A statewide and month-long celebration of Utah’s poets and poetry throughout April 2022. Register to watch virtual events live or stream all events later via the Utah Humanities YouTube channel. All events closed captioned by AI Media.
To register for virtual events, click the event title to register for each event you wish to attend. Registration closes the day after the event. All panels will allow for moderated community Q&As and discussion.
The Utah Poetry Festival is supported with grants from the Utah Division of Arts and Museums and Utah Humanities.
Shop our festival’s virtual book fair here.
CORE FESTIVAL EVENTS
FRIDAY, APRIL 14
7-8 PM MST Headline Reading with Jan Minich, Paisley Rekdal, and Cindy King
A headline reading to celebrate new and recent books by Utah poets Jan Minich, Paisley Rekdal, and Cindy King
SATURDAY, APRIL 15
ROUNDTABLE: 10:00-10:45 AM MST
Genre as Boundary, Limit, and Blur
In this panel for teachers, readers, and writers of poetry, organizers will discuss the ways that prose and poetry borrow each other’s tools, swap crayons, trade outfits: prose can be musical, metrical even, and poetry can have plot and characters. But when does one become the other? Where does the prose poem fit, or the novel-in-verse? Jean-Paul Sartre claimed that “Poetry creates the myth, the prose writer draws its portrait.” If the line between the genres is fluid, why attempt to draw a line at all? Come and find out! Panelists Lance Larsen, Sunni Wilkinson, and Jason Olsen, moderated by Michael Lavers.
CRAFT TALK 1: 11-11:45 AM
This panel will be a discussion by 4 poets whose poetry speaks to their deep connection with wild areas, and encounters with wild animals. You will get to hear why, and details about how, they have these connections, and how such encounters translate into their poems. Panelists Rob Carney, Olivia Dudding Rodriguez, Margaret Pettis, and Michael Sowder, moderated by Nancy Takacs.
CRAFT TALK 2: 12-12:45 PM
Poetry can move us, thrill us, create beauty and aesthetic enjoyment–but can it also change the world? In this panel, we will explore the ways poetry might be used as a basis for activism and civic engagement. Our panelists will discuss how poets might use the art to help speak back to our contemporary moment and make arguments about the world we live in. Panelists Brock Jones, Joel Long, Ashley Finley, and Matty Layne Glasgow, moderated by Kara Van De Graaf.
CRAFT TALK 3: 2-2:45 PM MST
This panel, with poets who write in more than one/across language/s, will explore code switching, translation, transcreation, doubled canons/literary heritages, and more. What opens up when a poet has more than one language, and those languages’ resources, to draw upon? This panel will give you insights and many more (productive) questions. Panelists Chengru He, Ruth Arce, and Laura Ruiz Ortega, moderated by Willy Palomo.
CRAFT TALK 4: 3-3:45 PM MST
Poets and artists will discuss how they collaborated on books involving the visual arts and poetry. Panelists will discuss their collaborations that range from illustrating poems to the making of letterpress art books of poetry. Panelists/collaborative partners Natalie Young and Maximiliane Spieß; Katharine Coles and Marnie Powers Torrey, moderated by Danielle Dubrasky.
APRIL 15th, 7-8 PM MST Headline Reading featuring Natalie Young, Jacqueline Osherow, Abraham Smith
A headline reading to celebrate new and recent books by Utah poets Natalie Young, Jacqueline Osherow, and Abraham Smith.
STATEWIDE POETRY EVENTS
April 1-April 30: 30 Poems in 30 Days, SLCC Community Writing Center. Check the CWC’s Facebook or Instagram page for daily prompts. Register here to be eligible for a competition and publication.
April 7, noon: Rio Cortez reads at BYU HBLL Auditorium. Info here.
April 10, 7 PM: Salt City Slam, Mark of the Beastro, 666 So. State Street, SLC.
April 11, 11:30 AM: Kimberly Johnson reads at SUU, Garden Level, Library.
April 12, 7 PM: Rio Cortez reads at SLCC, Technology Building 104. 4600 Redwood Road, Taylorsville.
April 13th, 7 PM: Helicon West presents A Workshop on Poetry & Memory: a craft talk and writing prompts, led by Millie Tullis. CacheArts Thatcher-Young Mansion. Open to the public.
April 15, 6-8 PM: Kick off Release Party & Reading for Kolob Canyon Review, ST 145, Sharwan Ballroom, Southern Utah University.
April 18th, 6 PM: Steve Timm & Ogden Poet Laureate Angelika Brewer, Weber State University, Hetzel Hoellein Room in the Stewart Library. More information here.
April 26, 1 PM: Opening Ceremony and Dedication of Swenson Park, in honor of May Swenson. Logan, UT. More about May Swenson and the park here.
April 26, 6-7 PM: Book launch for Paisley Rekdal’s WEST at the UMFA on 4/26. Attendees may also view the “Many Wests” exhibit free.
April 27, 7 PM: Railtown Reading Series. Nancy Takacs and Lisa Bickmore read. Weber County Main Library, with open mic and book signings to follow.
April 27, 7 PM: Winners of the USU Creative Writing and Art Contest will read selections from their work at a special night at Helicon West, Merrill-Cazier Library, room 101.
April 28-29: Utah State Poetry Society Conference, virtual. Information here
April 29th: Pre-Quill Conference, Utah League of Writers, University Marriott, SLC. Information here.
April 30, 4-6 PM: Queer Poetry Night at Under the Umbrella Bookstore. 511 W 200 S Suite 120, Salt Lake City.
June 11 deadline: Submit to the Sor Juana Contest for Poetry & Short Stories in Spanish | CONCURSO ANUAL SOR JUANA PARA POESÍA Y PROSA EN ESPAÑOL. Sponsored by Artes de Mexico. More information here.
Utah Poetry Festival 