In celebration of National Poetry Month, Albany Poets is proud to present the 2018 Albany Word Fest featuring the poetry and spoken word of upstate New York. This year’s event will take place Monday, April 16 – Saturday, April 21, 2018.
“Every year we celebrate National Poetry Month right here in Albany to highlight all of the talented writers, artists, and performers we have in the area” Thom Francis, Albany Poets President, said. “We want to honor the rich and vibrant poetry and spoken word community of Upstate New York”
Whether you would like to take in a featured performance, celebrate the launch of the sixth edition of Up The River, or be part of the 24-hour Readings Against the End of the World open mic, the Albany Word Fest is the place for you.
Festival of Features
The festival kicks off on Monday, April 16, at the Hudson River Coffee House on Quail Street for The Word Fest Night of Features – an evening of poetry and prose featuring regional poets and writers hosted by Harvey Havel.
On Wednesday. April 18, we welcome a local poet to Albany Poets Presents at Restaurant Navona on New Scotland Avenue to share their work and then take questions from the audience about life, inspirations, writing, and more.
W.D. Clarke will be the featured reader on Thursday, April 19, at the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center on Central Avenue. There will be an opportunity before and after the feature for poets to step up to the mic and share their work.
The Grand Finale
And to close out the 2018 Albany Word Fest Albany Poets and the English Department at UAlbany are presenting Readings Against the End of the World, a 24-hour read-a-thon to benefit the South End Children’s Cafe.
All word-lovers and writers are invited to share readings – original work or favorite passages, poems and rants, raps and stories, spoken word and personal visions- enough to fill twenty-four hours the power of words. The event will kick off Friday, April 20 at the Husted Hall Café on the UAlbany Downtown campus, and will continue until Saturday, April 21.
This year’s event will host several special events – an evening of regional open mic hosts sharing their own work, midnight theatre, a morning youth reading, a haiku battle, afternoon college readers, the launch of the sixth issue of Up The River, and more – all alternating with open mic signup slots.
Online sign up for the open mic portions of Readings Against the End of the World will be available on the Word Fest website soon. Organizations interested in having a table can contact Albany Poets at albanypoets@gmail.com for information.
As the finale of the week-long Albany Word Fest, Readings Against the End of the World will celebrate National Poetry Month by bringing local writers and literary communities together with creative writing students and faculty from area colleges to raise money for an excellent local program, the South End Children’s Café. The mission of SECC is to impact food insecurity, address food equality and food justice, enhance academic success and positively influence the physical and mental health of children residing in the South End of Albany, New York. The program offers free, healthy dinner time meals along with homework help, academic enrichment, mentoring, exercise and participation in the arts Monday through Friday. For more information on this excellent local program, check out their website at www.southendchildrenscafe.com.
Ongoing Online Open Mic
Additionally, all throughout the week, Albany Poets will be publishing local poetry on their website as part of the Word Fest Online Open Mic. Poets who wish to participate are encouraged to send their poems to albanypoets@gmail.com with “Word Fest Online Open Mic” in the subject line, starting Sunday, April 1.
The 2018 Albany Word Fest is sponsored by Albany Poets, English Department at UAlbany, Hudson Valley Writers Guild, Restaurant Navona, The Low Beat, McGeary’s Irish Pub, The Social Justice Center and the very generous donations of supporters of the arts in upstate New York.
Be sure to check www.albanywordfest.com often for details and information on 2018 Albany Word Fest.
