Join our writing community.
Schedule
All times Eastern.
Saturday, October 23
10:00-11:00 AM
Welcome + Poetry Reading | Affrilachian Poets 30th Anniversary
Featuring Mitchell L.H. Douglas, Dorian Hairston, Joy Priest, Danni Quintos, Frank X Walker
11:15 AM – 12:45 PM
Writing Workshop | The Character of Place: Crafting Three-Dimensional Settings in Poetry
Led by Mitchell L.H. Douglas
Writer Teddy Burkhardt notes that while Lucille Clifton doesn’t mention Baltimore by name, the city’s heart is certainly alive in her debut poetry collection Good Times. How do you avoid writing poems that make setting a two-dimensional afterthought? This generative workshop will focus on the dynamic construction of place in an effort to craft setting with an attitude.
12:45-1:30 PM
NEW! Lunch + Social Hour
Socialize with other conference attendees while you eat.
1:30-2:45 PM
Panel + Reading | Poetry & Research
Featuring Carrie Green, Dorian Hairston, Tina Parker, Frank X Walker
3:00-4:30 PM
CHANGED & UPDATED
Writing Workshop | The Letter Is Not Dead: Writing Epistolary Poems
Led by Britton Shurley
Max Garland was unable to join us this weekend, but Britton Shurley has your poetry workshop covered!
Though most poetry is written with a “general” reader in mind, there’s a magic that comes when we direct our attention toward a more specific audience, a particular someone in our mind. We share more secrets, ask more questions, and have more intimate conversations with both ourselves and our readers. In this session, we’ll explore the epistle and apostrophe, looking at work by poets such as Amy Gerstler, Marcus Wicker, Steve Scafidi, Natalie Diaz, and Ada Limon. We’ll use their work as models to spark our own creativity, and participants will produce first drafts of two to three poems in this generative session.
5:00-6:00 PM
Reception + Social Hour
Socialize with conference attendees at this social hour and keynote reception.
6:00 PM
Keynote: Kiki Petrosino
Free and open to the public.
Sunday, October 24
10:00-11:30 AM
Writing Workshop | Word Work
Led by Savannah Sipple
In this part craft exploration, part generative workshop, we’ll discuss a few examples of the kind of work words do in poetry and look at how we can use those techniques in our own writing. Feel free to bring poems-in-progress, if you want, and come to write!
11:45 AM-1:00 PM
Panel / Q+A | Publishing Your Work
Featuring Marissa Davis, Kristen Renee Miller (Sarabande Books), Robin Rahija (Rabbit Catastrophe Press), and Crystal Wilkinson (Appalachian Futures: Black, Native, and Queer Voices)
1:00-2:00 PM
NEW! Lunch + Social Hour
Socialize with other conference attendees while you eat.
1:30-2:00 PM
Kentucky State Poetry Society Membership Meeting
Open to KSPS Members only.
2:00-3:15 PM
Panel + Reading | Poets Writing the Essay
Featuring Minda Honey, Erin Keane, and Joy Priest
3:30-4:30 PM
Poetry Reading: KSPS Contest Winners
Hear the award-winning poems from the student contest, adult contests, and the conference weekend contest.
4:45-6:00 PM
Poetry Reading + Open Mic
Featuring Robert Campbell and Samuel Hawkins. Sign up to share your own work during open mic after our featured readers!
Reminder: Your registration is not complete until you make your payment. Please make sure you send your $20 registration fee (and/or $35 membership fee), to paypal.me/kystatepoetry, click “Send,” and enter the amount.
Contact us to pay by check.
You will receive your Zoom invite prior to the conference.
Kentucky State Poetry Society 