Split This Rock at AWP: February 3-5, 2011
Major Presence at AWP 2011: We Hope to See You There!
Split This Rock will have a major presence at the Associated Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference, February 3-5, 2011, when the conference returns to DC for the first time in more than a decade.
If you'll be in DC February 3-5, we hope you'll join us! As a Literary Partner, Split This Rock will put on two featured conference presentations, a tribute to Langston Hughes, and a panel discussion on the poet as public citizen. We're also collaborating with other poetry and social change groups for offsite readings on immigration and the nightmare of Arizona's SB 1070, on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and celebrating queer voices.
On Thursday, February 3, we call poets and writers to speak out for an end to the wars and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq at a peaceful, permitted event at the White House on Thursday, February 3.
Find general details about the conference, including registration information, on AWP's website.
Find Us at Booth #315 in the Bookfair
The AWP Bookfair takes place Thursday through Saturday, 8:30 am to 5:30 pm, at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel (Woodley Park stop on the Metro Red Line), Exhibition Level. Thursday and Friday it is open only to registered participants but Saturday the bookfair is free and open to the public. The bookfair is packed with exhibits by small presses and literary journals, festivals and special programs, and university MFA programs. A great place to meet people and learn about what's going on in poetry these days. Come see Split This Rock at Booth #315. Contact info@splitthisrock.org to volunteer at the booth.
Conference and Offsite Events
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3
Offsite: Writers Against War & Occupation in Afghanistan & Iraq
3:30-4:30 pm, Rain, Snow, or Shine
Assemble in Lafayette Park, Pennsylvania Ave. (across from the White House) at 3:30 pm. Walk across the street to the sidewalk in front of the White House (Metro stops: Farragut North or McPherson Square). Critical mass gathering for a show of unity in opposition to U.S. Wars and Occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. A minute of silence will be observed for each year of each war (sixteen minutes), followed by our simultaneous reading of lines of poetry (probably lines from Whitman). We will end this brief action by chanting Stop Funding War.
Wear a poem or a piece of a poem on your person. Some poem signs will be available for those who want them.
Offsite: 3 Dollar Bill - Queer Poets Reading at AWP
7:30-10:30 pm
Human Rights Campaign, 1640 Rhode Island Ave. NW (Farragut North on the Metro Red Line.) Refreshments will be served. Find more information on Facebook.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4
On Friday, some of us will be going to Congressional offices to hand out letters and visit staff; anyone who wishes to can join us. Support is being provided by Split This Rock, Brenda Hillman, and Allison Hedge Coke. For more information: info@splitthisrock.org, bhillman@stmarys-ca.edu, hedgecokeaa@gmail.com, or 202-787-5210.
The Dream the Dreamers Dreamed: A Tribute to Langston Hughes - Sponsored by Split This Rock Poetry Festival
With Sarah Browning, Derrick Weston Brown, Jericho Brown, Sonia Sanchez
3:00 pm, Marriott Wardman Park, Delaware Suite Room, Lobby Level
Langston Hughes was working as a busboy here at the Wardman Park Hotel when he slipped poems to Vachel Lindsay, launching his literary career, one of the most influential of the 20th century. Two DC institutions, Split This Rock Poetry Festival, and Busboys and Poets Restaurant, are named in his honor and claim Hughes as a literary mentor and guiding light. Celebrate Langston Hughes' February 1 birthday as we pay tribute to the man, his poetry, and his enduring legacy of social and political engagement.
Offsite: Floricanto in Washington: A Multicultural Reading in Response to SB 1070
6:00 pm, The True Reformer Building, 1200 U Street, NW. $5 suggested donation. None turned away.
Co-sponsored by Split This Rock, the Acentos Poetry Foundation, and Poets Responding to SB 1070 Join us as more than 20 poets lend their energy and language to a group reading in response to Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and in resistance to the atmosphere of national xenophobia under which the bill (and its emerging counterparts) were created. Confirmed readers include: Francisco X. Alarcon, Tara Betts, Sarah Browning, Regie Cabico, Carmen Calatayud, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Susan Deer Cloud, Martín Espada, Odilia Galvan Rodriguez, Carmen Gimenez Smith, Aracelis Girmay, Randall Horton, Juan Felipe Herrera, Dorianne Laux, Marilyn Nelson, Mark Nowak, Barbara Jane Reyes, Joseph Ross, Abel Salas, Sonia Sanchez, Craig Santos Perez, Hedy Trevino, Pam Uschuk, Dan Vera, Rich Villar, and Andre Yang. Hosted by Oscar Bermeo.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5
Undivided: Poet as Public Citizen, Sponsored by Split This Rock Poetry Festival
With Melissa Tuckey, Toi Derricotte, Martín Espada, Carolyn Forché, Mark Nowak
1:30 pm, Marriott Wardman Park, Marriott Ballroom, Lobby Level
Split This Rock celebrates poetry of provocation and witness and the role of poet as public citizen. In a time of multiple wars, economic, social, and environmental crises, this panel will discuss the role of poets and poetry in public life. Shelley described the poet as "unacknowledged legislator." What does this mean in the age of Fox News and corporate lobbyists? What are some of the ways that poets are engaging with the larger public in the United States and abroad? Who are the models for this work? How might we begin to think of ourselves as undivided: both citizen and poet?
