MILES COON Founder & President (January 1938 – May 2022)

May 22, 2022 – Palm Beach — It is with deep sadness that we report that Festival Founder & President, Miles Coon, passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 21, 2022 in Palm Beach. He leaves behind his loving family, including his wife Mimi, son Matthew, daughter Jennifer, and grandson Elias.

Miles was a brilliant student, lawyer, writer, and poet. His sense of humor and wit were always at the ready, especially in the puns he shared with delight. He graduated with highest honors from the University of Virginia in 1959 and Harvard law school in 1962. He practiced law for several years, and ran a manufacturing business for 30 years, which he sold, thereafter turning his attention to poetry.

Since that time, Miles became even more involved with poetry. He attended writing conferences and workshops as a self-described “poetry junkie” and entered the Sarah Lawrence MFA program where he worked with Thomas Lux who became a beloved teacher, mentor, and advisor. Miles’ poems appeared widely in many journals and magazines. He received his MFA in 2002.

In 2005 he founded the Palm Beach Poetry Festival and served as its President and Chairman of the Board. For 18 years, the festival has benefited greatly from his leadership, graciousness, and generosity. He has offered support to hundreds of aspiring poets who have attended the festival workshops, gifted partial and full scholarships and fellowships, and endeavored to honor the work and achievements of festival faculty and featured poets who presented workshops and readings each January.

Many articles and interviews have been published with Miles as primary spokesperson for the Festival. In 2014, when the festival hosted its first sitting U.S. Poet Laureate, Natasha Trethewey, South Florida PBS interviewed Miles for the Art Loft program. He spoke passionately and flawlessly about the ethos, mission, importance, and delights of poetry and the festival. You can listen to Miles speak from the heart in this PBS Interview.

Miles never abandoned writing his own poems. And we’re profoundly sad that he won’t be here to celebrate the publication of his first full-length collection, The Quotient of My Self Divided by My Self, forthcoming from Press 53 in June. However, a beautiful Interview with Miles by long-time festival poet Laure-Anne Bosselaar was recorded at the end of last year. In this recording, he speaks about the festival, the importance of poetry in his life, and of writing poems. He also reads some of the beautiful poems from his book.

Miles always liked to say that the festival would not be a festival without the participants, auditors, faculty, featured poets, interns, staff and friends who attend and give support. He believed passionately in the power of poetry and did great work to share that belief widely. That you are receiving this message today is an affirmation of accomplishment of the mission he set for himself and for the festival.

Should you have memories you’d like to share of your past times with the festival, we ask you to post them on our website at this Festival Guestbook page, or on our Past Participants Facebook Group.

We will keep you informed about plans for a memorial to celebrate his life, and there will surely be a reading of the poems from his new book. We’ll send you the details as that comes clear.

Miles would want once again to thank you for your poems, your dreams, your interest, participation, and for the joy he found in gathering the poets together in South Florida. The boundless inspiration that we have found through this festival would not have been possible without Miles Coon.

FESTIVAL ARCHIVE UPDATED

 

May 20, 2022 — The Festival Archive contains descriptions and images from past festivals has been updated in May 2022. The archive includes descriptions by year of each of the eighteen festivals that began with the first in January 2005 at Lynn University. You can visit the Festival Archive as well as the Faculty & Featured Poets pages to find out more and enjoy some of the recordings that are available. (Note: Not all festival events have been recorded.) Updates are ongoing.

Festival Guestbook

We are pleased to announce that the festival has created a Guestbook! We invite all past participants, faculty, interns and friends of the festival to share memories of past festivals or their recent poetry news related to the festival.

We also hope participants will also join us in the Past Participants Facebook Group to share photos, stories, memories and connect with other past participants, faculty, interns and friends of the festival. We continue to believe that poetry will always bring us together.

2022 High School Poetry Contest Winners

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival believes in nurturing the creativity of the community’s young writers. Listening to their voices could not come at a better time for all of us. We have published their winning poems below. Here’s an opportunity to read some outstanding work.

The winners of our Virtual High School Poetry Contest were selected from numerous entries submitted by students who attend Palm Beach County High Schools, Grades 9-12 – Public, Private Charter Schools, and Home-School. Our distinguished judge for this annual contest was Dr. Jeff Morgan, Professor, English and Dialogues of Learning, College of Arts and Sciences, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida. The winner received $200 and the four runners up each received $100. All winners and runners up received two pairs of tickets to the festival’s virtual poetry readings of their choice and a one-year subscription to Poets & Writers.

Congratulations to our winning poets. Thank you for submitting your wonderful poems!

The Winners of the 2022 High School Poetry Contest:

   1st Place: Alyssa Jean-Louis

   Senior, Dreyfoos School of the Arts

   Heritage?

 

 

   2nd Place: David Levinson

   Junior, Jupiter High School

   lost spaceman

 

 

3rd Place: Priya Gowda

Freshman, Dreyfoos School of the Arts

Unbelonging

 

 

4th Place: Kaja Andric

Senior, Dreyfoos School of the Arts

Ocean

 

 

5th Place: Sarah-Lyse Kirsteen Exume

Senior, Wellington High School, Mrs. Aviles

This Side of My Skin

 

 

 

 

 

FESTIVAL FELLOWS & SCHOLARS 2022


The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce the 2022 fellowships and scholarships for the 18th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival.

Fellowships included the Langston Hughes Fellowships for African-American Poets; Kundiman Fellowships for Asian-American Poets; Canto-Mundo Fellowships for Latinx Poets, and the Thomas Lux Scholarship specifically for first time festival participants who would not otherwise be able to attend. A total of 18 fellowships and scholarships were awarded. These fellowships and scholarships are funded through the generosity of several donors who wish to remain anonymous.

“All of us at the Palm Beach Poetry Festival thought for sure we would be gathering together in person as we had for 16-years of January festivals from 2005 through 2020,” said  Miles Coon, Palm Beach Poetry Festival Founder and President. “Alas, as it did last year, nature has besieged us with more waves, from Delta to Omicron, necessitating online presentation of our 18th Annual Festival, January 10-15, 2022. Not only is our line-up of faculty and other featured poets absolutely fabulous, but we also are proud and pleased to award fellowships and scholarships to these gifted poets who hail from all over the USA.”

“A diverse community of poets will once again create a vital and energetic atmosphere in our workshops this year. We were pleased to be able to offer more virtual fellowships than at prior in-person festivals. And, as we did last year, we have discovered a new kind of community and participation can happen online,” said Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson.

We are pleased to announce the following fellowship and scholarship recipients attending the virtual 18th Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 10-15, 2022:

2022 CantoMundo Fellow: Cristina Correa, Gambler, OH

2022 Langston Hughes Fellows:
Marlanda Dekine, Georgetown, SC; Yolanda Franklin, Sandy Springs, GA; Oak Morse, Houston, TX; Tila Neguse, St. Louis, MO; Edythe Rodriguez, Upper Darby, PA

2022 Kundiman Fellows:
Ryan Artes, Baltimore, MD; Nicole W. Lee, Sydney, Australia; April H. Lim, Stillwater, OK; Michelle Peñaloza, Covela, CA; Maria Picone, Myrtle Beach, SC; Hua Xi, Brooklyn, NY

2022 Thomas Lux Scholars:
Alecia Marie Beymer, Madison, WI; Julie Daniels, Studio City, CA; Remi Recchia, Stillwater, OK; Bradley Samore, Fresno, CA; Felicity Sheehy, Princeton, NJ; L.J. Sysko, Wilmington, DE

Find out more about the fellows & scholars on their bio page.


CantoMundo nurtures and supports the numerous aesthetic and philosophical approaches of Latinx poetry in the USA, and builds on the aesthetically, culturally, and linguistically diverse work of Latinx poets, who have historically—and with limited economic resources—formed supportive literary spaces. CantoMundo’s first gathering convened in 2010.

 

Kundiman is dedicated to the creation and cultivation of Asian American literature, offering a comprehensive spectrum of arts programming that gives writers opportunities to inscribe their own stories, transforming and enriching the American literary landscape.

 

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival – Langston Hughes Fellowship includes the application fee, tuition, and admission to all festival events. The fellow will be an outstanding African American poet who will benefit from and contribute to participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships are open by application to poets who identify as Black or African American. We are grateful to the administrators of the Langston Hughes Estate who assisted us by granting permission to name this fellowship.

We welcome inquiries from donors who may be interested in our efforts to expand the availability of these fellowships and seek to support the festival’s dedication to inclusiveness and enrichment of its workshops and public events. Donors may contribute to the PBPF Diversity Fellowship Fund, established to support these efforts. Interested donors may contact Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson or Founder, Miles Coon.

These fellowships are supported by the generous donations of individuals who wish to remain anonymous. In addition, the festival also offers a limited number of partial scholarships to applicants for whom partial assistance makes attendance possible. Email query must be made after applications are submitted.

2022 FESTIVAL TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Tickets to public events during our 18th Annual Festival, January 10-15, 2022 — craft talks, poetry readings, Special Guest Poet interview, and Beloved Poems panel are on sale now! Visit our 2022 SCHEDULE and click on individual events for a description and to purchase tickets online.

Six days and evenings of workshops, readings, interview, craft talks, panel discussion, social events, and so much more.

Featured poets include: Kim Addonizio, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Chard deNiord, Mark Doty, Yona Harvey, John Murillo, Matthew Olzmann and Diane Seuss. One-On-One Conferences with Lorna Blake, Sally Bliumis Dunn, Nickole Brown, Jessica Jacobs, and Angela Narciso Torres. A special Craft Talk by Kwame Dawes, Special Guest Poet, Yusef Komunyakaa. Poet-at-Large, Aimee Nezhukumatathil.

 

2022 Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowships

Applications are now closed. The deadline to apply for these fellowships was November 15, 2021.

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce it will offer three fellowships that provide full workshop tuition and admission to all festival events for the upcoming 18th Annual Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 10-15, 2022. The fellowships are offered to open the festival workshop doors widely to qualified poets and to ensure the festival’s workshops provide enriching experiences through working with poets from a wide variety of cultures.

The three fellowships are the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes Fellowship, the CantoMundo Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowship, and the Kundiman Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowship.

Each fellowship recipient will be an outstanding poet who will benefit from, and contribute to, participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships applications are now closed.

CantoMundo nurtures and supports the numerous aesthetic and philosophical approaches of Latinx poetry in the USA, and builds on the aesthetically, culturally, and linguistically diverse work of Latinx poets, who have historically—and with limited economic resources—formed supportive literary spaces. CantoMundo’s first gathering convened in 2010. Use this link to apply for the CantoMundo /Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2022 Fellowship.

Kundiman is dedicated to the creation and cultivation of Asian American literature, offering a comprehensive spectrum of arts programming that gives writers opportunities to inscribe their own stories, transforming and enriching the American literary landscape. Use this link to apply the Kundiman / Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2022 Fellowship and to apply.

FELLOWSHIP

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival – Langston Hughes Fellowship includes the application fee, tuition, and admission to all festival events. The fellow will be an outstanding African American poet who will benefit from and contribute to participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships are open by application to poets who identify as Black or African American. We are grateful to the administrators of the Langston Hughes Estate who assisted us by granting permission to name this fellowship. You may use this link to apply for the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes 2022 Fellowship.

We welcome inquiries from donors who may be interested in our efforts to expand the availability of these fellowships and seek to support the festival’s dedication to inclusiveness and enrichment of its workshops and public events. Donors may contribute to the PBPF Diversity Fellowship Fund, established to support these efforts. Interested donors may contact Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson, or Founder, Miles Coon.

These fellowships are supported by the generous donations of individuals who wish to remain anonymous. In addition, the festival also offers a limited number of partial scholarships to applicants for whom partial assistance makes attendance possible. Email query must be made after applications are submitted.

2022 Thomas Lux Scholarship Open For Applications

2016 Workshop Faculty with Thomas Lux.

Applications for the 2022 Thomas Lux Scholarship are now closed. The deadline to apply was November 15, 2021.

Through the generosity of some very special donors, we are offering a Thomas Lux Scholarship to provide one full workshop tuition scholarship for the upcoming 18th Annual Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival to a poet who has not previously attended a festival workshop. The scholarship covers full participant tuition and admission to all festival events. This fellowship is intended for a poet of promise who would benefit from the festival week events and workshop and would not otherwise be able to attend. A statement of need is requested with the application.

Thomas Lux with Miles Coon, Festival Founder

We are grateful to the individuals who united in the spirit of teaching, mentoring, and fostering excellence in poetry to honor the legacy of Thomas Lux’s life and work. He always gave support to poets who sought to develop their skill and abilities and recommended to many that they apply to attend the festival. Our festival always will remain synonymous with the creative lifeblood of this fine human being and gifted poet. Please use this link to apply for the Thomas Lux Scholarship.

Note: The festival does offer a limited number of partial tuition scholarships, subject to available funding, to applicants who might otherwise be unable to attend. The festival does not accept applications to more than one fellowship or scholarship opportunity in any single year. Duplicate applications may disqualify the applicant.

