Don't miss their crowning NaPoMo event on Sat April 25 at the Hugo House!
What? You still haven’t celebrated National Poetry Month? This is the largest actively celebrated literary festival in the world. You don’t want to miss out.
There’s still time for lots of great events in your area; just check your local library, arts council or event calendars for current offerings.
Puget Sound poets and fans of poetry: you should especially consider this closing weekend one of the best times to celebrate— Saturday, April 25, rings in the Washington Poetry Association’s annual Spring Festival, “Around the World in Poetry.”
Held from 10am-10pm at the Richard Hugo House in Seattle, the WPA offers a full day of writing workshops, an open mic, a reading and panel discussion, a showcase of international poetry, and experiments in translation.
Expect a melange of poetry, performance, dance, sound and floral arts throughout the day. I expect an amazing event; the WPA is run by a terrific creative board of poets and activists, including Angel Latterell, Ed Stover, AK Allin, Brad Hatfield, Terry E. Lockett, Christopher Luna, Raul Sanchez, Michael Welch and Tom Erdman Jr. You will not want to miss out on their beautiful experiment!
Presenters at the festival include Sam Green, Andrea Lingenfelter, Barbara Ann Allin, Dave Jarecki, Angel Latterell, Keely Isaak Meehan, David Meltzer, Linden Ontjes, Michael Rothenberg, and Christian Swenson.
Workshops focus on literary translation and the way in which poetry serves “as a translation of the everyday, working from our experiences, journals and from the mysterious.” The main-stage event begins at 8pm. Cost is $10 at the door.
All are welcome to attend a very special, pre-show reading and panel discussion on translation, moderated by literary journalist Dave Jarecki, with visiting guests David Meltzer and Michael Rothenberg and with local literary translator Andrea Lingenfelter. The pre-show, at 7pm in the Hugo House Theatre, is included in your evening ticket cost.
Pre-register soon for all morning and afternoon workshops online at Brown Paper Tickets or by calling (206) 225-6555.
PS If inspired to draft some poems after attending what promises to be an innovative and creative event, you might consider submitting your work to WPA poetry contests: deadline May 15. More info for easy online guidelines.
Filed under: writing | Tagged: creative writers, creative writing, events, festivals, hugo house, inspirations, national poetry month, poems, poetry, poets, seattle, washington poets association, workshop, wpa, writing life | Comments Off on Time to crown National Poetry Month with the WA Poetry Association Spring Festival: “Around the World in Poetry”
I think of myself as an accidental poet. I have written and published poems over the last 10 years, but I’ve never studied it to the extent that my serious, hard-core poet friends have. Sure, I took a (great!) poetry workshop and it helped me a lot, but if I were hard-pressed to know why my poems worked, I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I just know that learning to write poetry has made me a better fiction writer.
Writer's Rainbow 
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