Thom Francis is the president of Albany Poets and has been organizing, promoting, and hosting open mics and poetry / spoken word events in Albany such as Nitty Gritty Slam, School of Night, Albany Poets Presents…, and the Albany Word Fest for over 15 years. As a poet and performer, Thom has been featured at many of the upstate poetry and spoken word events from Saratoga to Woodstock as well as LarkFest, Art on Lark, 1st Friday, and the Albany Word Fest.
What a great week of poetry and spoken word we have lined up. Our friends over in Pittsfield at WordXWord are part of a great city-wide arts festival called 10X10 and Albany Poets has been invited to be a part of it. We will be bringing a great mix of Albany poets on Monday to […]
Upcoming Poetry Events – Week of February 17, 2013 Read More »
Albany Poets is very proud to be a part of the 10×10 Poetry Festival in Pittsfield on Monday night, February 18. Local poets Shannon Shoemaker, Kevin Peterson, Algorhythm, Jill Crammond, Dan Wilcox, and Mojavi will be representing the poets and spoken word artists of Albany at one of the seven poetry events that will be
Albany Poets… in Pittsfield on Monday, February 18 Read More »
Tuesday, February 19 will mark the first time we hold the Women of Albany Poetry Slam at Valentines. This is going to be a great show, not to be missed. We are featuring four of the most dynamic and powerful female poets in the area for this special edition of NGS. We have held three
Nitty Gritty Slam #38 – The Women of Albany Poetry Slam at Valentine’s Read More »
Albany Poets has been very fortunate to work with the Albany Barn and Brighter Choice Charter Middle School for Girls to help guide students through the process of writing, editing, memorizing, and then performing their own poetry over the past five weeks. On Friday, February 15, at Stage 1 (46 North Swan St., Albany), the
From The Page to Stage 1 Read More »
We are back at Valentine’s this coming Tuesday, February 5 with the 37th edition of Nitty Gritty Slam! This time around we are back in our 1st and 3rd Tuesday groove and having another Open Slam where the points count. One of the major things that we try to remind people, especially new poets getting
Nitty Gritty Slam #37 – The Points Are Not The Point, But They Do Count Read More »
Last week at Valentine’s we had a another packed house for poetry and spoken word (and of course our featured poet Influence all the way from Connecticut). This was also the night where we reset the Season Two scores and held an Open Slam. By the end of the night and for the second slam in
NGS #32 Results – An Open Slam With Some Influence Read More »
We had 16 poets get on stage and share their work throughout the evening at Nitty Gritty Slam #31 on Tuesday, November 20 at Valentines between the open mic and the slam. This was a special night though, because this was our very first Women of the World Poetry Slam prelim bout. The top two
NGS #31 Results – Women of Albany Compete! Read More »
Welcome to the holiday season in upstate New York. We survived Thanksgiving and the November edition of Poets Speak Loud this past Monday, now we look forward to another great week of poetry and spoken word kicking off the month of December. Things really heat up in the middle of the week with Nitty Gritty Slam on
Upcoming Poetry Events – Week of December 2, 2012 Read More »
We have another one-two punch of poetry and spoken word coming up next week with Nitty Gritty Slam on Tuesday night (with featured poet Influence) in Albany and then the Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic in Saratoga Springs on Wednesday night. This month the featured poets are (myself) Thom Francis and Lynn Ciesielski. This is my second
The Caffe Lena Poetry Open Mic Featuring Thom Francis and Lynn Ciesielski Read More »
The Friends of Albany Public Library will be honoring Daniel Nester at the Fall Book and Author Event at the University Club on Washington Ave. on Saturday, November 17. Daniel Nester is a journalist, essayist, poet, editor, and teacher. His latest book is How to Be Inappropriate, a collection of humorous nonfiction(Soft Skull, 2010). Nester’s first two
Friends of Albany Public Library’s Fall Book & Author Event Read More »
The Hudson Valley Writers Guild recently held a poetry contest and next Saturday at 1:00PM the winners and other participants will read their poems at the Bethlehem Public Library, 451 Delaware Ave., Delmar. If you are a regualr at the poetry open mics in the area, you will recognize some of the names of poets who
HVWG Poetry Contest Reading Read More »
Last week we held the last Professor Java’s Wide Open Mic and this week we have news that the Saint Poem Reading Series at the UAG on Lark is on a hiatus until at least January 2013 starting with tonight’s edition of the poetry open mic. Host R.M. Engelhardt posted the following on Facebook this
Another End of an Era… The Saint is Taking a Break Read More »
The Hudson Valley Writers Guild supports the efforts of writers in all genres by sponsoring readings, workshops, and contests and providing a number of valuable resources for the entire literary community.