REPRISE OF 17th ANNUAL FESTIVAL EVENTS AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE CHANNEL

The Festival Celebrated National Poetry Month with a Reprise of the 17th Annual Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival events on our YouTube Channel, 2021 Festival Reprise Events Playlist, throughout April 2021. Our First Virtual Festival was held January 18-23, 2021 on Zoom due to the global pandemic.

The festival featured workshops, readings, craft talks, manuscript consultations, panel discussions, and social events for poets and the public. Workshop faculty included poets: David Baker, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Traci Brimhall, Eduardo C. Corral, Vievee Francis, Kevin Prufer, Martha Rhodes & Tim Seibles. Additional Faculty included: Lorna Knowles Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Nickole Brown, Jessica Jacobs, Angela Narciso Torres, Brian Turner, and Karin De Weille. Special Guest was Gregory Orr with the Parkington Sisters presenting The Beloved: A Poetry & Song Cycle.

2021 Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival (Reprise) Playlist Schedule (Eastern Time)

Festival YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/PalmBeachPoetryFestival

 

HIGH SCHOOL POETRY CONTEST DEADLINE DECEMBER 1, 2021

The 18th Annual Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival invites all Palm Beach County High School Students to send in original poems.

  • The winner will receive $200 and a pair of tickets to the virtual Friday night reading event featuring Poet-At -Large Aimee Nezhukumatathil.
  • The four runners up will each receive $100 and a pair of tickets to the virtual Friday night reading event
  • All winners receive a one-year subscription to Poets and Writers Literary Journal
  • All of the prize-winning poems will be posted on the festival website: palmbeachpoetryfestival.org and will be included in press releases

ELIGIBILITY: All Palm Beach County High School Students, Grades 9-12 – Public, Private Charter Schools, and Home-School

RULES:

  1. Poems may be submitted October 15th through December 1, 2021, as follows:
  2. Submit one or two poems, 30 lines maximum, single-spaced, 12-point type.
  3. Your name, address, phone number, email address, name of high school, teacher’s name, and grade level will be entered as you complete the Submittable entry. All entries will be read blind using Submittable. The link to submit poems is: https://palmbeachpoetryfestival.submittable.com/submit/196581/2022-high-school-poetry-contest
  4. By submitting a poem to the contest, the student agrees to be named in press releases and media stories about the contest and the festival.
  5. Your submission is an agreement that if selected as a winner, you will submit a video reading of the winning poem, and a headshot for promotional purposes.
  6. Any Submission containing profanity will be declined.

Submissions that do not adhere to these rules will be refused. Keep a copy of your poem, as the original will not be returned. Winners and runners up will be notified by January 1st, 2022.

DISTINGUISHED JUDGE:
Dr. Jeff Morgan, English Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida

Please see last year’s poets and their winning poems at the following link: https://www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/news/2021-high-school-poetry-contest-winners/

2022 PALM BEACH POETRY FESTIVAL ANNOUNCED

June 15, 2021, DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA — Palm Beach Poetry Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson, today announced that the 2022 festival, which for 17 years has been a South Florida event in Delray Beach, will hold its 18th Annual Festival virtually. “Poetry brings us together, whether in the flesh or in cyberspace. The festival’s purpose is to provide nationally recognized learning opportunities for writers of poetry and a world-class, life-enriching series of cultural events for our audiences,” said Miles Coon, Founder & Director. “We have done just that for the past 17 years at Old School Square.”We wish the extensive renovations at Old School Square which is beloved by poets who come from over 30 different states and several foreign countries, were completed in time to allow us to hold the festival in person once again. “Sadly, we will be in Delray Beach in virtual spirit,” said Williamson. Applications open June 19, 2021 using Submittable.

“Our festival is all about light … the light that we reach for from darkness, and find in poetry … together.” said Director, Susan R. Williamson. “The faculty lineup this year is simply stellar!”

As a Florida nonprofit corporation, part of the festival’s mission is to organize educational outreach programs that bring the pleasures of poetry to the community. We are a proud member of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council. As in January 2021, our community p grew beyond the bounds of the much loved location we have enjoyed for the past 17 years. “We learned a lot last year and welcomed full workshops to the festival as well as our in-house bookstore, Murder On The Beach, who featured virtual book signings. These workshops will once again be led by some of America’s most award-winning and engaging poets, also renowned for their teaching,” said Assistant Director, Jennifer Litt.

2022 readings, craft talks, special events, and poetry workshops feature another stellar faculty lineup: Kim Addonizio, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Chard deNiord, Mark Doty, Yona Harvey, John Murillo, Matthew Olzmann & Diane Seuss; Special Guest Poet Yusef Komunakaa will be interviewed and read for the Thomas Lux Memorial Reading; and Poet-at-Large Aimee Nezhukumatathil will visit with Palm Beach County Schools and An Extraordinary Evening Reading. Details forthcoming via the festival website, Twitter and Facebook.

“In January, we we will once again listen to each other’s words and see each other’s faces, even if we cannot be together in Delray Beach,” said Founder Miles Coon. “The festival staff are working on ways to also present the social events we all look forward to in a virtual format,” said Coon. These virtual opportunities promise to once again create a one-of-a-kind festival experience in January 2022.

 

WE CELEBRATED NATIONAL POETRY MONTH WITH BRIAN TURNER

Brian Turner
Brian Turner

Delray Beach, FL – June 11, 2021 — The Palm Beach Poetry Festival presented Brian Turner Live and At Large with the Palm Beach County Schools on Friday, April 23, 2021 at 1:45 pm in a virtual reading, talk and Q&A on YouTube. The Festival has sponsored an annual poet-at-large in the Palm Beach County High Schools as part of the annual week long festival in January. In 2021 during the first virtual festival, Brian Turner gave an extraordinary evening reading, but his in-person readings in the schools were postponed due to the global pandemic.

Brian Turner’s landscape of writing is war but also the subject is love and loss. And healing. Turner is the author of two poetry collections, Here, Bullet, which won the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award, the New York Times “Editor’s Choice” selection, the 2006 PEN Center USA “Best in the West” award, and the 2007 Poets Prize, among others; and Phantom Noise, which was shortlisted for the 2010 T.S. Eliot Prize in Poetry. His memoir, My Life as a Foreign Country, was listed on Powell’s Best Nonfiction List in 2014. Turner served seven years in the US Army, including one year as an infantry team leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. He was also deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999-2000 with the 10th Mountain Division.

In his poetry and prose, Turner conveys both elegant and devastating portraits of what it means to be a soldier and a human being. His most recent publication, as editor, is The Kiss (2018), a diverse anthology of essays, stories, poems, and graphic memoirs. His work has appeared on National Public Radio, the BBC, Newshour with Jim Lehrer, Here and Now, and on Weekend America, among others. He is the Director of the Low Residency MFA Program at Sierra Nevada College.

In a 2005 New Yorker column titled “War Poet,” Turner says he wrote his poems in secret because the “backbone of the Army” can’t be hard-nosed if his underlings think he’s “writing about flowers.” Since the publication of Here, Bullet, the open secret is Turner not only mentors war veterans to develop their writing voices, but he also continues to explore and expand the boundaries of writing through different genres and often through poetry and music collaborations with artists around the globe. His most significant partner was his late wife, the poet Ilyse Kusnetz, with whom he added love to the creative mix. Brian Turner, the poet and the person, shows us how bravery and empathy fine tune the human instrument of language.

Click on the following YouTube link anytime to listen to Brian Turner’s unforgettable reading:

Brian Turner Live and At Large

Brian Turner Live & At Large Handout:  PBPF PBCS 2021 Brian Turner
We are grateful to the Palm Beach County School District’s Educational Technology Department for making this event possible. Extend the conversation. Please feel free to share what you have learned, where you are learning from, and other implementation ideas on Twitter using the hashtag #ETpbcPD and tagging the Educational Technology Department @EdTechPBC! This livestream will be recorded. It will be available immediately after the stream on the @EdTechPBC YouTube Channel.

FESTIVAL TO REPRISE EVENTS FOR NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

Palm Beach Poetry 2021 Festival Staff & Faculty on Zoom

The Festival is pleased to announce that we will Celebrate National Poetry Month with a Reprise of the 17th Annual Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival events on our YouTube Channel, 2021 Festival Reprise Events Playlist, throughout April 2021.

The 17th Annual Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival was held in January for the first time on Zoom due to the global pandemic.

The festival featured workshops, readings, craft talks, manuscript consultations, panel discussions, and social events for poets and the public. Workshop faculty included poets: David Baker, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Traci Brimhall, Eduardo C. Corral, Vievee Francis, Kevin Prufer, Martha Rhodes & Tim Seibles. Additional Faculty included: Lorna Knowles Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Nickole Brown, Jessica Jacobs, Angela Narciso Torres, Brian Turner, and Karin De Weille. Special Guest was Gregory Orr with the Parkington Sisters presenting The Beloved: A Poetry & Song Cycle.

2021 Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival (Reprise) Playlist Schedule (Eastern Time)

Festival YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/PalmBeachPoetryFestival

2021 Festival Craft Talks Reprise    3:00 pm /Mondays in April

Monday, April 5, 2021 3:00 pm

Kevin Prufer: The Music of Poetry

Martha Rhodes: Taking the Temperature: 98.6 to 1200 to 58 degrees and rising—dipping the thermometer into our poems.

https://youtu.be/H_g8Mg-wYDE

Monday, April 12, 2021 3:00 pm

David Baker: Subtlety and the Sublime

Vievee Francis: The Personal “I”: Why and How Our Lives Matter in The Poem

https://youtu.be/u0Ewgojqdgc

Monday, April 19, 2021 3:00 pm

Traci Brimhall: Love Is in The Repetition

https://youtu.be/8h2AW_3rKjQ

Monday, April 26, 2021 3:00 pm

Tim Seibles: Texture in Poetry: Satin vs. Corduroy

Karin de Weille: Exploring Metaphor: The Extraordinary Range of Possibilities

https://youtu.be/rbEJ11ViOqE

Special Festival Events Reprise    7:30 pm / Thursdays in April

Thursday, April 8, 2021 7:30 pm
Gregory Orr Interview by Laure-Anne Bosselaar

https://youtu.be/qJsRQsY7GlI

Thursday, April 15, 2021 7:30 pm
Thomas Lux Memorial Reading with Special Guest Gregory Orr with the Parkington Sisters presenting an original music and poetry performance of The Beloved: A Poetry & Song Cycle.
[first presented by the Geraldine R. Dodge Festival] [Videography: Lee Gladstone, Gladstone Multimedia]

https://youtu.be/Sz5BnKBUXAM

Thursday, April 22, 2021 7:30 pm
Beloved Poems Panel: Tim Seibles, Martha Rhodes, Kevin Prufer, David Baker, Traci Brimhall, Eduardo C. Corral, Vievee Francis, & Laure-Anne Bosselaar. Moderated by Nickole Brown

https://youtu.be/jhYjyNCo7Gw

EVENING READINGS REPRISE: 4:00 pm / Saturday Afternoons in April

Saturday, April 3, 2021 4:00 pm
Conference Faculty Reading: Lorna Knowles Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Nickole Brown, Jessica Jacobs & Angela Narciso Torres

Saturday, April 10, 2021 4:00 pm
Kickoff Reading: Traci Brimhall, Tim Seibles & Brian Turner

https://youtu.be/wlDSId95k20

Saturday, April 17, 2021 4:00 pm
Mid-Week Reading: Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Kevin Prufer & Martha Rhodes

https://youtu.be/wfvuw4elGVQ

Saturday, April 24, 2021 4:00 pm
Final Reading: David Baker, Vievee Francis & Eduardo C. Corral

https://youtu.be/nstoLV29VDQ

The Festival will partner with Palm Beach County Schools to feature Brian Turner, Poet-At-Large for a live-streamed reading event, April 23rd at 1:45 pm. Stay tuned for more information on this performance.

The COVID global pandemic has affected each of us in so many ways. In the face of all fear, loss, upheaval and isolation, we we learned again What we always known. Poetry will always bring us together … especially at the Festival. We hope you will join us for a reprise of the 2021 festival throughout the month of April.

Won’t you also support our programming as we navigate these challenging times? No donation is too small, and will help to make it possible for us to continue …Visit: https://www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/support-the-festival/give-now/

 

FELLOWSHIPS & SCHOLARSHIPS 2021

Left to right 1st Row Aremu Adibisi Zachary Kluckman Zorina Frey Jessica Dionne Ariana Benson Armen Davoudian 2nd Row Nicole Dizon Jen Edwards Roman Johnson Julio César Diaz Jesus Vales Moira Walsh 3rd Row Kimberly Jackson Samn Stockwell Len Lawson Lisa Sullivan Lolita Stewart White Reyes Ramirez 4th Row Eric Tran Hannah Keziah Agustin Vernae Coffee Julia Levine Paul Hostovsky Karen Schubert 5th Row Yusef Salaam Nathaniel Soonest Kimberly Reyes Ashley Kim Elizabeth Mercurio Danielle Williams

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce a record-number of workshop fellowships and scholarships for the 17th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival.

