Berks Bards announces the Bard Fest 2013 poetry festival lineup of events for National Poetry Month of April.
This homegrown, month-long festival features readings and workshops hosted throughout the Greater Reading area at colleges, libraries, restaurants, and shops.
Local, regional and national poets Kate Wirsing, Susan Kerschner, Kerry Shawn Keyes, Jen Gittings-Dalton, Elizabeth Bodien, Brian Fanelli, Scott Thomas, Jayne Relaford Brown, Heather Thomas, and others will perform.
Poetry events have been paired with other arts and community delights to create poetry with wine tasting, poetry with world music, poetry in art galleries and at the Pagoda, and covering themes as diverse as Earth Day, ‘Re-envisioning Reading,’ and fighting cancer. The non-profit group Berks Bards aims to fulfill its mission to raise poetry as a living art in the Berks/Schuylkill region.
International poet and playwright Kerry Shawn Keyes, National Endowment for the Arts award-winner, performed at Albright College on April 7. Keyes’ poetry reflects his work experience in India and Brazil as well as his Appalachian background.
Other highlights include an open house at ‘some things looming’ gallery to showcase poetry with textile art, and a ‘Poetry and Percussion’ with drummer Pete Barnhart. Wine tasting will be offered by Vynecrest Winery at the Wise Owl Bookstore while poet Heather Thomas performs on April 13.
Current and former ‘Poetry Out Loud’ national competition winners and participants from Reading High School will perform at Mifflin Library on April 23.
A workshop for anyone who cares about our city, ‘Envisioning Reading’, will be held jointly by the Berks Bards with the Pagoda Writers Group at the Pagoda, April 27.
Most events are free and open to the public. This is the 15th annual ‘Bard Fest’ organized by the Berks Bards. The first festival was held in April 1999, honoring National Poetry Month.
Support comes from Friends of Berks County Public Libraries, The Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) and the Berks Arts Council.
BARD FEST 2013 EVENT SCHEDULE
April 10 – Poetry & Percussion! Poets with Pete Barnhart on percussive instruments, Mezcal’s Restaurant, 150 N. 6th St., Reading (optional dinner res.: 610-685-5272), performance 6-8 PM
April 13 – Reading by Kutztown University professor Dr. Heather Thomas with Vynecrest Wine Tasting & Open Mic, Wise Owl Bookstore, West Reading, 6-8 PM
April 18 – Poets Hans Suhrbier & John Kreiser plus Open Mic, Adamstown Library, 3000 N. Reading Rd., Rte. 272, Adamstown, 6:30 PM. Directions: 717.484.4200
April 21 – Poetry for Earth Day featuring Elizabeth Bodien & Jen Gittings-Dalton. Conversation on Earth Day theme to follow, Exeter Library, 3-4:30 PM
April 21 – Poetry by cancer survivor Susan Kerschner with book launch, The Shoulders of Country Roads, plus Open Mic, 2nd and Mahantongo Sts., Pottsville, 3-5 PM
April 22 – POETRY AT 6! Bruce Stanley Series at RACC. Poets Brian Fanelli and Scott Thomas followed by Open Mic, RACC, Schmidt Technology Center, 6 PM
April 23 – Reading & Open Mic. POETRY OUT LOUD Winners & Students from Reading High School & Emerging Young Poets, Mifflin Community Library, 6 Philadelphia Avenue, Shillington, 6:30 PM
April 27 – Envisioning Reading! Workshop with the Pagoda Writers Group and Berks Bards, at the Pagoda, Reading, 1-3 PM, $1 Donation to Pagoda. RSVP 610.413.0373
May 2 – ‘Crete.’ Berks Bards First Thursdays Reading & Open Mic featuring Jim Hubbard, plus ‘Re-envisioning Reading’ Pagoda workshop poets.
GoggleWorks Cucina Cafe, 201 Washington St. Reading, 6-8 PM
Throughout April – BCTV will feature 20 poets who will each read one 1-minute poem daily in honor of Poetry Month. Follow on www.bctv.org.
