems, which you can examine and take your time reading.
The photo at the left shows the elegantly designed work in the window of The Roost at 40 Front Street in Salem, a spot to find an original mix of art, furniture, gifts, accessories, lighting, jewelry and bath products. It’s a stylish, imaginative and functional place for you to find a Salem memory!
