WFU Hosts Mary Arden Poetry Festival
Three Welsh poets and two internationally-known performance poets will be among the seven guest poets reading from their works and leading workshops at Wake Forest University’s Mary Arden Poetry Festival April 18-20.
All events of the annual festival are free and open to the public.
Michael Brown and Patricia Smith, co-hosts of the Boston poetry slam, will open the festival with a poetry performance at 1 p.m. Friday, April 18, in Scales Fine Arts Center, Room 102.
Three Welsh poets will present a poetry reading at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 18, in Scales Fine Arts Center, Room 102. Menna Elfyn, author of six highly-acclaimed Welsh-language poetry books, will read from her poetry. Her most recent book includes some poems written while she was in prison as an activist. Nigel Jenkins, a founding member of the Welsh Union of Writers, has written four volumes of poetry. Iwan Llwyd has published three volumes of poetry and also writes songs and plays the guitar for two Welsh rock bands. The reading will be followed by a question-and-answer session, book signing and a reception.
On Saturday, April 19, poet Dennis Sampson will lead a poetry workshop from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Tribble Hall, Room 202A. Sampson, poet-in-residence at Sweet Briar College, will read from his two published collections, “The Double Genesis” and “Forgiveness” at 7 p.m. in Scales Fine Arts Center, Room 102.
On Sunday, April 20, poet Kathleen Peirce will lead a poetry workshop from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Tribble Hall, Room 202A. Peirce, winner of the 1990 Associated Writing Programs’ Award Series in Poetry, will close the weekend’s events with a poetry reading at 7 p.m. in Scales Fine Arts Center, Room 102.
The Mary Arden Poetry Festival was founded 11 years ago by Robert Hedin, former Wake Forest poet-in-residence, and Dillon Johnston, a Wake Forest professor of English. It is now directed by Jane Mead, Wake Forest’s current poet-in-residence.
For information or to register for the workshops, call 759-5383.
Categories: Arts & Culture, Happening at Wake
Media Contact
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