Join us for the High School Poetry Contest Award Ceremony in the Crest Theatre to honor this year’s award-winning poets and hear them read the winning poems.

Faculty Poets share and discuss beloved poems that have been influential in their lives and in their writing. A favorite event!

 

 

 

The Gala is a fundraiser and celebration of all the poets at the festival, participants and featured poets. Admission is by invitation.

For those coming in from out of town, please note that January is the height of the vacation season in Delray Beach. We suggest you reserve a hotel room as soon as possible.

See our Travel & Lodging page for more information to plan your visit.

In his tenure as United States Poet Laureate (1995-1997), Hass spent two years battling American illiteracy, armed with the mantra, “imagination makes communities. ”His deep commitment to environmental issues led him to found River of Words (ROW), an organization that promotes environmental and arts education in affiliation with the Library of Congress Center for the Book. A poet of great eloquence, clarity, and force, whose work is rooted in the landscapes of his native Northern California and brings the kind of energy in his poetry to his work as an essayist, translator, and activist on behalf of poetry, literacy, and the environment.

His many books of poetry include Field Guide, Praise, Human Wishes, and Sun Under Wood, a book of essays on poetry, Twentieth Century Pleasures. Hass translated Nobel Prize-winning Polish poet, Czeslaw Milosz, and edited Selected Poems: 1954-1986 by Tomas Transtromer, The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa; Poet’s Choice: Poems for Everyday Life; and Modernist Women Poets: An Anthology (with Paul Ebenkamp). His collection of poems Time and Materials won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Awarded the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, twice the National Book Critics’ Circle Award (in 1984 and 1997), and the Yale Series of Younger Poets in 1973, Robert Hass is professor of English at U.C. Berkeley.

We were honored to have Natasha Trethewey as our Special Guest for an Interview by Chard deNiord, and her Gala Reading at the 10th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival. A transcript of the interview was published in World Literature Today online, and a video and recording of the interview is available from our festival Youtube Channel.

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

• The winner will receive $100 and a pair of tickets to the Coffee House Performance event, featuring Dominique Christina and Marc Kelly Smith
• The four runners up will each receive $25 and a pair of tickets to the Coffee House Performance 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
• Prize winners will be invited to participate in exclusive photo-ops with the featured poets, for local press releases

ELIGIBILITY: Palm Beach County public and private High School students, Grades 9-12

RULES:

1. Poems may be submitted October 1^st through December 1st, 2015, 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, and grade level  must appear in the upper, right-hand corner of the page.
4.   DEADLINE: Your poem must be emailed by midnight, December 1st, 2015.
5. Send by email to PBPF1@aol.com (copy & paste poem into the body of email*);
6. *Attachments will not be opened and will be automatically disqualified.
7. All contest participants agree to be subjects of press releases and media stories about the contest and the festival.
8. In order to collect the prize, the winner must be present at the awards ceremony.
9. Your submission is an agreement that you will attend the Festival Awards Ceremony to read your winning poem on Monday, January 18^th , 2016 at 4:00 p.m.

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, 2016.

DISTINGUISHED JUDGE:
Dr. Jeff Morgan, Chairman, Department of English, Lynn University, Boca Raton, Florida

For More Information about the Palm Beach Poetry Festival High School Poetry Contest, contact drblaiseallen@aol.com, or by phone: (561) 868-2063. Be prepared to leave a message.  Your call will be returned promptly. Ask your high school principal, English teacher or Poetry Club Leader about the Palm Beach Poetry Festival High School Poetry Contest. Visit: http://palmbeachpoetryfestival.org/other/hs_contest/winners to see the past winners and the winning poems!

Additional focus on your work is available in individual one-hour conferences on up to 10 pages of poetry. Conference Faculty: Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Nickole Brown, and Ginger Murchison. Applicants may request a conference with their application. Appointments will be confirmed upon acceptance to a workshop, first-come-first served.

Requests for conferences will be accepted until December 1st. Manuscripts are due to faculty for review by December 10th. The cost is $95, payable upon confirmation. A great opportunity!