Fellowships included the Langston Hughes Fellowships for African-American Poets; Kundiman Fellowships for Asian-American Poets; Canto-Mundo Fellowships for Latinx Poets, and the Thomas Lux Scholarship specifically for first time festival participants who would not otherwise be able to attend. A total of thirty fellowships and scholarships were awarded.

These fellowships and scholarships are funded through the generosity of several donors who wish to remain anonymous. “Though the Covid-19 pandemic prevented us from holding the festival in Delray Beach at Old School Square, as we have for the past 15 years, a virtual format has allowed us to open our doors even more widely to poets this year,” said Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson.

“Our festival, steeped in its 16-year history of January festivals from 2005 through 2020, faced a pandemic that has gutted cultural organizations of every size; closing venues, decimating air travel, and threatening the safety and well-being of gifted artists everywhere,” said Festival Founder, Miles Coon. “We had to decide between going dark for 2021 or going virtual.”

Past participants who often return year after year to attend festival workshops, prefer the in-person festival experience. But because of some very generous donations, we were able to offer Fellowships that usually include lodging during the Florida high season. It’s the virtual format that allowed us to make these opportunities available to the talented poets who submitted applications this year.

Such a diverse community of poets created a vital and energetic atmosphere in all of our online workshops this year. A new kind of community and participation can happen online. People discover new ways to connect, during Webinar readings and craft talks. Using the Zoom chat feature, attendees can address panelists and each other directly while readings are underway.  Craft Talks were followed by Q&A sessions, moderated by festival staff.

We are so proud and pleased to announce the names of fellowship and scholarship recipients who attended the virtual Palm Beach Poetry Virtual Festival, January 18-23, 2021.

 

CantoMundo Fellowship Awards: Reyes Ramirez, Houston, TX, Kimberly Reyes, Forest Hills, NY, Jesús I. Valles, Austin, TX

Langston Hughes Fellowship Awards:  Aremu Adams Adebisi, Ketu, Nigeria, Ariana Benson, Chesapeake, VA, Vernae Matikke Coffee, Tullahoma, TN, Zorina Frey, Doral, FL, Kimberly Jae, Ft Worth, TX, Len Lawson, Florence, SC, Soonest Nathaniel, Lagos , Nigeria, Yusef Salaam, New York, NY, Lolita Stewart-White, Miami, FL, Danielle P. Williams, Alexandria, VA

Kundiman Fellowship Awards: Hannah Keziah Agustin, Whitewater, WI, Armen Davoudian, Stanford, CA, Nicole Mairose Dizon, Los Angeles, CA, Ashley Sojin Kim, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, Eric Tran, Asheville, NC

Thomas Lux Scholarships:  Julio Cesar Diaz, Northampton, MA, Jessica Dionne, Apex , NC, Jennifer R. Edwards, Concord , NH, Paul Hostovsky, Medfield, MA, Roman Johnson, Brighton, MA, Zachary Kluckman, Albuquerque, NM, Julia B Levine 6, Davis, CA, Elizabeth Mercurio, Tampa, FL, Karen Schubert, Youngstown, OH, Samn Stockwell, Barre, VT, Lisa J. Sullivan, Plymouth, MA, Moira Walsh, Stuttgart, Germany.

 

CantoMundo nurtures and supports the numerous aesthetic and philosophical approaches of Latinx poetry in the USA, and builds on the aesthetically, culturally, and linguistically diverse work of Latinx poets, who have historically—and with limited economic resources—formed supportive literary spaces. CantoMundo’s first gathering convened in 2010.

 

Kundiman is dedicated to the creation and cultivation of Asian American literature, offering a comprehensive spectrum of arts programming that gives writers opportunities to inscribe their own stories, transforming and enriching the American literary landscape.

 

 

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival – Langston Hughes Fellowship includes the application fee, tuition, and admission to all festival events. The fellow will be an outstanding African American poet who will benefit from and contribute to participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships are open by application to poets who identify as Black or African American. We are grateful to the administrators of the Langston Hughes Estate who assisted us by granting permission to name this fellowship.

We welcome inquiries from donors who may be interested in our efforts to expand the availability of these fellowships and seek to support the festival’s dedication to inclusiveness and enrichment of its workshops and public events. Donors may contribute to the PBPF Diversity Fellowship Fund, established to support these efforts. Interested donors may contact Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson or Founder, Miles Coon.

These fellowships are supported by the generous donations of individuals who wish to remain anonymous. In addition, the festival also offers a limited number of partial scholarships to applicants for whom partial assistance makes attendance possible. Email query must be made after applications are submitted.

2021 High School Poetry Contest Winners

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival believes in nurturing the creativity of the community’s young writers. Listening to their voices could not come at a better time for all of us. Click on their poems to read their outstanding work.

The winners of our Virtual High School Poetry Contest were selected from numerous entries submitted by students who attend Palm Beach County High Schools, Grades 9-12 – Public, Private Charter Schools, and Home-School. Our distinguished judge for this annual contest was Dr. Jeff Morgan, Professor, English and Dialogues of Learning, College of Arts and Sciences, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida. The winner received $200 and the four runners up each received $100. All winners and runners up received two pairs of tickets to the festival’s virtual poetry readings of their choice and a one-year subscription to Poets & Writers.

The Winners of the 2021 High School Poetry Contest:           

 

 

1st Place: Alissa Xiao

Senior, Dreyfoos School of the Arts

Garden of Eden”

 

 

 

The Four Runners up are:

 

2nd Place: Emma-Jade Cantrell                   

Junior, Dreyfoos School of the Arts

“How to Avoid Hypothermia”

 

 

 

 

 

3rd Place: Graysen Williams

Sophomore, Dreyfoos School of the Arts

“My Crown”

 

 

 

 

 

4thPlace: Katherine Oung  

Senior, Dreyfoos School of the Arts

“Bearing Fruit”  

 

 

 

 

 

5thPlace:  Justin Benitez                               

Junior, Spanish River High

“Here I Stand on the Shores of Time”

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to our winning poets. Thank you for submitting your wonderful poems!

2021 VIRTUAL FESTIVAL

The 17th Annual Festival, took place January 18-23, 2021–our first virtual festival and included six days and evenings of workshops, readings, interview, craft talks, panel discussion, social events, and so much more.

Featured poets were: David Baker, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Traci Brimhall, Eduardo C. Corral, Vievee Francis, Kevin Prufer, Martha Rhodes, and Tim Seibles. Featured Poets: Lorna Knowles Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Nickole Brown, Jessica Jacobs, Angela Narciso Torres, Karin De Weille and Brian Turner. Special Guest: Gregory Orr and the Parkington Sisters performed The Beloved: A Poetry & Song Cycle in three parts.

 

 

2021 High School Poetry Contest (deadline December 1st!)

The 17th Annual Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival invites all Palm Beach County High School Students to send in one original poem.

  • The winner will receive $200 and a pair of tickets to the virtual Friday night reading event featuring Poet At Large Brian Turner
  • The four runners up will each receive $100 and a pair of tickets to the virtual Friday night reading event
  • All winners receive a one-year subscription to Poets and Writers Literary Journal
  • All of the prize-winning poems will be posted on the festival website: palmbeachpoetryfestival.org and will be included in press releases

ELIGIBILITY: All Palm Beach County High School Students, Grades 9-12 – Public, Private Charter Schools, and Home-School

RULES:

  1. Poems may be submitted October 15th through December 1, 2020, as follows:
  2. Submit one poem, 30 lines maximum, single-spaced, 12-point type.
  3. Your name, address, phone number, email address, name of high school, teacher’s name, and grade level will be entered as you complete the Submittable entry. All entries will be read blind using Submittable.
  4. By submitting a poem to the contest, the student agrees to be named in press releases and media stories about the contest and the festival.
  5. Your submission is an agreement that if selected as a winner, you will submit a video reading of the winning poem, and a headshot for promotional purposes.
  6. Any Submission containing profanity will be declined.

Submissions that do not adhere to these rules will be refused. Keep a copy of your poem, as the original will not be returned. Winners and runners up will be notified by January 1st, 2021. Enter the Palm Beach Poetry Festival High School Poetry Contest using this link.

DISTINGUISHED JUDGE:
Dr. Jeff Morgan, English Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida

2021 Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowships

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce it will offer three fellowships that provide full workshop tuition and admission to all festival events for the upcoming 17th Annual Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 18-23, 2021. The fellowships are offered to open the festival workshop doors widely to qualified poets and to ensure the festival’s workshops provide enriching experiences through working with poets from a wide variety of cultures.

The three fellowships are the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes Fellowship, the CantoMundo Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowship, and the Kundiman Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowship.

Each fellowship recipient will be an outstanding poet who will benefit from, and contribute to, participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships applications are now open. For details, please visit the links below to each for specifics, details and to apply. Applications are now open, and the deadline to apply for these fellowships is December 15, 2020.

CantoMundo nurtures and supports the numerous aesthetic and philosophical approaches of Latinx poetry in the USA, and builds on the aesthetically, culturally, and linguistically diverse work of Latinx poets, who have historically—and with limited economic resources—formed supportive literary spaces. CantoMundo’s first gathering convened in 2010. Use this link to find out more about the CantoMundo /Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2021 Fellowship and to apply.

 

Kundiman is dedicated to the creation and cultivation of Asian American literature, offering a comprehensive spectrum of arts programming that gives writers opportunities to inscribe their own stories, transforming and enriching the American literary landscape. Use this link to find out more about the Kundiman / Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2021 Fellowship and to apply.

 

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival – Langston Hughes Fellowship includes the application fee, tuition, and admission to all festival events. The fellow will be an outstanding African American poet who will benefit from and contribute to participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships are open by application to poets who identify as Black or African American. We are grateful to the administrators of the Langston Hughes Estate who assisted us by granting permission to name this fellowship. You may use this link to apply for the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes 2021 Fellowship.

We welcome inquiries from donors who may be interested in our efforts to expand the availability of these fellowships and seek to support the festival’s dedication to inclusiveness and enrichment of its workshops and public events. Donors may contribute to the PBPF Diversity Fellowship Fund, established to support these efforts. Interested donors may contact Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson or Founder, Miles Coon.

These fellowships are supported by the generous donations of individuals who wish to remain anonymous. In addition, the festival also offers a limited number of partial scholarships to applicants for whom partial assistance makes attendance possible. Email query must be made after applications are submitted.

2021 Thomas Lux Scholarship & Langston Hughes Fellowship

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce that applications for the 2021 Thomas Lux Scholarship and the 2021 Langston Hughes Fellowship are now open. The deadline to apply is December 15, 2020.

Through the generosity of some very special donors, we are offering a Thomas Lux Scholarship to provide one full workshop tuition scholarship for the upcoming 17th Annual Virtual Palm Beach Poetry Festival to a poet who has not previously attended a festival workshop. The scholarship covers full participant tuition and admission to all festival events. This fellowship is intended for a poet of promise who would benefit from the festival week events and workshop and would not otherwise be able to attend. A statement of need is requested with the application.

We are grateful to the individuals who united in the spirit of teaching, mentoring, and fostering excellence in poetry to honor the legacy of Thomas Lux’s life and work. He always gave support to poets who sought to develop their skill and abilities and recommended to many that they apply to attend the festival. Lux said, “The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is the most rigorous, intense, and exciting poetry program in the country. Most important: excellent teaching.” Our festival always will remain synonymous with the creative lifeblood of this fine human being and gifted poet. You may use this link to apply for the Thomas Lux Scholarship.

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival – Langston Hughes Fellowship includes the application fee, tuition, and admission to all festival events. The fellow will be an outstanding African American poet who will benefit from, and contribute to, participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships are open by application to poets who identify as Black or African American. We are grateful to the administrators of the Langston Hughes Estate who assisted us by granting permission to name this fellowship. You may use this link to apply for the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes 2021 Fellowship.

Note: The festival does offer a limited number of partial tuition scholarships, subject to available funding, to applicants who might otherwise be unable to attend. The festival does not accept applications to more than one fellowship or scholarship opportunity in any single year. Duplicate applications may disqualify the applicant.

FESTIVAL WORKSHOP APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN!

18th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival Virtual Workshop Applications are now open on Submittable!

Our line-up features Workshop Faculty Poets: Kim Addonizio, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Chard deNiord, Mark Doty, Yona Harvey, John Murillo, Matthew Olzmann, & Diane Seuss.

Our Special Guest is Yusef Komunakaa; Poet-at-Large Aimee Nezhukumatathil; and Conference Faculty: Lorna Knowles Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Nickole Brown, Jessica Jacobs, and Angela Narciso Torres. A Special Craft Talk will be presented by Kwame Dawes. Applications open soon  for this extraordinary opportunity to attend the festival virtually.

Workshop admission is by application. To apply, visit our Faculty & Featured Poets page, review the application guidelines, and apply online, using Submittable. The deadline to apply is November 15th.

A full week of extraordinary virtual poetry events with America’s most engaging and award-winning poets: readings, craft talks, interviews and panel discussions, workshops, all to be enjoyed online with a community of poets attending from all over the United States and beyond. We will gather via our computers for our 18th year to experience the best of the best poetry has to offer. Workshops offer time to focus on your work as a poet. Festival events are open to the public and take place over six days and evenings. Six days of workshops, readings, craft talks, manuscript conferences, panel discussion, and so much more.

