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Festival Special Events

Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness 2018 includes a variety of special events and readings that are open to the public. We invite everyone to attend Featured Poet Readings, where you'll hear some of the most significant and artistically-vibrant writers and performers of poetry working today. In addition, share your socially-engaged poetry at an open mic, take poetry to the streets during a public action, visit the Social Change Book Fair to fill your bookshelves with vibrant voices, and celebrate ten years of Split This Rock at the Saturday night party! 
 

THURSDAY OPEN MIC

Thursday, April 19 | 10 pm-12 am | Visit the Facebook event page 
Busboys and Poets - 5th & K, 1025 5th St NW - In the Cullen Room
Free for festival registrants, $5 at the door for the public

Wheelchair accessible venue 

Come out and speak your peace on the mic! Sign up list will be available at the door. Hosted by DC Youth Slam Team alumni and Ushindi Performance Group members Ayinde Grimes and Lauren May. 

Image of Lauren May and Ayinde Grimes

 

FRIDAY OPEN MIC

Friday, April 20 | 10 pm-12 am | Visit the Facebook event page
Busboys and Poets - 5th & K, 1025 5th St NW - In the Cullen Room
Free for festival registrants, $5 at the door for the public

Wheelchair accessible venue 

Come out and share your poem, your song, your enthusiastic attention! Sign up list will be available at the door. Hosted by Drew "Droopy the Broke Baller" Anderson & Dwayne Lawson Brown

Image of Drew Anderson and Dwayne Lawson Brown

 

PUBLIC ACTION

Friday, April 20 | 9-10 am

Poetry Speak Out

Louder Than a Gun: A Poem for Our Lives

Image of Gowri Koneswaran standing behind a microphone in front of the White House. She wears a black trench coat and grey wool cowl neck sweater. She has a umbrella under her left arm with her hands by her sides and looks upwards with an inspired look.

Create a Massive Group Poem Calling for an End to Gun Violence | Visit the Facebook Page
Outside the White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Friday, April 20
9-10 am

As young people plan another massive school walk-out on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine massacre, poets gathered in DC for Split This Rock Poetry Festival will join students in front of the White House to create a group poem calling for an end to gun violence.

Poetry can be a stirring denunciation of injustice, a call to action, a vision of a life without fear, a life freed from the tyranny of the NRA, the gun manufacturers, and the elected officials who do their bidding. Poets have long lent their voices to this struggle for peace in our homes and in our communities. On this historic day, during Split This Rock’s 10th anniversary festival, we gather again, weaving our voices together with the voices of America’s youth to say: Enough!

Please bring a line of poetry – yours or another’s – that demands an end to the violence and celebrates lives free from the threat posed by guns.

The line should not exceed 12 words. Write it on a piece of paper, to be handed to an organizer after you read it. Include the name of the poet, your name (if not using your own work), and your hometown. 

Raise your poetic voice louder than a gun!

Location

Lafayette Square, located directly north of the White House on H Street between 15th and 17th Streets, NW.

Getting There

The park is within walking distance of the festival locations and close to the McPherson Square, Farragut North, and Farragut West Metro Stations. Festival attendees: Meet at the National Housing Center at 8:30 am to walk together or see the Welcome Table for assistance if the distance creates a barrier to participation.
 

SOCIAL CHANGE BOOK FAIR

Image of two people sitting at a table at the 2016 Social Change Book Fair

Saturday, April 21 | 10 am-3:30 pm | Visit the Facebook Page
National Housing Center
1201 15th St NW, Washington DC
Free and Open to the Public

Wheelchair accessible venue, 

You're invited to Split This Rock’s 2018 Social Justice Book Fair at Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation and Witness 2018. Featuring the critically important work of socially engaged poets, writers, organizations, progressive presses, literary magazines, and independent newspapers. Exhibitors include: Anomalous Press, Baltimore Review, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Black Mermaids, Busboys & Poets, Capturing Fire Press, Central Square Press, Danielle Robinson, DC Chapter - Delta Sigma Theta Sorority - My Voice Matters Youth Anthology Committee, Ecotone|Lookout Books, Get Fresh Books LLC, Harvard Square Editions, Haymarket Books, The Head and The Hand, K. Ulanday Barrett, Lookout Books, Lora Reina, MelaNation Zine, The Northern Virginia Review, Plamen Press, Pyramid Collections, RedBone Press, Rose Metal Press, Settlement House Books, Sinister Wisdom, Shout Mouse Press, University of Hawaii Manoa/Hawai'i Review, Warrior Writers, Washington DC Area Literary Translators, The Word Works, The Writer's Center/Poet Lore, Zozobra Publishing

 

YOUTH PROGRAMMING AT CHARLES SUMNER SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE

In partnership with the Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives, we are pleased to present 3 youth-focused sessions on Saturday, April 21 that are free and open to the public. All sessions are located at the Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives, 1201 17th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036. View more info on the schedule page

Exploring The Quarry: A Social Justice Poetry Database, A Professional Development Session for Educators
Saturday, April 21 | 9-10:30 am | Open to All!
Presenters: Joseph Green and M. F. Simone Roberts
Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives Conference Room

Youth-Led Writing Workshop
Saturday, April 21 | 11-12:30 pm
Led by Members of Split This Rock's Ushindi Performance Tribe
Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives Conference Room

Youth Open Mic - Hosted by Festival Featured Poet Terisa Siagatonu
Saturday, April 21 | 1:30-3 pm | Open to All!
Mic Open to Young People 20 & Under—Audience Open to All!
Charles Sumner School Museum & Archives Memorial Hall

 

SPLIT THIS ROCK 10TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY!

Featuring DJ Mane Squeeze
Saturday, April 21 | 10 pm-1 am
National Housing Center, 1201 15th St NW, Washington DC
Free for festival registrants.
For others: $10 at the door or in advance online.

Wheelchair accessible venue

Join us for dancing, mingling, and fun in celebration of 10 Years of Poetry, Witness, and Resistance!!