Past Events
Monday, April 6th, 2020 7:00pm - 9:00pm

The Wife   After nearly 40 years of marriage, Joan and Joe Castleman (Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce) are complements. Where Joe is casual, Joan is elegant. Where Joe is vain, Joan is self-effacing. And where Joe enjoys his very public role as Great American Novelist, Joan pours her considerable intellect, grace, charm, and diplomacy into the private role of Great Man’s Wife. Joe is about to be awarded the Nobel Prize for his acclaimed and prolific body of work. Joe’s literary star has blazed since he and Joan first met in the late 1950s. The Wife interweaves the story of … Read more >

Saturday, April 4th, 2020 1:00pm - 3:00pm

Honoring the works of Marie Howe, this workshop will examine poetic techniques that magnify the simple (moments, objects, thoughts) to create a sense of universality in confessional poetry. Camila Saavedra is an MFA candidate at Florida International University. She enjoys all genres but is partial to poetry and creative nonfiction. She writes about trauma in its many forms. Her poem, The first time I realized I might not be alive, appears in This Thing We Call Poetry: An Anthology of Poems by Young Adults with Cancer.     Read more >

Saturday, March 21st, 2020 1:00pm - 3:00pm

Celebrate St. Patty’s Day with this fun Irish poetry workshop facilitated by Michael Macklin O’Mara. During the workshop, participants will read some of the best loved Irish poems, learn about the history of limericks, and pen a few of their own. Blarney, sharing your work, and wearing of the green is optional. St. Pat’s Pub will offer a special holiday lunch menu. Michael Mackin O’Mara has lived and worked in West Palm Beach since the 1980s. Before that he studied under Hans and Ilse Juergensen at the University of South Florida. He is the managing editor of the South Florida Poetry Journal. … Read more >

Saturday, March 7th, 2020 1:00pm - 3:00pm

This workshop is planned as a celebration of the work of two living legends of the Beat Generation, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Diane di Prima. Participants will be reading works by both poets and writing their own poems inspired by their works. There will be take-home packets of Beat Poetry and a bibliography for further reading. The session will include opportunities to share poems-in-progress. Meryl Stratford won the 2013 Yellow Jacket Press Contest for Florida Poets for her chapbook, The Magician’s Daughter. Her poems have appeared  in numerous journals including Amsterdam Quarterly, Rattle, and The Society of Classical Poets, and have been anthologized in MALALA:  Poems … Read more >

Tuesday, February 18th, 2020 1:00pm - 3:00pm

Open-Mic Round Robin Poetry Reading Participants should bring up to four poems, original or not, to share with the group. Nonpoets are welcome. Read more >

Saturday, January 25th, 2020 8:15pm - 10:15pm

Reading with Laure-Anne Bosselaar, Major Jackson, and David Kirby, followed by book signing in the Festival Book Store, Ocean Breeze Room in the Crest Theatre Building. Read more >

Saturday, January 25th, 2020 2:00pm - 4:00pm

    A Festival Favorite! All faculty poets share and discuss beloved poems that have been influential in their lives and in their writing. Moderated by Jen Karetnick and followed by Q&A. Read more >

Friday, January 24th, 2020 8:00pm - 10:00pm

An evening of poetry with 2018 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award Winner Patricia Smith, our 2020 Poet-at-Large, followed by book signing in the Festival Book Store, Ocean Breeze Room in the Crest Theatre Building. Read more >

Friday, January 24th, 2020 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Festival Workshop Participants Read in the Crest Theatre, Free and Open to the Public Audience, Open Mic for Registered Workshop Participants only. Read more >

Friday, January 24th, 2020 2:00pm - 3:30pm

  Maggie Smith: The Golden Repair: Embracing Brokenness and Error in the Poem Adrian Matejka: Poet Malone Didn’t Ask First: Permission vs. Appropriation in Persona Poetry.     Read more >