The 18th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival will be held virtually January 10-15, 2022.

 

2021 FESTIVAL TO BE PRESENTED VIRTUALLY

July 15, 2020, DELRAY BEACH, FLORIDA — Palm Beach Poetry Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson, today announced that the 2021 festival, which for 16 years has been a South Florida event in Delray Beach, will hold its 17th Annual Festival virtually. “Poetry brings us together, whether in the flesh or in cyberspace. The festival’s purpose is to provide nationally recognized learning opportunities for writers of poetry and a world-class, life-enriching series of cultural events for our audiences,” said Miles Coon, Founder & Director.

“Our festival is all about light … the light that we reach for from darkness, and find in poetry … together. So we will not succumb to the uncertainties of the pandemic and go dark in 2021,” said Director, Susan R. Williamson.

As a Florida nonprofit corporation, part of the festival’s mission is to organize educational outreach programs that bring the pleasures of poetry to the community. We are a proud member of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council. But for January 2021, our community promises to grow beyond the bounds of the much loved location we have enjoyed for the past 16 years. “We are hard at work on the technical aspects of presenting the festival and once again, offering the workshops led by some of America’s most award-winning and engaging poets, also renowned for their teaching,” said Assistant Director, Jennifer Litt.

2021 readings, craft talks, special events, and poetry workshops feature another stellar faculty lineup: David Baker, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Traci Brimhall, Eduardo C. Corral, Vievee Francis, Kevin Prufer, Martha Rhodes, and Tim Seibles; Special Guest Poet Gregory Orr, who will present The Beloved, a poetry-song cycle created in collaboration with the extraordinary Parkington Sisters; and Poet-at-Large Brian Turner. Details forthcoming via the festival website, Twitter and Facebook.

“In January, we we will once again listen to each other’s words and see each other’s faces, even if we cannot be together in Delray Beach,” said Founder Miles Coon. “The festival staff are working on ways to also present the social events we all look forward to in a virtual format,” said Coon. These virtual opportunities promise to once again create a one-of-a-kind festival experience in January 2021.

 

ART COUTURE CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

DELRAY BEACH, FL — April 17, 2020 – Five cash prizes and five honorable mentions were selected by our contest judge, the distinguished poet, Stephen Gibson. The First Place Winner receives $100, and winners of Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Places each receive $25.00. The winners are:

FIRST PLACE:
Erika Michael, “Schtick, A Riff on Adhesif” inspired by Caroline Dechambay’s Adhesif 

SECOND PLACE:
Vivian Shipley, “An Old Husband’s Tale” inspired by Rick Lazes’ Meghan

THIRD PLACE:
Sheila Kelly, “Skin” inspired by Becky Ross’s Expensive Taste

FOURTH PLACE:
Michelle Winkler, “Sonnet for 2020” inspired by Sonia Sanchez Arias’ Dorian Gray

FIFTH PLACE:
Django Bisous, “Modern Masque for Mondrian” inspired by Caroline Dechambay’s Adhesif

Five HONORABLE MENTIONS were selected: henry 7. reneau, jr., “Jackie Kennedy in Pink Chanel” and Susan Carroll Jewell, “Georgia O’Keeffe Buys a Pink Suit” (both inspired by Timo Weill’s Pink Suit); Victoria Otto Franzese, “DGS” and Amalia Mavrofrides, “The Dress” (both inspired by Sonia Sanchez Arias’s Dorian Gray); and Stephen Mead, “Yum” (inspired by Becky Ross’s Expensive Taste. 

All five prize-winning poems will be featured in the May issue of South Florida Poetry Journal. All winning poems, including honorable mention poems, will be published on the website and in press release and social media announcements.

The works in Art Couture: The Intersection of Fashion and Art focus on contemporary art that is fashion-inspired, and on fashion designers’ couture designs and illustrations. Fashion as art, important works of contemporary art, and couture designs featured on mannequins are all part of this exciting exhibition. Six galleries with three designers and three galleries of artwork, and an atrium space holding contemporary art. The eight works from the exhibition offer poets plenty of inspiration for ekphrastic poems.

About the selection process, Judge Stephen Gibson said, “This was a terrific group of poets, and their responses to the art works were varied and exciting and full of surprises. Please convey my thanks to all of the poets who entered this year’s contest, those represented by my selections and those who were not because they were all in different ways deserving.”

The contest offered poets the opportunity to take inspiration from the following eight works selected from the Art Couture Exhibition:

(Click on each image to see a larger high-res version.)

Air Jordan, Study 2, Stephen Wells
Athena Shoe/ Pall Mall/ McQueen, Rick Lazes
Dorian Gray by Sonia Arias Sanchez
Marilyn En Bleu, Sylvestre, Gavrit

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adhesif, Caroline Dechamby
Expensive Taste, Becky Rosa
Meghan, Rick Lazes
Pink Suit, Timo Weill

 

 

 

 

 


Ekphrastic Poems
 come from the poetic tradition of taking inspiration from objects and works of art known as “ekphrasis” from the Greek. These may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art.

Contest Judge Stephen Gibson, is the author of seven poetry collections, most recently, Self-Portrait in a Door-Length Mirror, winner of the 2017 Miller Williams Prize (Univ. of Arkansas Press), selected by Billy Collins. His poetry and fiction have appeared in such journals as American Arts Quarterly, Gargoyle, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, North American Review, The Paris Review, Pleiades, Poetry, River StyxThe Sewanee Review, ShenandoahThe Southern Review, and The Yale Review among others. He taught for thirty-two years at the Belle Glade campus of Palm Beach State College.


*This competition would not be possible without the collaboration of Old School Square and The Cornell Art Museum. Images courtesy o
f the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square and artists as noted above.

 

 

HIGH SCHOOL POETRY CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Winners of the High School Poetry Contest were celebrated at the Annual Palm Beach County High School Poetry Contest Award Ceremony, in the Crest Theatre, at Old School Square in Delray Beach, January 20th.

Open to Palm Beach County public and private high school students, five winners and three honorable mentions were selected from over 300 entries by Dr. Jeff Morgan, Lynn University, contest judge.

In addition to cash prizes, all winners received a pair of tickets to “An Evening of Poetry with Patricia Smith.” Smith is the author of eight books of poetry, including Incendiary Art, winner of the 2018 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the 2017 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the 2018 NAACP Image Award, and finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize. Smith visited Palm Beach County High Schools during festival week to read/perform her poetry followed by Q&A sessions with students . It is estimated that these programs reached over 3,000 students. Winners will also receive subscriptions to Poets & Writers Magazine.

Visit this link to see and read all of the winning poems.

The $200 first place prize went to Grace Gosinanont, from Royal Palm Beach Gardens, a 16-year-old junior at A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts in West Palm Beach. She won for her poem Rotten. Her sponsoring teacher is Brittany Rigdon.

The next four $100 winners are in order of their finish:

+ Primrose Tanachaiwiwat, a 15-year-old sophomore at Boca Raton Community High School, for her poem Etymology. Her sponsoring teacher is Andrea Abbe.

+ Rachel Dippolito, from Lake Worth, a 16-year-old junior at Dreyfoos School of the Arts, for her poem Daughter. The sponsoring teacher is Brittany Rigdon.

+ Ava Murray, from West Palm Beach, a sophomore at Dreyfoos School of the Arts, for her poem In Argentina. Her sponsoring teacher is Britany Rigdon.

+ Mariel Silpe, from Palm Beach, a 16-year-old junior at Dreyfoos School of the Arts, for her poem Love in Retrograde. Her sponsoring teacher is Brittany Rigdon.

In 2020, for the first time, three additional student poets received Honorable Mention: Alexa Alvarez, a 17-year-old junior, at Wellington Community High School, for her poem Luciana; Margaret Hunt, a 15-year-old sophomore at Wellington High, for The Afro in My Memory Mirror; and Julie Claude PettitFrere, a senior at Glades Central High School in Belle Glades, for Boys Will Be Boys.

“This year the Palm Beach Poetry Festival High School Poetry Contest received more than 230 submissions,” says Dr. Allen. “We are grateful to our contest judge, Dr. Jeff Morgan from Lynn University in Boca Raton, for choosing the winning poems and three honorable mentions.”

“The Poetry Festival has been honored to work with high school teachers throughout Palm Beach County for a decade and a half. We have visited hundreds of classrooms to discuss the craft of poetry and encourage students to write original poems. Every year we are impressed by the quality of their work. Many of our past winners have gone to college to become teachers themselves, and we are always hopeful that the students will continue to discover the delights that poetry offers us,” she adds. “As celebrated poet Carolyn Forche has pointed out, you find in poetry, something that is not found anywhere else.”

ART COUTURE EKPHRASTIC POETRY CONTEST

Deadline to Submit is February 28, 2020. Winners will be announced in April.

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival invites you to submit an original poem inspired by the Art Couture Exhibition at the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square!

Five cash prizes and five honorable mentions will be selected by contest judge, Stephen Gibson. First Prize: $100.00; Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth Prizes: 4 awards of $25.00 each; Five Honorable Mentions.

All five prize-winning poems will be featured in the May issue of South Florida Poetry Journal. All winning poems including honorable mention poems will be published on the website and in press release and social media announcements.

The works in Art Couture: The Intersection of Fashion and Art focus on contemporary art that is fashion-inspired, and on fashion designers’ couture designs and illustrations. Fashion as art, important works of contemporary art, and couture designs featured on mannequins are all part of this exciting exhibition. Six galleries with three designers and three galleries of artwork, and an atrium space holding contemporary art. The eight works from the exhibition offer poets plenty of inspiration for ekphrastic poems.

 

Athena Shoe /Pall Mall/ McQueen, Rick Lazes
Marilyn En Bleu, Sylvestre Gauvrit
Pink Suit, Timo Weiland
Adhesif, Mondrian
Adhesif, Caroline Dechamby
Dorian Gray, Sonya Sanchez Arias
Expensive Taste, Becky Rosa
Meghan, Rick Lazes
Air Jordan, Study 2, Stephen Wilson

 

 

 

 

 


(Click on each image to see a larger high-res version.)

Poems should take inspiration from one of the eight designated images from the Art Couture exhibition shown above. The works are now on display at the Cornell Museum at Old School Square until February 16, 2020. We encourage you to visit the museum to see the Exhibition in person.  Poets may submit using Submittable.

Ekphrastic Poems come from the poetic tradition of taking inspiration from objects and works of art known as “ekphrasis” from the Greek. These may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art.

The Contest Judge is Stephen Gibson, author of seven poetry collections, most recently, Self-Portrait in a Door-Length Mirror, winner of the 2017 Miller Williams Prize (Univ. of Arkansas Press), selected by Billy Collins. His poetry and fiction have appeared in such journals as American Arts Quarterly, Gargoyle, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, North American Review, The Paris Review, Pleiades, Poetry, River Styx, The Sewanee Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and The Yale Review among others. He taught for thirty-two years at the Belle Glade campus of Palm Beach State College.

To submit use this link to our Submittable site.

Poems must be no longer than 30 lines and inspired by one of the designated works that are part of the Art Couture Exhibition.

Contest Opens: December 2, 2019

Deadline: February 28, 2020

What to Do: Visit the Art Couture Exhibition at the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave. Delray Beach, Florida, to be inspired in person, or choose one of the images on this page to inspire your 30 line poem!

Length Limit: Up to 30 lines

Submit to: Submittable: Palm Beach Poetry Festival Art Couture Ekphrastic Contest

Entry Fee: No fee. Submit one poem only, please.

Prizes:

  • First Prize: $100
  • Second, Third, Fourth Prizes: 4 awards of $25 each
  • 5 Honorable Mentions
  • The prize-winning entries will be published in the May issue of South Florida Poetry Journal.

Results Announced: April 2020

Cornell Art Museum Art Couture Exhibition is open to the public, Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm, Sunday, 1pm – 5pm.

$8 (general); $5 (seniors 65+ and students with ID); free for children under 12, Old School Square members and Veterans; free for Florida residents on Sundays.


* This competition would not be possible without the collaboration of Old School Square and The Cornell Art Museum. Images courtesy of the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square.

FESTIVAL AWARDS 2020 FELLOWSHIPS

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival has awarded three 2020 Fellowships, the Langston Hughes Fellowship, the Kundiman Fellowship, and the CantoMundo Fellowship for the 16th Annual Festival workshops. “The fellowships cover full workshop tuition and lodging during the festival,” said Susan R. Williamson, Festival Director. These fellowships represent a substantial investment in education focused on the craft of writing poetry. We have been working toward opening the doors widely to the festival workshops and offer participants the opportunity to work together with these exceptionally talented fellows who were selected from the largest applicant pool in our 16 year history,” said Miles Coon, Founder and President. “We have been blessed with very talented Fellowship and Scholarship applicants.”