All Booked Up-How to Create a Festival
With William Miller, Kara Oakleaf, Kwame Alexander, Sarah Browning, Nancy Coble Damon, Caitlin Hill
4:30 pm, Marriott Wardman Park, Harding Room, Mezzanine Level
The DC area is rich in literary culture, and this has led to the creation of a variety of high-quality regional book festivals. The experts behind five such events will give you a behind-the-scenes look at how each festival works; from how they secure funding and choose their authors, to how they market to the public and how the festivals complement each other and collaborate.
Offsite: Gulf Tolls - A Poetry Reading in Tribute to the Gulf of Mexico and Surrounding Regions
5-7 pm, Busboys & Poets 14th and V Streets NW. $5 suggested donation. None turned away.
Split This Rock and Poets for Living Waters are partnering to offer a poetry tribute to the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding regions. Readers will include: Naomi Ayala, Ana Bozicevic, Nicole Cooley, Peter Cooley, Amy King, Brenda Hillman, Katherine Howell, Brenda Iijima, Jan Heller Levi, Gregory Pardlo, Lisa Pegram, Martha Serpas, Kevin Simmonds, Sandra Simmonds, Jonathan Skinner, Patricia Smith, Heidi Lynn Staples, Melissa Tuckey, Anne Waldman, and more. Please join us for a night of provocation and witness.
Other Events Involving Split This Rock Activists
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3
12 pm, Marriott Wardman Park, Thurgood Marshall West Room, Mezzanine Level
American Poets Respond to Major Global Trauma
(Pamela Uschuk, LeAnne Howe, William Pitt Root, Joseph Ross, Carmen Calatayud, Richard Jackson)
Noon, Omni Shoreham, Hampton Ballroom, East Lobby
Nation and Neighborhoods: The District of Columbia as a Venue for Local and National Poetic Voices
(Shyree Mezick, Myra Sklarew, Patricia Gray, Dolores Kendrick, Kenneth Carroll)
1:00 pm Vrzhu Press Table
Book signing by Dan Vera and Kim Roberts
3:00 pm, Marriott Wardman Park, Hoover Room, Mezzanine Level
Bright Lights of Brookland: Reading the Legacy of DC's Northeast Neighborhood
(Christy Zink, Tricia Elam, Marcia Davis, Dan Vera, Michael Gushue)
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4
9:00 am, Omni Shoreham, Ambassador Ballroom, West Lobby
History in Verse: Poets at the Intersection of Documentary and Art
(Andrea Carter Brown, Marilyn Nelson, Cynthia Hogue, Frank X Walker, Scott Hightower, Robin Coste Lewis)
Noon, Marriott Wardman Park, Maryland Suite Room, Lobby Level
Local Poets With National Reputations
(Linda Pastan, Carolyn Forché , Fanny Howe, Jonetta Rose Barras)
1:30 pm, Marriott Wardman Park, Thurgood Marshall North Room, Mezzanine Level
George Mason University Poetry Faculty Reading
(Jennifer Atkinson, Susan Tichy, Ben Doller, Sally Keith)
4:30 pm, Omni Shoreham, Executive Room, West Lobby
Writing the Beltway: Four Washington, DC Publishers Navigate the Capital
(Matthew Kirkpatrick, Reb Livingston, Richard Peabody, Caitlin Hill, Dave Housley)
4:30 pm, Omni Shoreham, Hampton Ballroom, West Lobby
In Capital Letters: A Reading and Discussion with Past and Present Poetry Writing Faculty of American University
(David Keplinger, Kyle Dargan, Barbara Goldberg, Myra Sklarew)
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5
10:30 am, Marriott Wardman Park, Delaware Suite Room, Lobby Level
Lucille's Gifts: A Tribute to Lucille Clifton, Poet and Teacher.
(KC Culver, Michael S. Glaser, Theresa Sotto, Jayme McLellan, Lauri Watkins)
10:30 am, Marriott Wardman Park, Harding Room, Mezzanine Level
DC WritersCorps 16th Anniversary Poetry Reading
(Kenneth Carroll, John Murillo, Reuben Jackson, Brian Gilmore, Jeanie Tietjen, Imani Tolliver)
1:30 pm, Marriott Wardman park, Virginia A Room, Lobby Level
Four by Four: Beltway Poetry Quarterly Celebrates the Poetic Lineage of the Capitol City
(Holly Bass, Regie Cabico, Brian Gilmore, Kim Roberts, Dan Vera)
1:30 pm, Omni Shoreham, Diplomat Ballroom, West Lobby
The Way We See DC: African American Writers' Riffs on Living in the Nation's Capital
(Kermit Frazier, Breena Clarke, Eric May, E. Ethelbert Miller)