Lanier Library Poetry Festival, April 26

From a press release:

Lanier Library Poetry Festival, April 26

There are still seats available in five writing workshops scheduled for the Lanier Library Poetry Festival Saturday, April 26. Conducted by noted poets – George Bilgere, Cathy Smith Bowers, Malaika King Albrecht, Rhett Iseman Trull, Phebe Davidson and Elizabeth Cox – these workshops take beginning and advanced writers from the blank page to publication.

Bilgere’s “Writing Your Way Into the Poem” will share with writers strategies and techniques for starting the writing process, revising poems and getting them into print. Writing experience is recommended for this workshop which will include in-class writing exercises based on instructor’s prompts.

Bowers invites writers to explore imagery in her class, “The Abiding Image: An Invitation to Poetry.” This workshop is for those who want to turn their thoughts, experiences and emotions into poetry.

Literary publishers Albrecht and Trull team up to help writers with the whys, hows and wheres of the submission process in their workshop called “Join the Great Circle: Send Out That Work.” The class will show writers how submitting work places them in a community of writers and helps them be a part of an ongoing conversation about literature today.

Phebe Davidson’s “Where the Words Take You” will show experienced writers how not to over-think the writing process. A group exercise will ask attendees to construct a poem that depends on formal arrangement and experiment with other poetic forms of the same material.

Elizabeth Cox’s workshop, “The Power of Image,” will focus on developing the art of imagery in expressing emotion, thereby implying more than a direct statement can. Participants are encouraged to bring to, or begin in class, a poem that makes use of a deep image.

Workshops are scheduled throughout the day, and require pre-registration. Space is limited. To download a registration form, see www.lanierlib.org, or visit the library during open hours.

The daylong festival will also include readings, book signings and a luncheon with award-winning poet, Mark Doty. An open mic poetry reading event, Poetry Under the Stars, will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, April 25 to kick off the festival. This event will be held in the Tryon Fine Arts Center amphitheater next to the library. Poets are invited to sign up beginning at 6:30 p.m. for 10-minute reading slots. Former N.C. Poet Laureate Cathy Smith Bowers will emcee the event.

The festival will conclude on Saturday at 5:15 p.m. with an awards ceremony at Lanier Library for the 6th Annual Sidney Lanier Poetry Competition. N.C. Poet Laureate Joseph Bathanti will announce the winners and give a talk on poetry. A reception will follow. The ceremony and reception are free and open to the public.
Lanier Library, a non-profit organization begun in 1895, is one of only 16 private membership libraries in the country. The library is located at 72 Chestnut Street in downtown Tryon. For more information, please call (828) 859-9535.