Annual Poetry Festival 2018
Join us in celebrating the power of poetry at the Work Center’s 3rd Annual Poetry Festival. The Festival includes weeklong poetry and songwriting workshops by some of our nation’s most inspired and awarded poets. The week begins with a keynote address by Ross Gay and ends with Robert Pinsky’s Favorite Poem Project. Mid-week events include benefit concerts with Patty Larkin, Cornelius Eady Trio and Shaker/Flynn. Other evening events include faculty readings and artist talks, and student readings and open studios.
KEYNOTE
ROSS GAY
SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 7PM
Stanley Kunitz Common Room
Ross Gay is the author of three books: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. He is the co-author of the chapbooks Lace and Pyrite: Letters from Two Gardens and River. He is a founding editor of the online sports magazine Some Call it Ballin’, and an editor with the chapbook presses Q Avenue and Ledge Mule Press.
Keynote is free for students attending a workshop this week.
Tickets for the general public will be available at the door.
WRITING FACULTY
TRACI BRIMHALL
BETWEEN CLARITY AND WILDERNESS: TUNING YOUR TENSION
Saudade
“Allows us brief visions, glimpses, of experiences more lush and raw than our own." The Rumpus
CORNELIUS EADY
WHAT THE POEM WANTS
Hardheaded Weather
“Scintillating jazz lines recounting hard knocks and heartache with grace and élan.” Booklist
NICK FLYNN
POETRY AS BEWILDERMENT
My Feelings
“Here he is again, writing as if his life depends on it, using every trick he can find to carve the tunnel through the mountain. I read Nick Flynn’s poetry to feel alive.”
Marie Howe
VIEVEE FRANCIS
THE SKY IS FALLING: ASCENDANT AND DESCENDENT GESTURES IN THE POEM
Forest Primeval
“These poems build a world we all want to inhabit.”
A. Van Jordan
ROSS GAY
MAKING A WAY TOGETHER: A POETRY WORKSHOP
Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude
“Reaches again and again toward stating what's beautiful, what's sweet, what's most emotionally moving.” American Poetry Review
PATTY LARKIN
LYRIC: A SONGWRITING WORKSHOP
Still Green
“Features her witty but heartfelt take on life, love, and the world in which we live.” All Music
THE SINGING IMAGE: A POETRY WORKSHOP
Brooklyn Antediluvian
“An earth-shattering performance.” Publishers Weekly
BENEFIT CONCERTS
POETS NIGHT
NICK FLYNN & KILLDEER
MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 8PM
A feast of music and poetry with critically acclaimed poet/ memoirist Nick Flynn and composer/soundartist Guy Barash, with video projections by Jared Handelsman
CORNELIUS EADY TRIO
TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 8PM
National Book award winning poet Cornelius Eady sets his poetry to song, telling the story of passing time, the Black American experience and the blues.
PATTY LARKIN
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8, 8PM
Stanley Kunitz Common Room
“One of America’s most distinctive guitarists, Larkin matches her instrumental chops as a vocalist and gritty intelligent songwriter.” A New York Times Critic’s Choice
SPECIAL EVENT
FAVORITE POEM PROJECT
ROBERT PINSKY & FRIENDS
FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 8PM
Stanley Kunitz Common Room
The Favorite Poem Project is dedicated to celebrating, documenting and encouraging poetry’s role in our lives. Robert Pinsky, the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States, founded the Favorite Poem Project shortly after the Library of Congress appointed him to the post in 1997. Our Poetry Festival’s Favorite Poem Project event will feature the readings of favorite poems by special guest poets (soon to be announced).
Favorite Poem Project Tickets on Sale Soon