The Festival’s 2020 Fellowship winners include: 

The 2020 Langston Hughes Palm Beach Poetry Festival fellowship was awarded to Rachael Uwada Clifford. She was selected as a Best New Poet of 2019 as well as the winner of Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers. She has received fellowships from the Cave Canem Foundation, the Maryland State Arts Council, and others. She holds an MFA from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. Her work appears, or will soon appear, in Glimmer Train and Best New Poets 2019. She lives in Baltimore.

The 2020 Palm Beach Poetry Festival Kundiman fellowship was awarded to Ina Cariño, who was born in Baguio City in the Philippines. Her poetry and prose appear in New England Review, The Oxford Review of Books, Fugue, Tupelo Quarterly, Nat. Brut, VIDA Review, and December Magazine, among other journals. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC and was a 2019 Kundiman Fellow.

The 2020 Palm Beach Poetry Festival Canto Mundo Fellowship was awarded to Heidi Andrea Restrepo Rhodes, a queer Colombian/Latinx poet, artist, scholar, & activist. Her first full-length collection, “The Inheritance of Haunting” (2019) was chosen by Ada Limón for the 2018 Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. A 2018 VONA Alum and 2019 CantoMundo Fellow, her poetry has been published in Poetry, Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Raspa, & Nat.Brut, among other places. She grew up in California and currently lives in Brooklyn.

The Festival’s 2020 Scholarships were awarded to:

Ae Hee Lee, winner of the 2020 Thomas Lux Scholarship, was born in South Korea, raised in Peru, and now resides in the U.S. She received her MFA from the University of Notre Dame, where she was winner of the 2016 Billy Maich Academy of American Poets Prize. She is currently a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and works as Associate Editor for Cream City Review. Her poetry has been published or is forthcoming at POETRY, Narrative, Pleiades, and Denver Quarterly, among others.

 

This year’s Sarah Lawrence Scholar, poet Faith Henley Padgett, was raised in Texas and earned her BA from the University of Pennsylvania and is a current MFA student at Sarah Lawrence. Her work has appeared in Hanging Loose, Permafrost, Red Cedar Review, and Penn Appetite, among others. She previously served as a contributor with the Southwest Reviewand Spry, and as a letterpress assistant. A teacher for Poetry in America, she organizes for the Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival and resides in Nyack, NY.

 

 

 

2020 Thomas Lux Scholarship

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce that through the generosity of some very special donors, we are offering a Thomas Lux Scholarship, to provide one full workshop tuition scholarship for the upcoming 16th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival to a poet who has not previously attended a festival workshop.

The scholarship covers full participant tuition in the amount of $950.00. Travel, lodging, and meals, are the responsibility of the individual applicant. This fellowship is intended for a poet of promise who would benefit from the festival week events and workshop and would not otherwise be able to attend. A statement of need is requested with the application.

We are grateful to the individuals who came together in the spirit of the legacy of teaching, mentoring, and fostering excellence in poetry, that were a hallmark of the life and work of Thomas Lux. He always gave support to poets who sought to develop their skill and abilities. He recommended many poets to attend the festival, and said, “The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is the most rigorous, intense, and exciting poetry program in the country. Great venues, terrific students, and not a bad place to be in January. Most important: excellent teaching.”

To apply, visit the Thomas Lux Scholarship Application on Submittable.

The festival does offer a limited number of partial tuition scholarships, subject to available funding, to applicants who might otherwise be unable to attend. The festival does not accept applications to more than one fellowship or scholarship opportunity in any single year. Duplicate applications may disqualify the applicant.

For questions, or to inquire, email news@palmbeachpoetryfestival.org. Partial scholarships are made possible through the generosity of private donors and are subject to availability.

2020 Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowships

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce it will offer three fellowships that provide full workshop tuition and lodging in Delray Beach for the upcoming 16th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 20-25, 2020. The fellowships are offered to open the festival workshop doors widely to qualified poets and to ensure the festival’s workshops provide enriching experiences through working with poets from a wide variety of cultures.

The three fellowships are the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes Fellowship, the CantoMundo Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowship, and the Kundiman Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowship.

Each fellowship recipient will be an outstanding poet who will benefit from, and contribute to, participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships applications are now open. For details, please visit the links below to each for specifics, details and to apply. Applications open July 15, 2019 and the deadline to apply for these fellowships is November 10, 2019.

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival – Langston Hughes Fellowship, includes the application fee, tuition, and lodging near the venue. The fellow will be an outstanding African American poet who will benefit from and contribute to participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships are open by application to poets who identify as Black or African American. We are grateful to the administrators of the Langston Hughes Estate who assisted us by granting permission to name this fellowship. You may use this link to apply for the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes 2020 Fellowship.

CantoMundo nurtures and supports the numerous aesthetic and philosophical approaches of Latinx poetry in the USA, and builds on the aesthetically, culturally, and linguistically diverse work of Latinx poets, who have historically—and with limited economic resources—formed supportive literary spaces. CantoMundo’s first gathering convened in 2010. Use this link to find out more about the CantoMundo /Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2019 Fellowship and to apply.

kundiman-stacked1

Kundiman is dedicated to the creation and cultivation of Asian American literature, offering a comprehensive spectrum of arts programming that gives writers opportunities to inscribe their own stories, transforming and enriching the American literary landscape. Use this link to find out more about the Kundiman / Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2019 Fellowship and to apply.

 

These fellowships are supported by the generous donations of individuals who wish to remain anonymous. In addition, the festival also offers a limited number of partial scholarships to applicants for whom the partial assistance makes it possible for them to attend. Email query must be made after applications are submitted.

We welcome inquiries from donors who may be interested in our efforts to expand the availability of these fellowships and seek to support the festival’s dedication to inclusiveness and enrichment of its workshops and public events. Donors may contribute to the PBPF Diversity Fellowship Fund, established to support these efforts. Interested donors may contact Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson or Founder, Miles Coon.

Poets Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Gabrielle Calvocoressi at 2018 Festival Gala
Craft Talk: Poets Ross Gay and Aimee Nezhukumatathil

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left to Right: 2018 Langston Hughes Fellow, Gabriel Ramirez; Festival Intern, Jose Vilar; Faculty Poet, Gabrielle Calvocoressi
2018 Kundiman Fellow Viplav Saini at Festival Bookstore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joy Harjo – 2020 Special Guest Named U.S. Poet Laureate

The Festival congratulates Joy Harjo, our Special Guest Poet at the 16th annual festival, for her being named the 23rd United States Poet Laureate. We announced earlier that Harjo would be Special Guest Poet at the upcoming festival, where she will be interviewed by faculty poet Laure-Anne Bosselaar, and will deliver the annual Thomas Lux Memorial Reading following the festival gala.

“This is the second time that the Palm Beach Poetry Festival will host a sitting poet laureate of the United States, though we have featured many others before they were named or after they served,” said Williamson. “We could not be more thrilled to congratulate and welcome Joy Harjo, whose poetry often merges the global and the personal, and the imagery of the natural world with that of the inner one.”

Harjo, who sees poetry as “an immense conversation of the soul,” also was recently named a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. Her books of poetry include Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems, and She Had Some Horses. Her memoir Crazy Brave won several awards, including the PEN USA Literary Award for Creative Non-Fiction and the American Book Award. Her ninth book of poetry, An American Sunrise, will be published in August.

Many articles and mentions have appeared since the news was released:

Joy Harjo Named U.S. Poet Laureate – New York Times, June 19, 2019

Joy Harjo Becomes First Native American U.S. Poet Laureate, NPR June 19, 2019 (listen)

 

Palm Beach Poetry Festival to receive $10,000 Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts

Lake Worth, Florida—National Endowment for the Arts Acting Chairman Mary Anne Carter has approved more than $80 million in grants as part of the Arts Endowment’s second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2019.  Included in this announcement is an Art Works grant of $10,000  to Palm Beach Poetry Festival in support of the 16th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 20-25, 2020 at Old School Square in Delray Beach, FL. Art Works is the Arts Endowment’s principal grantmaking program. The agency received 1,592 Art Works applications for this round of grantmaking, and will award 977 grants in this category.

“These awards, reaching every corner of the United States, are a testament to the artistic richness and diversity in our country,” said Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “Organizations such as the Palm Beach Poetry Festival  are giving people in their community the opportunity to learn, create, and be inspired.”

Festival Founder and President, Miles Coon said,  “The Acting Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts has approved the Palm Beach Poetry Festival for a grant in the amount of $10,000.  We look forward to working with the Arts Endowment to finalize the grant paperwork and appreciate the agency’s support for this project.”

The festival’s goal is to provide nationally recognized learning opportunities for writers of poetry and a world-class, life-enriching series of cultural events for our audiences. As a Florida nonprofit corporation, part of our mission is to organize educational outreach programs that bring the pleasures of poetry to our community. The 16th Annual Festival will take place January 21-26, 2020, in Delray Beach. Six days and evenings of extraordinary poetry events. Workshop admission is by application. Readings, interviews, panel discussion and talks on craft are ticketed events and are open to the public.

For more information on this National Endowment for the Arts grant announcement, visit arts.gov/news.

TECH EFFECT CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

Five cash prizes and five honorable mentions were selected by our contest judge, the distinguished poet, Stephen Gibson. The First Place Winner receives $100, and winners of Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Places each receive $25.00. The winners are:

FIRST PLACE: “Yorick, circa 1980 by Sean Keck, Christiansburg, VA

SECOND PLACE: “The Cornell Art Museum by Liam Lawlor, Pembroke Pines, FL

THIRD PLACE: “Last-Minute Temptation” by Phyllis St. George, Springfield, MA

FOURTH PLACE: “If She Had Known” by Michele Parker Randall, Sanford, FL

FIFTH PLACE: “The Way the Music Died” by Mike Lewis-Beck, Iowa City, IA

Five HONORABLE MENTIONS were selected: “Folly-scope” by Mary Jo Thompson of Minneapolis, MN; “Fractals” by Patricia Gray of Washington, DC; “Absorbed” by Phyllis Wax of Milwaukee, WI; “Smiles” by Trish Sheppard of Beaufort, NC; and “Unicorn Redux” by Donna Disch of Westport, CT.

About the selection process, Judge Stephen Gibson said, “Judging this year’s contest was an absolutely amazing experience. Congratulations to these poets and to all of the poets who submitted to this contest—and gratitude to the incredible artists who shared their Tech Effect creations.”

The works in the Tech Effect Exhibition explore the complex influences of technology on the human experience and the natural world. The show featured artists whose work deals with technology in some way: augmented reality works, interactive touch screen works, the prevalence of social media in contemporary art, artwork that utilizes code, and countless ways that technology is integrated into contemporary art. Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson said, “The variety of creative responses to the inspiring artwork is always a surprising and interesting result of an ekphrastic poetry contest. This year was no exception. The art was non-traditional and the poems written in response were brilliant in so many ways. We had entries from 28 different states and ten foreign countries!”

The contest offered poets the opportunity to take inspiration from the following eight works selected from the Tech Effect Exhibition:

(Click on each image to see a larger high-res version.)

 
“Backup” by Ellen deMeijer
“Emotion #2” by Walter Brown
“Fractal” by William Montgomery
“Galloping Towards The Dream” by Camomile Hixon
 
“Graine” by Alain Le Boucher
“No More Dialectics #4” by Daniel Fiorda
“Mona Lisa” by Antoine Geiger
“Skull” by Brian Dettmer
 

Ekphrastic Poems come from the poetic tradition of taking inspiration from objects and works of art known as “ekphrasis” from the Greek. These may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art.

Contest Judge Stephen Gibson, is the author of seven poetry collections, most recently, Self-Portrait in a Door-Length Mirror, winner of the 2017 Miller Williams Prize (Univ. of Arkansas Press), selected by Billy Collins. His poetry and fiction have appeared in such journals as American Arts Quarterly, Gargoyle, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, North American Review, The Paris Review, Pleiades, Poetry, River StyxThe Sewanee Review, ShenandoahThe Southern Review, and The Yale Review among others. He taught for thirty-two years at the Belle Glade campus of Palm Beach State College.

*This competition would not be possible without the collaboration of Old School Square and The Cornell Art Museum. Images courtesy of the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square and artists as noted above.

 

2018 HIGH SCHOOL POETRY CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Winners of the High School Poetry Contest were celebrated at the Annual Palm Beach County High School Poetry Contest Award Ceremony, in the Crest Theatre, at Old School Square in Delray Beach, January 20th.

Open to Palm Beach County public and private high school students, five winners were selected from over 300 entries by Dr. Jeff Morgan, Lynn University, contest judge.

In addition to cash prizes, all winners received a pair of tickets to “A Special Evening of Poetry with Tyehimba Jess, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry for his masterwork, Olio. Jess visited Palm Beach County High Schools presenting Olio and reading performances followed by Q&A sessions with students during festival week. It is estimated that these programs reached over 3,000 students. Winners will also receive subscriptions to Poets & Writers Magazine.

Select this link to read the the winning poems.


