Past Events
Friday, April 22nd, 2022 1:45pm - 2:30pm

WRITE IT! with Nickole Brown and Jessica Jacobs is planned with the Palm Beach County School District Educational Technology Team. The poets will read and share prompts to inspire students from their co-authored book of prompts. The event will be available throughout the Palm Beach County School System: https://www.youtube.com/c/EdTechTrainingTeam/. Nickole Brown is the author of Sister: A Novel-in-Poems (Red Hen Press, Sibling Rivalry Press) and Fanny Say: A Biography-in-Poems (BOA Editions). Currently, she lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where she periodically volunteers at several animal sanctuaries. Since 2016, she’s been writing about these animals, and To Those Who Were Our … Read more >

Saturday, January 15th, 2022 8:00pm - 9:30pm

Aimee Nezhukumatathil will deliver a reading to remember, an evening of her award-winning poetry. Serving as the 2022 Poet-at-Large places Aimee in the company of other esteemed poets who filled this role: Tyehimba Jess, Patricia Smith, and Brian Turner. These selected poets wowed their audiences of Palm Beach County School students, Palm Beach Poetry Festival participants and members of the general public. She will be working virtually with the Palm Beach County Schools county-wide presentations. Introduction by Angela Narciso Torres. Join us to meet the poet and purchase her books at our in-house Festival Bookstore, Murder On The Beach, following … Read more >

Saturday, January 15th, 2022 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Join us for everyone’s favorite festival event. Each of our 2022 Workshop Faculty — Diane Seuss, Matthew Olzmann, John Murillo, Yona Harvey, Mark Doty, Chard deNiord, Laure-Anne Bosselaar and Kim Addonizio — will read and discuss a poem that has influenced them in their personal and writing lives. Moderator is Nickole Brown. Q & A to follow. Join us to meet the poets and purchase their books at our in-house Festival Bookstore, Murder On The Beach, following this event.   Read more >

Friday, January 14th, 2022 8:00pm - 9:30pm

Laure-Anne Bosselaar and Mark Doty, two poets whose collections have earned them critical recognition and a wide following will read from their work. Introductions by Sally Bliumis-Dunn. Join us to meet the poets and purchase their books at our in-house Festival Bookstore, Murder On The Beach, following this event. Read more >

Friday, January 14th, 2022 2:00pm - 4:00pm

The Voice of the Other As Muse and Music Maker with Chard deNiord: What does subjectifying have to do with technique and craft? The answer is simply everything, for subjectifying inspires spare, transformative expression with a sound all its own—a verbal music we don’t know we know until we find it within us like a lovesick troubadour or shaman or beloved sitting at our kitchen table talking to him or herself. It allows you as the poet to escape into that person or thing. Microcosm and Macrocosm with Matthew Olzmann: Perhaps a poet is attempting to write about a political … Read more >

Thursday, January 13th, 2022 8:00pm - 10:00pm

This year’s Mid-Week Faculty Reading features Yona Harvey, John Murillo and Diane Seuss, brilliant poets all, whose singular voices have earned them critical praise and multiple awards. Introductions by Jessica Jacobs. Join us to meet the poets and purchase their books at our in-house Festival Bookstore, Murder On The Beach, following this event. Read more >

Thursday, January 13th, 2022 2:00pm - 4:00pm

LIPSTICK ON THE CANON: ADDONIZIO & SEUSS ON THE SONNET Kim Addonizio and Diane Seuss will turn their attention to modern and contemporary practitioners of the sonnet in order to consider how the sonnet specifically, and traditional forms generally, can be adopted, adapted, and upended for the poet’s own provocative purposes. What counts, in contemporary practice, as a sonnet? How might the sonnet’s historical, canonical presence hold us up as we embark on our riskiest excursions? For whom is formal practice also transgressive rebellion, and how can we court transgression in our own work? Addonizio and Seuss will speak to … Read more >

Thursday, January 13th, 2022 11:00am - 1:00pm

Participants will learn the basics of the Japanese literary form of senryu, the lighthearted cousin of haiku. Consisting of three lines of approximately 17 syllables, the senryu focuses on humans and human emotions, the good and the bad, from a humorous perspective. Following the workshop, in which participants will learn about the history of the senryu and haiku, they will examine and discuss various examples before touring the Morikami’s beautiful gardens to generate their own senryu. Yaddyra Peralta, MFA, is the former Assistant Director of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival. Her works have appeared in Sliver of Stone, Ploughshares, Jai-alai, Abe’s Penny, Tigertail, The New … Read more >

Wednesday, January 12th, 2022 8:00pm - 9:30pm

Yusef Komunyakaa is the Thomas Lux Memorial Special Guest Poet for this 18th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival. The Thomas Lux Memorial Reading by a special guest poet was established to honor the memory of poet Thomas Lux. Introduction by Laure-Anne Bosselaar. From Neon Vernacular, his 1994 Pulitzer Prizing winning collection, to his new collection, Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth, New and Selected Poems, 2001-2021, Yusef Komunyakaa’s voice remains a vital presence in the world of poetry. Join us to meet the poet and purchase his books at our in-house Festival Bookstore, Murder On The Beach, following this event. Read more >

Wednesday, January 12th, 2022 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Yes, And: Poems of Inquiry and Fruition with Yona Harvey: How do we meet the goals for our poems without abandoning the scared and mysterious qualities within us, within our artistic practices, and within the poems themselves? Perhaps the answer lies in investigating our goals and their origin stories: Are they rooted in “sources of power and care” or in a facile acceptance of what we’ve been told we should be writing? Though not religious in nature, this talk will draw upon a few sacred texts and writings of spiritual thinkers. Poems by Lucille Clifton, Yusef Komunyakaa, Cherene Sherrard, and … Read more >