Join us for the Peoples Poetry Fest!!

Schedule of Events:

All Day: Session 23 - Austin Typewriter, Ink: Type-In - David Torres

Drop in and type in. Join typewriter enthusiast and master collector, David Torres, who will have a selection of vintage and antique typewriters for you to try. Enjoy writing with the tactile clack of these beautiful machines and see how changing your mode of writing can transform your ideas.  

9:15 am: Session 24 - St. Teresa Room

Poems of Change: Writing Revolution and Revelation Workshop - Cindy Huyser (Austin, TX)

We come to art to see the world differently and to discover ourselves along the way; this is as true for writers as it is for readers. In this workshop, we'll learn from poems by Lucille Clifton, James Crews, Chen Chen, and Teresa Palomo Acosta and write some drafts of our own. (Each participant will need a copy of the poem packet–4 pages to be printed on 2 sheets if possible.)

9:15 am: Session 26 - St. Hildegard Room

Children's Books Plus Young Adult Genres Panel Discussion
Ron Ramirez (McAllen, TX), Randal Lee Gritzner (Sebastian, TX), Angela Rosko (Weslaco, TX), Rey A. Banda (Welasco, TX)

Three authors who have written Children's and Young Adult books are teaming up to discuss our books. Five genres will be discussed:  Children's books, Young Adult Fiction, Autobiographies, Romance, and Science Fiction.

10:30 am: Session 25 - St. Teresa Room

Using Lists to Inspire Writing - J. L. Wright (Corpus Cristi, TX)

I don't believe in Writer block because I can always write a grocery list. This brief workshop will give you a head start on how you can use list to takeoff and a new direction on a new project or go back into your current project and get back on track. (A whiteboard or chart paper for a wall)

10:30 am: Session 27 - St. Hildegard Room

Navigating Grief through Writing and Research - Hailey Rose Hanks (Corpus Christi, TX), Dr. Desireé Thorpe, Rebecca Holcomb, Heather Kolf

In this interdisciplinary panel, each writer will share their work and their experiences with writing and research that shaped their navigation of grief. We will think about grief writing from creative and critical perspectives—across genres and disciplines such as creative nonfiction, poetry, and scholarly work. We will discuss the intricate relationship between writing, remembering, and grieving as we invite audience members to consider the usefulness of writing as a form of dialogical grief expression in their own lives.

11:30 am: Lunch - The Labyrinth

Open Mic - J.D. Leza

Enjoy lunch on The Labyrinth and browse the Book Fair while an Open Mic is taking place.

12:30 pm: Session 28 - The Labyrinth

Keepsake Postcard Poetry - Clemmie-Li Clyde (Corpus Cristi, TX)

Participants create postcards and write poems on them to send along through the mail. Discussion includes the logistics of a postcard along with set parameters writing the poetry. Each participant will have the opportunity to decorate and write a short poem on a keepsake postcard.

12:30 pm: Session 29 - The Labyrinth

Southern Voices: 50 Contemporary Poets - Andrew Geyer (Aiken, South Carolina), Jan Seale (Rio Grande Valley, TX), Joey Brown (Joplin, MO), Alan Berecka (Sinton, TX)

From the editors of the innovative composite anthology A Shared Voice (INDIEFAB and Spur Award Finalist, 2013) comes this unique anthology of works by Southern poets. The poems in this exciting volume crisscross the Greater American South from Virginia to the Ozarks, from the Texas hill country to the Florida coast. Writing in a variety of forms and on an amazing array of subjects, the fifty master-poets in Southern Voices explore all the corners of this gradually evolving region along with its flora, fauna, cultural idiosyncrasies, and distinctive cuisines.

2:00 pm: Session 30 - The Labyrinth

Haiku Deathmatch - Stefan Sencerz

A legend has it that, in the early 1670s, Bash? and his students devised an event called "the seashell game" in which poets competed head-to-head with their original haiku and a winner was selected by a judge. In the early 1990s, over 3 centuries later, a poet from the Illinois poetry slam scene named Daniel Ferri created the Haiku Death Match, infusing the Japanese practice with a slew of Western conventions ranging from the roast to the rap battle. The slam-style haiku, also known as "ku," is just a 17 (or less) syllables poem and contains no title. Poets battle one-on-one until only one "haikuin" is left standing.

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Session 31 - Live Jazz Fundraiser - Bryan Jones, Ms. Destiny