1st Prize ($200):
Emma Garrett, A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, 10th Grade, for “A Note Left on the Universe’s Front Porch”

2nd Prize ($100):
Yvelande Senatus, Atlantic High School, 11th Grade for “Woman at Point Zero”

3rd Prize ($100):
Citlalli Villasenor, A. W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts , 12th Grade for “ Roots: Trapped in the Land of the Free”

4th Prize ($100):
Kristen Thies, Wellington High School, 11th Grade for “I’ll Mourn For Me”

5th Prize ($100):
Eden Brown, A.W. Dreyfoos School of Arts, 12th Grade for “Perfectly|Balancing”

“This year the Palm Beach Poetry Festival High School Poetry Contest had a banner year,” says Dr. Allen. “Our judge, Lynn University’s Dr. Jeff Morgan had to narrow down to give talented finalists from a highly competitive pool of submissions.”

“The Poetry Festival has been honored to work with high school teachers throughout Palm Beach County for the past 14 years. We have visited hundreds of classrooms to discuss the craft of poetry and encourage students to write original poems, and every year we are amazed by the quality of their submitted work. In fact, many of our past winners have gone to college to become teachers themselves, and we are always hopeful that the Festival is nurturing a future Poet Laureate of the United States,” she adds.

FESTIVAL AWARDS 2019 FELLOWSHIPS

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival has awarded three 2019 Fellowships, the Langston Hughes Fellowship, the Kundiman Fellowship, and the CantoMundo Fellowship for the 15th Annual Festival workshops. “The fellowships cover full workshop tuition and lodging during the festival,” said Susan R. Williamson, Festival Director. These fellowships represent a substantial investment in education focused on the craft of writing poetry. We have been working toward opening the doors widely to the festival workshops and offer participants the opportunity to work together with these exceptionally talented fellows who were selected from the largest applicant pool in our 15 year history,” said Miles Coon, Founder and President. “We have been blessed with very talented Fellowship and Scholarship applicants.”

The Festival’s 2019 Fellowship and Scholarship winners include: 

The 2019 Langston Hughes Palm Beach Poetry Festival fellowship was awarded to Tyree Daye of Youngsville, North Carolina. He is the winner of the 2017 APR/Honickman First Book Prize for his book River Hymns (APR, 2017). Daye is a 2017 Ruth Lilly Finalist, a Cave Canem fellow and longtime member of the editorial staff at Raleigh Review. He received his MFA in poetry from North Carolina State University. Daye’s work has been published in Prairie Schooner, The New York Times, and the Nashville Review. Daye recently won the Amy Clampitt Residency for 2018 and The Glenna Luschei Prairie Schooner Award for his poems in the Fall 2015 issue.

 

The 2019 Palm Beach Poetry Festival Kundiman fellowship was awarded to Shelley Wong from the San Francisco Bay Area. Wong is the author of the chapbook RARE BIRDS (Diode Editions). Her poems have appeared in CrazyhorseKenyon Review OnlineSixth Finch, and Sycamore Review. She is the recipient of a 2017 Pushcart Prize along with fellowships and support from Kundiman, the MacDowell Colony, Kenyon Review Writers Workshop, I-Park Foundation, Fire Island National Seashore, and SPACE.

The 2019 Palm Beach Poetry Festival Canto Mundo Fellowship was awarded to Denice Frohman, a poet and performer from New York City. Frohman is a CantoMundo Fellow and former Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion. Her poems have appeared in Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color, Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism, and elsewhere. She has featured on hundreds of stages from The Apollo to the Nuyorican Poets Café, and co-organizes #PoetsforPuertoRico. (https://www.denicefrohman.com/)

Additional workshop tuition scholarships were awarded to:

Cate Lycurgus of the San Francisco Bay Area, winner of the 2019 Thomas Lux Scholarship, teaches professional writing and and conducts interviews for 32 Poems. She will study with faculty poet Aracelis Girmay.  Cate’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in American Poetry ReviewTin House, Orion, and elsewhere. A 2014 Ruth Lilly Fellowship Finalist, she has also received scholarships from Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers’ Conferences and was named one of Narrative’s 30 Under 30 Featured Writers.

 

This year’s Sarah Lawrence Scholar is Amanda Volel, a poet who is a teaching artist currently working with the Teachers & Writers Collaborative in New York. Volel is matriculating in the Sarah Lawrence Graduate Program in Poetry for an MFA Degree. Queens is her hometown.

 

 

TECH EFFECT EKPHRASTIC POETRY CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED IN APRIL

Poem submissions are now closed. Winners will be announced in April.

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival invites you to submit an original poem inspired by the TECH EFFECT Exhibition at Old School Square’s Cornell Art Museum!

Five cash prizes and five honorable mentions will be selected by contest judge, Stephen Gibson. First Prize: $100.00; Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth Prizes: 4 awards of $25.00 each; Five Honorable Mentions. Entries that win cash prizes and honorable mention will be published online and announced in press releases.

The works in the Tech Effect explore the complex influences of technology on the human experience and the natural world. The show features artists whose work deals with technology in some way. Museum visitors will be fascinated by augmented reality works, interactive touch screen works, the prevalence of social media in contemporary art, artwork that utilizes code, and countless ways that technology is integrated into contemporary art. The selections in our contest offer poets the opportunity to take inspiration from eight works selected from the exhibition.

Poems should take inspiration from one of the designated images from the TECH EFFECT exhibition shown below.* The works themselves are on display at the Cornell Museum at Old School Square until February 17, 2019. We encourage you to visit the museum to see the exhibition in person. Many of the works allow for a hands on experience and visitors will be able to touch and interact with the artwork. (Click on each image to see a larger high-res version.)  Poets may submit using Submittable.

“Backup” by Ellen deMeijer

“Emotion #2” by Walter Brown

“Fractal” by William Montgomery

“Galloping Towards The Dream” by Camomile Hixon

“Graine” by Alain Le Boucher

“No More Dialectics #4” by Daniel Fiorda

“Mona Lisa” by Antoine Geiger

“Skull” by Brian Dettmer

Ekphrastic Poems come from the poetic tradition of taking inspiration from objects and works of art known as “ekphrasis” from the Greek. These may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art.

The Contest Judge is Stephen Gibson, author of seven poetry collections, most recently, Self-Portrait in a Door-Length Mirror, winner of the 2017 Miller Williams Prize (Univ. of Arkansas Press), selected by Billy Collins. His poetry and fiction have appeared in such journals as American Arts Quarterly, Gargoyle, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, North American Review, The Paris Review, Pleiades, Poetry, River Styx, The Sewanee Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and The Yale Review among others. He taught for thirty-two years at the Belle Glade campus of Palm Beach State College.

To submit use this link to our Submittable site.

Poems must be no longer than 30 lines and inspired by one of the designated works that are part of the Tech Effect exhibit.

Contest Opens: October 22, 2018

Deadline: February 28, 2019

What to Do: Visit the TECH EFFECT exhibit at the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave. Delray Beach, Florida to be inspired in person, or choose one of the images on this page to inspire your 30 line poem!

Length Limit: Up to 30 lines

Submit to: Submittable: Palm Beach Poetry Festival Tech Effect Ekphrastic Contest

Entry Fee: No fee. Submit one poem only, please.

Prizes:

  • First Prize: $100
  • Second, Third, Fourth Prizes: 4 awards of $25 each
  • 5 Honorable Mentions
  • Top 10 entries will be published online

Results Announced: April 2019

Cornell Art Museum TECH EFFECT exhibit is open to the public, Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm, Sunday, 1pm – 5pm.

$8 (general); $5 (seniors 65+ and students with ID); free for children under 12, Old School Square members and Veterans; free for Florida residents on Sundays.

*This competition would not be possible without the collaboration of Old School Square and The Cornell Art Museum.  Images courtesy of the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square.

2019 THOMAS LUX SCHOLARSHIP

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce that through the generosity of some very special donors, we are offering a Thomas Lux Scholarship, to provide one full workshop tuition scholarship for the upcoming 15th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival to a poet who has not previously attended a festival workshop.

The scholarship covers full participant tuition in the amount of $895.00. Travel, lodging, and meals, are the responsibility of the individual applicant. This fellowship is intended for a poet of promise who would benefit from the festival week events and workshop and would not otherwise be able to attend. A statement of need is requested with the application.

We are grateful to the individuals who came together in the spirit of the legacy of teaching, mentoring, and fostering excellence in poetry, that were a hallmark of the life and work of Thomas Lux. He always gave support to poets who sought to develop their skill and abilities. He recommended many poets to attend the festival, and said, “The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is the most rigorous, intense, and exciting poetry program in the country. Great venues, terrific students, and not a bad place to be in January. Most important: excellent teaching.”

To apply, visit the Thomas Lux Scholarship Application on Submittable.

The festival does offer a limited number of partial tuition scholarships, subject to available funding, to applicants who might otherwise be unable to attend. The festival does not accept applications to more than one fellowship or scholarship opportunity in any single year. Duplicate applications may disqualify the applicant.

For questions, or to inquire, email news@palmbeachpoetryfestival.org. Partial scholarships are made possible through the generosity of private donors and are subject to availability.

2019 PALM BEACH POETRY FESTIVAL FELLOWSHIPS

2018 Beloved Poems Panel Audience

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce it will offer three fellowships that provide full workshop tuition and lodging in Delray Beach for the upcoming 15th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 21-26, 2019. The fellowships are offered to open the festival workshop doors widely to qualified poets and to ensure the festival’s workshops provide enriching experiences through working with poets from a wide variety of cultures.

The three fellowships are the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes Fellowship, the CantoMundo Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowship, and the Kundiman Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowship.

Each fellowship recipient will be an outstanding poet who will benefit from, and contribute to, participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships applications are now open. For details, please visit the links below to each for specifics, details and to apply. The deadline to apply for these fellowships is November 12, 2018.

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival – Langston Hughes Fellowship, includes the application fee, tuition, and lodging near the venue. The fellow will be an outstanding African American poet who will benefit from and contribute to participation in the workshop. A writing sample, letter of introduction, and description of need are an integral part of the application and selection process. Fellowships are open by application to poets who identify as Black or African American. We are grateful to the administrators of the Langston Hughes Estate who assisted us by granting permission to name this fellowship. You may use this link to apply for the Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes 2019 Fellowship.

CantoMundoCantoMundo nurtures and support the numerous aesthetic and philosophical approaches of Latinx poetry in the USA, and builds on the aesthetically, culturally, and linguistically diverse work of Latinx poets, who have historically—and with limited economic resources—formed supportive literary spaces. CantoMundo’s first gathering convened in 2010. Use this link to find out more about the CantoMundo /Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2019 Fellowship and to apply.

kundiman-stacked1

Kundiman is dedicated to the creation and cultivation of Asian American literature, offering a comprehensive spectrum of arts programming that gives writers opportunities to inscribe their own stories, transforming and enriching the American literary landscape. Use this link to find out more about the Kundiman / Palm Beach Poetry Festival 2019 Fellowship and to apply.

 

These fellowships are supported by the generous donations of individuals who wish to remain anonymous. In addition, the festival also offers a limited number of partial scholarships to applicants for whom the partial assistance makes it possible for them to attend. Email query must be made after applications are submitted.

We welcome inquiries from donors who may be interested in our efforts to expand the availability of these fellowships and seek to support the festival’s dedication to inclusiveness and enrichment of its workshops and public events. Donors may contribute to the PBPF Diversity Fellowship Fund, established to support these efforts. Interested donors may contact Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson or Founder, Miles Coon.

Poets Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Gabrielle Calvocoressi at 2018 Festival Gala

Craft Talk: Poets Ross Gay and Aimee Nezhukumatathil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Left to Right: 2018 African American Fellow, Gabriel Ramirez; Festival Intern, Jose Vilar; Faculty Poet, Gabrielle Calvocoressi

2018 Kundiman Fellow Viplav Saini at Festival Bookstore

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOOKING GLASS EKPHRASTIC POETRY CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED!

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 “Looking Glass Ekphrastic Poetry Contest,” held in partnership with the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square.

Five cash prizes and five honorable mentions were selected by our distinguished contest judge, poet, Stephen Gibson. First Place award is $100, and four awards for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place will receive $25.00 each. The winners are:

FIRST PLACE“The Muses” by Linda Flaherty Haltmaier

SECOND PLACE“phantoms” by Dmitry Blizniuk

THIRD PLACE“Elsa’s Staircase” by Jen Karetnick

FOURTH PLACE“French Existentialist Bulldog” by Stefan David Martin

FIFTH PLACE“Covering Up” by Blake Mason

Five HONORABLE MENTIONS were selected and recognized:
Personified Lightness” by Melissa Renaud;
The Press of Light” by Paul Weigel;
So, Glitzy Gals” by Erika Michael;
Muse” by Feby Joseph, and
Façade for Siri” by Jennifer Greenberg.

About the contest, Stephen Gibson said, “Judging this year’s contest was a delight, and, again, congratulations to these fine poets and to all of those poets who submitted their works, and thanks also to the artists for sharing their wonderful glass creations.”

The works in the Looking Glass exhibition delved into ways in which visual artists approach ideas of reflection and perception. The unique artworks on display allow viewers to see themselves in the works and to “find a sense of belonging in the Cornell Art Museum.” We were pleased to see that poets visited the museum locally and virtually including entries from 25 different states and 13 foreign countries, including Kharkov, Ukraine; Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada; and Mumbai, India, said Festival Director, Susan R. Williamson.

