The Poetry Society of New York’s 3rd Annual New York Poetry Festival is coming up on July 27 and 28 on Governors Island.
The festival has become a highlight of the New York lit-o-sphere in the summer. A short ferry ride from Manhattan, the fest attracts poets from around the country for two days of poetry on three stages for six hours each day.
Featured readers for the 2013 fest include Lara Glenum, Cornelius Eady, Dorothea Lasky, Catherine Wagner, CA Conrad, Paul Legault, Todd Colby, Anne Waldman, Geoffrey Nutter, Andrew Durbin, Miguel Algarin, J. Hope Stein, Bob Holman, and Cathy Park Hong (full line-up here). The Poetry Society site says there will be over 200 poets, book vendors, food carts, and beer supplied by Brooklyn Brewery, with different time slots being hosted by a variety of presses and reading series that you’ve probably seen featured in Notable New York.
The festival has done a good job of including a pretty broad spectrum of what is happening with poetry in New York. You get some of the more academic scene, performance poets, young poets, traditional poets, avant-garde poets, actors reading poetry (Emotive Fruition), and the like. (Sorry if I have either failed to include your favorite “poetry scene” or if I have offended by lumping poets into groups. Everyone is a special flower.)
The festival begins at 11am and closes at 5pm daily. There is a $10 suggested donation.