You may submit an application between now and November 9, 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conferences are available to accepted participants and auditors, not to the general public.

Purchase tickets now and join us for any of our pubic events! Readings, afternoon craft talks, panel discussion, Sizzling Spoken Word!

To learn more about the festival week and events that are open to the public, visit Schedule of Events to purchase tickets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marc Kelly Smith (Slampapi) & Dominique Christina

The 12th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival’s finale is the Sizzling Spoken Word Poetry Performances presented with JAMnasium at the Old School Square Field House and features poets Marc Kelly Smith, founder of the poetry slam “Slampapi” and Dominique Christina, National Poetry Slam Champion. Christina is a five-time poetry slam winner and Smith is the creator and founder of the International Poetry Slam movement.

Drinks, Food, Music, and Sizzling Spoken Word will be served.

 

IT TAKES TWO: COLLABORATVE POETRY, A Talk on Craft with Denise Duhamel

FROM THE TOP DOWN AND FROM SIDE TO SIDE: LINE/SYNTAX/STANZA, A Talk on Craft with Tom Sleigh

Each poet will give a 1/2 hour talk on an element of poetic craft. Readers of poetry will walk away with a greater appreciation of what goes into the making of a poem; writers will leave with tools to improve their craft. Event will take place in the Crest Theatre followed by a Q & A.

 

Carol Frost & Tom Sleigh

Evening Readings are in the Crest Theatre, followed by book signings in the bookstore, Ocean Breeze Room, courtesy of Murder on the Beach.

Carl Dennis & Mary Szybist

Laure-Anne Bosselaar & Kevin Young

Evening Readings are in the Crest Theatre, followed by book signings in the bookstore, Ocean Breeze Room, courtesy of Murder on the Beach.

REPETITION & RESONANCE, A Talk on Craft with Mary Szybist

THROW YOUR VOICE, A Talk on Craft with Kevin Young

Each poet will give a 1/2 hour talk on an element of poetic craft. Readers of poetry will walk away with a greater appreciation of what goes into the making of a poem; writers will leave with tools to improve their craft. Event will take place in the Crest Theatre followed by a Q & A.

FOUR VIRTUES, A Talk on Craft with Carl Dennis

CONVEYING EMOTION THROUGH IMAGERY, ADDRESS, PERSONIFICATION AND PATHETIC FALLACY (A CLOSE READ OF “TWO TREES” BY LARRY LEVIS, A Talk on Craft with Laure-Anne Bosselaar

Each poet will give a 1/2 hour talk on an element of poetic craft. Readers of poetry will walk away with a greater appreciation of what goes into the making of a poem; writers will leave with tools to improve their craft. Event will take place in the Crest Theatre followed by a Q & A.

THE IMPERATIVE IN “THE EMPEROR OF ICE CREAM,” A Talk on Craft with Carol Frost

TWO SONNETS BY BILL KNOTT, A Talk on Craft with Thomas Lux

Each poet will give a 1/2 hour talk on an element of poetic craft. Readers of poetry will walk away with a greater appreciation of what goes into the making of a poem; writers will leave with tools to improve their craft. Event will take place in the Crest Theatre followed by a Q & A.

Readings with Denise Duhamel, Thomas Lux & Alan Shapiro, followed by book signing in the Festival Book Store, Ocean Breeze Room in the Crest Theatre Building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Special Guest, Robert Hass

Join us for a round-robin open reading in the beautiful Green Cay Wetlands Nature Preserve. We will spend a lovely afternoon reading poetry round-robin style in Green Cay Club House Community Room. Please bring up to four poems (favorites, or your own) to share with the group. Please bring a light wrap or jacket as the room may be cold. Please be prompt as we will start to read at 12:30.

This event is free to everyone! Feel free to invite guests, we love an audience!

Green Cay Wetlands Community Room
Green Cay Preserve Nature Center
12800 Hagan Ranch Road, Boynton Beach, FL 33437

To RSVP, contact Dr. Blaise Allen, Director of Community Outreach, at DrBlaiseAllen@aol.com.