Poems were inspired by the following images/items from the Looking Glass exhibit at The Cornell Museum of Art at Old School Square.

“Muse” by Jeremy Penn

“Portrait of Joan Agajanian Quinn” by Andrew Logan

“Facade” by Elle Schorr

“Invisible Quilt” by Peter Symons

“Outer Reflection” by Lilibeth Rasmussen

“One Day You’ll be Mine” by Graeme Messer

“Dog Mirror” by Liliana Porter

“Five Squares” by Chul-Hyun Awn

Ekphrastic Poems come from the poetic tradition of taking inspiration from objects and works of art known as “ekphrasis” from the Greek. These may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art.

The Contest Judge is Stephen Gibson, author of seven poetry collections, most recently, Self-Portrait in a Door-Length Mirror, winner of the 2017 Miller Williams Prize (Univ. of Arkansas Press), selected by Billy Collins. His poetry and fiction have appeared in such journals as American Arts Quarterly, Gargoyle, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, North American Review, The Paris Review, Pleiades, Poetry, River Styx, The Sewanee Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and The Yale Review among others. He taught for thirty-two years at the Belle Glade campus of Palm Beach State College.

Results Announced: April 2018 is National Poetry Month and we congratulate and applaud the artists, the winners, and all the poets who submitted poems for their interest “in,” passion “for,” and pursuit “of” their art and their poems.

The Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square is open to the public, Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm, Sunday, 1pm – 5pm. $8 (general); $5 (seniors 65+ and students with ID); free for children under 12, Old School Square members and Veterans; free for Florida residents on Sundays.

*Images courtesy the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square and artist as noted above.

 

 

2018 HIGH SCHOOL POETRY CONTEST WINNERS

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival applauds the inners of the 2018 High School Poetry Contest!

First Place goes to Sophia Upshaw, Junior at Wellington High School, for ‘Here Lies the Girl in the Wildflowers’

Four Runners-Up include Katherine Oung from Dreyfoos School of the Art, and Jannard Jackson, Lindy Lichtman and Julie Petit Frere, all  from Wellington High School

Our first place winner was awarded a $200 prize. The four runners-up were each awarded a $100 prize.

All five winning high school poets read their poems at the Festival’s Award Ceremony on Monday, January 15 where they each had the opportunity to meet and have their pictures taken with our eight faculty poets.

The poems were chosen by our distinguished judge, Dr. Jeff Morgan, Chairman, Department of English, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida.

Read the winning poems in our 2018 High School Poetry Award Program.

2019 Featured Poets Announced!

Join us for the 15th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival: January 21-26, 2019, presented in partnership with Old School Square in Delray Beach, Florida. Six days and evenings with America’s most engaging and award-winning poets. Join us for workshops, readings, talks on craft, individual manuscript conferences, interviews, an all-faculty panel, annual gala, and more . . .

Workshops with: Ellen Bass, Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Stuart Dischell, Araclis Girmay, Campbell McGrath, Gregory Pardlo, Matthew Olzmann, Eleanor Wilner

Special Guest Poet: Sharon Olds

Poet At Large: Tyehimba Jess

Manuscript Conference Faculty: Lorna Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Nickole Brown

Additional Craft Talk by: Stephen Gibson, Professor Emeritus at Palm Beach State College

Workshop Application Deadline: November 12. 2018

LOOKING GLASS EKPHRASTIC POETRY CONTEST – Winners to be announced soon!

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival invites you to submit an original poem inspired by the LOOKING GLASS Exhibition at Old School Square’s Cornell Museum at Old School Square!

Five cash prizes and five honorable mentions will be selected by contest judge, Stephen Gibson. First Prize: $100.00; Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth Prizes: 4 awards of $25.00 each; Five Honorable Mentions. Entries that win cash prizes and honorable mention will be published online and announced in press releases.

The works in the Looking Glass exhibition delve into ways in which visual artists approach ideas of reflection and perception. The unique artworks on display allow viewers to see themselves in the works and to “find a sense of belonging in the Cornell Art Museum.”

Poems should take inspiration from one of the designated images from the LOOKING GLASS exhibition shown below.* The works themselves are on display at the Cornell Museum at Old School Square from November 28, 2017 – March 15, 2018. We also encourage you to visit the museum to see the artworks in person. (Click on each image to see a larger high-res version.)

“Muse” by Jeremy Penn

“Portrait of Joan Agajanian Quinn” by Andrew Logan

“Facade” by Elle Schorr

“Invisible Quilt” by Peter Symons

“Outer Reflection” by Lilibeth Rasmussen

“One Day You’ll be Mine” by Graeme Messer

“Dog Mirror” by Liliana Porter

“Five Squares” by Chul-Hyun Awn

Ekphrastic Poems come from the poetic tradition of taking inspiration from objects and works of art known as “ekphrasis” from the Greek. These may include literal descriptions of a work of art, the poet´s mood in response to a work of art, metaphorical associations inspired by a work of art, or personal memories about a work of art.

The Contest Judge is Stephen Gibson, author of seven poetry collections, most recently, Self-Portrait in a Door-Length Mirror, winner of the 2017 Miller Williams Prize (Univ. of Arkansas Press), selected by Billy Collins. His poetry and fiction have appeared in such journals as American Arts Quarterly, Gargoyle, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, North American Review, The Paris Review, Pleiades, Poetry, River Styx, The Sewanee Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and The Yale Review among others. He taught for thirty-two years at the Belle Glade campus of Palm Beach State College.

To submit use this link to our Submittable site.

Poems must be no longer than 30 lines and inspired by one of the designated works that are part of the Looking Glass exhibit.

Contest Opens:        January 1, 2018

Deadline:                   March 15, 2018

What to Do:               Visit the LOOKING GLASS exhibit at the Cornell Art Museum at Old School Square, 51 N. Swinton Ave. Delray Beach, Florida to be inspired in person, or choose one of the images on this page to inspire your 30 line poem!

Length Limit:           Up to 30 lines

Submit to:                  Submittable: click here
Entry Fee:                  No fee. Submit one poem only, please.

Prizes:                                   

  • First Prize: $100
  • Second, Third, Fourth Prizes: 4 awards of $25 each
  • 5 Honorable Mentions
  • Top 10 entries will be published online

Results Announced: April  2018

Cornell Art Museum LOOKING GLASS exhibit is open to the public, Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 5pm, Sunday, 1pm – 5pm.

$8 (general); $5 (seniors 65+ and students with ID); free for children under 12, Old School Square members and Veterans; free for Florida residents on Sundays.

*Images courtesy the Cornell Museum of Art at Old School Square and artist Liliana Porter (for work, Dog Mirror)

FESTIVAL AWARDS FELLOWSHIPS & SCHOLARSHIPS FOR 2018 WORKSHOPS

(Delray Beach, FL – December 19, 2017) Susan R. Williamson, Director of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival (PBPF), today announced the fellowship and scholarship awards for the 14th Annual Festival workshops.

“The fellowships we offer cover full tuition and lodging,” says Williamson, “which represents a substantial investment in education focused on the craft of writing poetry. Also, because of the generosity of some very special donors, for the first time, we have been able to offer the first Thomas Lux Scholarship which honors the famous poet and long-time Festival supporter and in whose memory the upcoming Festival is being presented.” Scholarships at the festival cover full tuition for the workshop participant.

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival also is awarding two Fellowships and one Scholarship to African-American poets, the Kundiman Fellowship to an Asian-American poet, and the Canto Mundo Fellowship to a Latin American poet. In addition, Sarah Lawrence College has awarded an all-expense-paid scholarship to a matriculating student in its MFA Program. The college’s annual scholarship to the Festival is awarded to a poet of great promise and is selected by members of the writing faculty.

“This year the Palm Beach Poetry Festival has made enormous strides to further diversity in its faculty, participants and audience members,” says Miles Coon, Founder and President. “We have been blessed with very talented Fellowship and Scholarship applicants.”

The Festival’s 2018 Fellowship and Scholarship winners include:

Omotara James of Little Neck, NY, winner of the 2018 Thomas Lux Scholarship, who will study with faculty poet Ross Gay. A poet and essayist, James is the daughter of Nigerian and Trinidadian immigrants. Her chapbook, Daughter Tongue, was selected by African Poetry Book Fund in collaboration with Akashic Books for the 2018 New Generation African Poets Box Set. She is a 2017 Lambda Literary Fellow, a Home School Fellow, a 2017 Colgate Writers Fellow, and has been awarded scholarships from Cave Canem, the Bridging the Gap Award for Emerging Poets and the Nancy P. Schnader Academy of American Poets Award. James is an MFA candidate at NYU and guest editor at Luna Luna Magazine.

Dr. Patron Hennekou from Togo, West Africa, received one of two Festival Fellowships for African-Americans, and will work with faculty poet Tim Seibles. Dr. Hennekou is on a nine-month Fulbright Scholarship with the University of Nebraska, and is an Assistant Professor of English Literature at the University of Lomo in Togo. He is the author of Dovlo: A Worthless Sweat (play) and Souffles d’outre Coeur (poetry in French), and is working on a project that deals with the development of curricula in creative writing to be implemented by his home university in Togo.

Lolita Stewart-White of Miami won the other Festival Fellowship for African-American poets and will work with faculty poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi. She is a Cave-Canem fellow and Pushcart nominee, winner of the 2015 Paris American Reading Series Competition and was invited to read at Poets House in NY. Stewart-White was a semi-finalist for the Discovery/Boston Review Poetry Prize and Rattle Poetry Contest, and a Sundance Intensive Screenwriter fellow. Her work has been published in the Iowa Review, Callaloo, Rattle and Kwell.

Jubi Arriola-Headley of Fort Lauderdale is the winner of the Scholarship for African-American poets and will work with faculty poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil. He is a first-generation African-American, born to Bajan (Barbadian) parents, who also identifies as gay. As a black, queer man, in this historical moment, he is becoming accustomed to being portrayed, positioned, painted as a liability, a criminal, or at best – at best! – a victim. In a poem by Ross Gay, “Sorrow is Not My Name,” Arriola-Headley found encouragement and moments of joy in the midst of the everyday torrent of rage and grief.

Viplav Saini from Cleveland, OH, is the winner of the 2018 Kundiman/PBPF Fellowship, and will also work with Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Saini started writing poems two years ago and has studied with Matthew Olzmann, at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. He has completed a chapbook of poems. Saini writes in both Hindi and English, and feels equal parts Indian and American. He hopes to learn better how to navigate these two cultural influences as he creates more work.

 

Benjamin Antonio Garcia of Auburn, NY is the winner of the 2018 Canto Mundo/PBPF Fellowship, and will also work with Ross Gay. Garcia is a Community Health Specialist who provides HIV/HCVSTD and opiate overdose prevention education to high risk communities throughout New York’s Finger Lakes region. A graduate of Cornell University’s MFA Program, he was named the 2017 Latin@Scholar at the Frost Place and a finalist for the 2017 Boston Review Poetry Prize. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Kenyon Review Online, Best New Poets, 2016, As/Us, Gulf Coast, West Branch Wired, The Collagist and PANK.

Cody Ross Romero from New York City received the 2018 Sarah Lawrence Scholarship, and will also work with Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Romero is presently matriculating for his MFA Degree in the Sarah Lawrence Graduate Program in Poetry.

 

 

FESTIVAL EVENT TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

Tickets to public events during our 16th Annual Festival, January 20-25, 2020–all craft talks, poetry readings, Special Guest Poet interview, and Beloved Poems panel discussion are on sale now. Visit our 2020 Schedule and click on individual events for a description and to purchase tickets. Or, to order tickets, visit Old School Square, Crest Theatre Box Office, 51 North Swinton Avenue, Delray Beach, FL 33444, or call 561-243-7922, Extension 1. You can also order tickets online.

Six days and evenings of workshops, readings, interview, craft talks, panel discussion, social events, and so much more.

Featured poets include: Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Nickole Brown, Reginald Gibbons, Jessica Jacobs, Major Jackson, Ilya Kaminsky, Dana Levin, Adrian Matejka, and Maggie Smith.  Patricia Smith will be the festival Poet-at-Large and our Special Guest Poet will be Joy Harjo, the current Poet Laureate of the United States.

 

2018 THOMAS LUX SCHOLARSHIP ANNOUNCED

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce that through the generosity of some very special donors, we are offering a Thomas Lux Scholarship, to provide one full workshop tuition scholarship for the upcoming 14th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival to a poet who has not previously attended a festival workshop.

The scholarship covers full participant tuition in the amount of $895.00. Travel, lodging, and meals, are the responsibility of the individual applicant. This fellowship is intended for a poet of promise who would benefit from the festival week events and workshop and would not otherwise be able to attend. A statement of need is requested with the application.

We are grateful to the individuals who came together in the spirit of the legacy of teaching, mentoring, and fostering excellence in poetry, that were a hallmark of the life and work of Thomas Lux. He always gave support to poets who sought to develop their skill and abilities. He recommended many poets to attend the festival, and said, “The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is the most rigorous, intense, and exciting poetry program in the country. Great venues, terrific students, and not a bad place to be in January. Most important: excellent teaching.”

