Split This Rock Poetry Festival 2016 Registration is Now OPEN!

We're thrilled to announce that registration is now open for Split This Rock Poetry Festival, April 14-17, 2016!

Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness 2016 invites poets, writers, activists, and dreamers to Washington, DC for four days of poetry, community building, and creative transformation. 

Featuring readings, workshops, panel discussions, youth programming, open mics, and activism, the festival offers opportunities to speak out for justice, build connection and community, and celebrate the many ways poetry can act as an agent for social change.

Click here to register today. Only $100 if you register by Februrary 14. And only $50 for students. (Presenters' rate is $85 before February 14, $100 after.)

To coincide with the festival, Split This Rock and Poetry magazine will collaborate once again to produce a special portfolio in the April 2016 issue of Poetry, with new poems by poets to be featured at Split This Rock Poetry Festival 2016. Co-edited by Poetry editor Don Share and Split This Rock Executive Director Sarah Browning, with an introduction by Browning, the portfolio will also be the focus of the magazine's monthly podcast. Poetry, founded in 1912, is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world and we are grateful for their partnership. Subscribe to the magazine here.

We know it's going to be an extraordinary four days. More information is below and on the website. Please help us spread the word - scroll down for ways you can help.

We hope you'll also consider helping to make it possible for others to attend by making a donation, too. You'll be prompted on the registration page.

Thank you! We can't wait to see you in April!

In peace & poetry, 

Split This Rock

TOP 10 REASONS TO JOIN US FOR SPLIT THIS ROCK POETRY FESTIVAL 2016  

1. Passionate voices for justice & peace - Where else are you going to hear readings by 15 of the most artistically vibrant and important poets writing today, all on the same stage? See video from 2014 on Youtube. 
2. Need names? Here they are - Amal al-Jubouri, Jennifer Bartlett, Jan Beatty, Reginald Dwayne Betts, Regie Cabico, Dominique Christina, Martha Collins, Nikky Finney, Ross Gay, Aracelis Girmay, Rigoberto González, Linda Hogan, Dawn Lundy Martin, Craig Santos Perez, Ocean Vuong. Read more about them on our website. 
3. Compelling conversations - Join us for panel & roundtable discussions on craft, allyship, the Middle East, the role poetry plays in the Black Lives Matter and environmental justice movements, and many more essential topics.   
4. Workshops for your mind, body & spirit - Explore the intersections of poetry with hip hop, labor movements, liturgy, food justice, journalism, and more! Read about the workshops on our website.   
5. Plus the U.S. Poet Laureate! - The festival begins with a special kick-off event on Wednesday April 13 at the Library of Congress with Juan Felipe Herrera. Stay tuned for details. 
6. Group readings! - Themed group readings elevating marginalized voices focused on worker rights, eco-justice, disability, policing of brown and black bodies, the intersection of Queerness and race, and so much more. 
7. Voices of the future - Youth poets will read, lead writing workshops, teach participants how to nurture youth voices in their own communities, and generally school the grownups on kicking ass and taking names.   
8. Poetry in the streets - With our world crying out for equity and justice, poets will take to the streets with the imaginative and transformative power of poetry. Check out photos of the previous public action on our website.   
9. Only $100! - That's right, all this for the early-bird rate of only $100. Register today! On February 14 the rate goes up to $140. Click here to save today.   
10. Students are only $50 - And scholarships and group rates are available. We want everyone to be able to attend, regardless of ability to pay. Details are here! Contact info for requesting group rates listed below. 

So many more reasons, too - Meet up with old friends, make new connections in poetry and activist circles, explore and celebrate the ways that poetry can be an agent for change, read and perform at open mics, get your groove on at the Saturday evening party hosted by Dark Noise Collective & Busboys and Poets... Four days of transformative events in our nation's capital!

HELP SPREAD THE WORD!

• 
  Post this announcement to your Facebook, Twitter, blog, or other social media site.
• Send post cards to your friends and colleagues and/or leave stacks at libraries, cafes, and bookstores. Contact poetryfest@splitthisrock.org to get a stack. 
• Are you a teacher or student? Have your institution sponsor a group of students for a special group rate. Contact Tiana at tiana@splitthisrock.org or 202-787-5268.
• Want to sponsor? It's a great way to support the festival and get lots of visibility with leaders in the literary and social justice worlds. Visit our website for details or contact us at 202-787-5210 or poetryfest@splitthisrock.org.
• Other ideas? Contact poetryfest@gmail.com - we'd love your help!
  
  

 

More info at:  www.splitthisrock.org | info@splitthisrock.org |202-787-5210  

We are grateful for the generous support of the following:

Major Partners: Busboys and Poets, The Institute for Policy Studies

Partners: The Poetry Foundation & Poetry Magazine
 
The festival is made possible in part by the Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz, Compton, CrossCurrents, Reva & David Logan, and Alice Shaver Foundations, the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and many generous individuals. Cosponsored by the AFL-CIO, the Beacon Hotel, the Human Rights Campaign, Letras Latinas, the Jimenez-Porter Writers House at the University of Maryland, Poets & Writers, Spectrum of Poetic Fire/Poetry Posse.