Boston National Poetry Month Festival, 2018 Now, with more music!

Boston National Poetry Month Festival, 2018

Now, with more music!

By Kirk Etherton

This highly diverse festival--now in its 18th year--is happening April 4-8. Most events are at the Boston Public Library: the first, as always, is a Friday (April 6) afternoon of "Keynote Poets." This year includes the acclaimed "Melopoeia," a fusion of music and spoken word featuring Rhina Espaillat, Alfred Nicol, and John Tavano.

Berklee guitarist Julian Dinwoodie

Friday evening is the fifth annual "Music, Poetry, and Dance" concert; it's at The Community Church of Boston, and includes performers from Berklee College of Music.

The evening is sponsored by the great Middle East Restaurants and Nightclubs.

Saturday, the incomparable Tomas O'Leary will perform songs on his accordion (and also recite poetry), and award-winning American singer-songwriter Thea Hopkins will be there with a fantastic guitar. Sunday's performers include Madelyn Holley (age six), making her second Festival appearance playing the ukulele. Later, Berklee professor Beth Bahia Cohen will play violin.

Of course, there are plenty of great people who will "simply" be reading unforgettable poetry: Lloyd Schwartz; Gail Mazur; Fred Marchant; Joan Houlihan; Charles Coe; Kate Finnegan; Richard Hoffman; Melissa Castillo-Garsow, Rep. Denise Provost--plus Boston's current and former Poets Laureate, and many more.

There are also two Open Mics, a panel on "Craft and Publishing," and...well, go see for yourself at: bostonnationalpoetry.org

NOTE: the Festival begins Wednesday evening, April 4, with a High School Slam Poetry Contest.

As always, all events are FREE and open to the public.