To apply, visit the Thomas Lux Scholarship Application on Submittable.

The festival does offer a limited number of partial tuition scholarships, subject to available funding, to applicants who might otherwise be unable to attend. The festival does not recommend applications to more than one fellowship or scholarship opportunity in any single year.

To inquire, email news@palmbeachpoetryfestival.org. Partial scholarships are made possible through the generosity of private donors and are subject to availability.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH EVENTS

The festival, through its program of Community Outreach, offers special events and 1-day workshops throughout the year. We welcome the community to join us for informal round-robin readings at Green Cay Nature Center; readings with the Alzheimer Poetry Project; a series of Saturday 1-day workshops, held at Old School Square; the annual High School Poetry Contest, open to high school students throughout Palm Beach County; and the annual Morikami Haiku event, held at the wonderful Morikami Museum with walks and writing in the gardens.

Join us for community outreach programming and other special events throughout the year. And consider joining us for a week of intensive work on your poetry via workshops, craft talk/lectures, and nightly readings at the 17th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 18-23, 2021 in Delray Beach, Florida. Join us for free events and/or purchase tickets to the festival events.

For questions or to RSVP, contact Dr. Blaise Allen, Director of Community Outreach, at drblaiseallen@aol.com, or phone and leave a message for us at: (561) 868-2063.

(Many of these events are free, and all are open to the public.)

WINTER/SPRING 2020

January 9th
Annual Haiku U. Featuring Senryu
A Poetry Workshop Facilitated by Yaddyra Peralta
11:00 AM
Morikami Museum and Gardens
4000 Morikami Park Road
Delray Beach, FL 33446
Free with Museum entrance fee 

February 4th
Stargazing: Out of This World Astronomy and Poetry Reading
A Event Facilitated by Dr. Stephen M. Schiff
6:30 PM

Hagen Ranch Road Library
14350 Hagen Ranch Road
Delray Beach, FL 33446
Open to the public and free of charge

February 12th
Senior Living Poetry Project: Be a Valentine!
Hosted by Dr. Blaise Allen 
10:30 AM

Sunrise Senior Living
Stratford Court, Brighton Gardens
6343 Via De Sonrisa Del Sur
Boca Raton, FL 33428

February 18th
Bards of a Feather
Round Robin Poetry Reading
1:00 PM

Hagen Ranch Library Large Meeting Room
14350 Hagen Ranch Road
Delray Beach, FL 33446
Open to the public and free of charge

March 7th
The Beat Goes On
A Workshop facilitated by Meryl Stratford
1:00 PM

Old School Square Crest Theatre
51 N. Swinton Avenue
Delray Beach, FL 33444
Open to the public ($10 per person)

March 21st
Celebrating Irish Poetry Limericks and Blarney
Facilitated by Michael Mackin O’Mara
1:00 PM

St. Pat’s Pub
1600 East Hillsboro Blvd
Deerfield Beach, FL 33441)
Free and open to the public

April 4th
Howe to Notice
Facilitated by Camila Saavedra
1:00 PM

Old School Square Crest Theatre
51 N. Swinton Avenue
Delray Beach, FL  33444
Open to the public ($10 per person)

April 6th
National Poetry Month Film Series at Lynn University
The Wife
Facilitated by Bonnie Bonincontri
7:00 PM

Lynn University
Count and Countess de Hoernle International Center
Amarnick-Goldstein Concert Hall
3601 N. Military Trail
Boca Raton, FL 33431
Free and open to the public

April 18th
Improv and Performance for Poets & Writers
Facilitated by Anthony Francis
1:00 PM

Old School Square Crest Theatre
51 N. Swinton Avenue
Delray Beach, FL 33444
Open to the public ($15 per person)

May 2nd
What a Shame
Facilitated by Lily Starr
1:00 PM

Old School Square Crest Theatre
51 N. Swinton Avenue
Delray Beach, FL 33444
Open to the Public ($10 per person)

May 12th
Bards of a Feather
Open-Mic Round Robin Poetry Reading
1:00 PM

Hagen Ranch Library, Meeting Room
14350 Hagen Ranch Road
Delray Beach, FL 33446
Free and open to the public

June 6th
The Alchemy of Poetry: From Ordinary into Profound
Facilitated by Jan Becker
1:00 PM

Old School Square Crest Theatre
51 N. Swinton Avenue
Delray Beach, FL 33444
Open to the public ($10 per person)

2019 FESTIVAL FELLOWSHIPS

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to announce three fellowships that provide full workshop tuition and lodging in Delray Beach for the upcoming 15th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival, January 21-26, 2019.  The three fellowships are the Palm Beach Poetry Festival – Langston Hughes Fellowship; the CantoMundo Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowship; and the Kundiman Palm Beach Poetry Festival Fellowship. Please visit our Festival Fellowship page for more information.

In addition to the fellowships, the festival does offer a limited number of partial tuition scholarships to applicants who might otherwise be unable to attend. To inquire, email news@palmbeachpoetryfestival.org. Partial scholarships are made possible through the generosity of private donors and are subject to availability.

OUR WORKSHOPS

Join us in January for six days of workshops, readings, talks on the craft of writing poems, manuscript conferences, panel discussion, social events and so much more. For specific workshop and faculty details, visit Faculty & Featured Poets. Or, Apply today!

OUR POETRY WORKSHOPS

Festival workshops offer participants a perfect opportunity to focus on their work with other serious writers of poetry in a small group setting. The festival schedule includes afternoon craft talks and nightly readings, which are planned to support your writing and expand your experience of poetry with poets who are not only highly acclaimed, but also renowned teachers of craft.

 

On a typical morning, after you pick up a coffee in the festival bookstore, participant time is devoted to a workshop where you may learn as much from the your fellow participants as you will from your workshop leader. On afternoon breaks in the balmy winter of Delray Beach, you may stroll along Atlantic Avenue, have lunch, before you attend a Craft Talk in the Crest Theatre, and ask your burning questions.

 

OM_0346_FotorThroughout the day, the Festival Bookstore is a gathering point for participants where Murder On The Beach, our official bookseller, manages the sale of books by faculty and featured poets, and consigns participants’ books for sale. We also provide a limited selection of snacks, water, coffee and tea for purchase and gather at the bookstore at various times during the week for participant open mics.

After the afternoon events, you may break for dinner and free time with friends and prepare for our nightly poetry readings headlined by our award-winning faculty poets.

All events take place at Crest Theater at Old School Square in Delray Beach, a place most past participants have described as their “poetry home” in Palm Beach. OM_0005_Fotor

 

APPLY TO ATTEND

16th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival Workshop Applications are open now! Faculty includes Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Nickole Brown, Reginald Gibbons, Major Jackson, Jessica Jacobs, Ilya Kaminsky, David Kirby, Dana Levin, Adrian Matejka, and Maggie Smith.

Our Special Guest is Joy Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate, and Poet At Large is Patricia Smith. Conference faculty include Lorna Blake, Sally Bliumis-Dunn, and Angela Narciso Torres.

Workshop admission is by application. To apply, visit our Faculty & Featured Poets page, review the application guidelines, and apply online, using Submittable. The November 10th deadline has passed and applications are now closed.

A full week of extraordinary poetry events with America’s most engaging and award-winning poets: readings, craft talks, interviews and panel discussions, workshops, all to be enjoyed with a community of poets attending from all over the United States. We will gather in Delray Beach for our 16th year to experience the best of the best poetry has to offer. Workshops offer time to focus on your work as a poet. Festival events are open to the public and take place over six days and evenings. Six days of workshops, readings, craft talks, manuscript conferences, panel discussion, social events and so much more.

The 16th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival will take place in Delray Beach, Florida, January 20-25, 2020.

 

FISH TALES POETRY CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2017 “Fish Tales Poetry Contest,” held in partnership with the Delray Beach Historical Society!

Five cash prizes and five honorable mentions were selected by our distinguished contest judge, poet, Stephen Gibson. First Place award is $100, and four awards for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place will receive $25.00 each. The winners are:

FIRST PLACE: “Meager Catch,” by Zoë Stephan;
SECOND PLACE: Fishing with Family: A Small Tale of Seasickness, by Jen Karetnick;
THIRD PLACE: “Hooked,” by Bill Newby;
FOURTH PLACE: “Catch of the Day,” by Sarah Brown Weitzman; and
FIFTH PLACE: “First Catch,” by Shenu Kathymoon

Five HONORABLE MENTIONS were selected and recognized:
Swings Below Sea,” by Gabriella Alexis;
Caught,” by Jeanine Hoffman;
Under the Board,” by Stephanie Casio;
My Old Man and The Sea: A Cento,” by Jennifer Grant; and
Catch and Release,” by Allen Sweat.

Fish Tales refers to the stories, memorabilia, artwork, writing and history surrounding the sport and art of fishing in Delray Beach and specifically the items chosen to inspire poems in this contest. Poets were invited to visit Fish Tales in person at the Delray Beach Historical Society, or virtually on our website.

Poems were inspired by the following images/items from Fish Tales exhibit, at The Delray Beach Historical Society.

First Sailfish, Diane (Martini) Brewer (1980) “I almost went overboard.”

Uncle Bob’s First Fish, a pompano, 1928. “A manatee nearly knocked over the boat.”

Delray Fisherman and writer Randall Wilson Davis, circa 1937

designer of festival venue, Old School Square High School & Gymnasium
Samuel Ogren, Sr., Father of Delray Beach Architecture, fishing with family

Pioneers’ Catch of the Day, Every Face a story, Delray Beach circa 1910

Dorothy Zill Susleck with Bluefish, Delray Beach, circa 1953.

Irwin J. Sinks’ Tackle Box, 1926. Original fishing paraphernalia.

Fisherboy & Bonehead Shark (Siane Glover, June 2007)

Sam Ogren Sr. & Jr. Father Son Fish from Delray Beach to Bimini

Fisherman returning to Boynton Inlet (Photo: Peter W. Cross)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contest Judge, Stephen Gibson, is the author of seven poetry collections, most recently, Self-Portrait in a Door-Length Mirror, winner of the 2017 Miller Williams Prize, selected by Billy Collins, (Univ. of Arkansas Press). His poetry and fiction have appeared in such journals as American Arts Quarterly, Gargoyle, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, North American Review, The Paris Review, Pleiades, Poetry, River Styx, The Sewanee Review, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and The Yale Review among others. He taught for thirty-two years at the Belle Glade campus of Palm Beach State College.

Results Announced: April 2017, National Poetry Month

Delray Beach Historical Society, Fish Tales Exhibit is open to the public, Thursday – Saturday, 11am – 3pm, DBHS members – Free, Non-members – Suggested donation of $5 per person. Children 16 and under – Free

NATIONAL POETRY MONTH: A LATE STYLE OF FIRE, Larry Levis Feature Documentary

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is pleased to support, in partnership with our friends, Palm Beach International Film Festival and O,Miami, the Florida premiere screenings of the feature documentary film, A Late Style of Fire, about the life and work of poet Larry Levis who died abruptly at the age of 49.

Featuring conversations with his poet friends, colleagues, an original score by Iron and Wine, and film excerpts by award-winning Spanish filmmaker Lois Patiño, this innovative documentary explores Levis’s childhood working alongside Mexican-American field hands, three marriages, friendships with America’s greatest poets, and his own words and poems for answers. Levis’ poem “The Space,” from his collection, Winter Stars, in which he writes:

The Self sounds like a guy raking leaves
Off his walk. It sounds like the scrape of the rake.
The soul is just a story the scraping tells.

Is self-destruction required for a serious life of art? Larry Levis is a poet who addressed this issue head-on, in his work and in his living. And he encountered and had friendships and relationships with contemporary living poets who are interviewed for the film.

What is the story of Larry Levis and what is his creative legacy? A Late Style of Fire presents an opportunity to explore the artist’s life through the eyes of some of America’s most important poets. The film itself has a poetic and lyric quality as created by filmmaker and poet, Michelle Poulos and producer and poet, Gregory Donovan.

Poets appearing in the film include U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine, U.S. Poet Laureate Charles Wright, Carolyn Forché, David St. John, Carol Muske-Dukes, Norman Dubie, Colleen McElroy, Gerald Stern, Stanley Plumly, David Wojahn, Kathleen Graber, and more.

A Late Style of Fire events include:

Sunday, April 2, 2017, 3:30 pm
“A Late Style of Fire,” Screening & Q&A
Palm Beach International Film Festival
Cinemark Airport Road, Boca Raton
3200 Airport Rd, Boca Raton, FL 33431
Q & A with Filmmaker and Producer, Michelle Poulos & Gregory Donovan-
[To receive the student/faculty ticket discount, use the code: keiser2017]

Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 9:30 am – 11:00 am
O, Miami, Filmmakers Salon, The Betsy Hotel, A Late Style of Fire
The Betsy-South Beach
A talk with filmmakers Michele Poulos and Greg Donovan with breakfast included. RSVP required here.

Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 7:30 pm – 10:00 pm
O, Miami, A Late Style of Fire, Screening & Q&A
Tickets: here.
O Cinema Miami Shores @MTC

See the trailer below: