WPA Spring Poetry Festival: Around the World in Poetry

WPA Spring Festival: Around the World in Poetry
Come have an adventure with poetry for a day. If you so choose to embark on this quest your itinerary can include everything from writing workshops, open mic, reading panel discussion, a showcase of international poetry and an experiment in translation. As a traveler you can choose to dive in head first and get your fill of everything or you may pick a portion of the itinerary to attend.
Writing workshop requires pre-registration.
Evening performance and activities do not require pre-registration, however it is recommended as the space is limited.
Fees
$10-20 sliding fee for evening performance and activity.
$100 for afternoon workshop only.
$120 for the whole day including a workshop.
Itinerary - Part One
Part One: Writing Workshop Trek
Pre-Registration required for Workshop
$100 workshop only
$120 All Day Pass
Noon: Arrival at the Visitors Center
Arrive at Hugo House to be welcomed and to share in refreshments and a reading with guest poet instructors David Meltzer, Sam Green and Michael Rothenburg Then break out into the two workshop sessions.
1 to 4pm: Workshop Hike
Workshop Instructor Biographies
Washington State Poet Laureate Sam Green Workshop
Sam Green is a native of Washington and resides on remote Waldron Island. A distinguished poet and author of 10 poetry collections, including The Grace of Necessity (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2008), his work has appeared in numerous publications. For more than 30 years, he has served as editor of a small press focusing on the work of Washington poets. Green has served as a visiting poet in a wide range of settings, including universities, public schools, libraries, mental health centers, correctional facilities and poetry festivals. He has been visiting poet and poetry teacher at Seattle University for several years and is active with the Skagit River Poetry Festival.
David Meltzer Michael Rothenberg Workshop (co-taught)
David Meltzer (Bio from Wikipedia)
One of the key poets of the Beat generation, Meltzer is also a jazz guitarist and Cabalist scholar and the author of more than 50 books of poetry and prose. 2005 saw the publication of David's Copy: The Selected Poems of David Meltzer (edited by Michael Rothenberg, with an introduction by Jerome Rothenberg) which provides a curretnt "overview" of Meltzer's work. Meltzer's Beat Thing (La Alameda Press) is his epic poem on the Beat generation. It was called by Jack Hirschman: "Meltzer's most important lyri-political work to date...written by a poet who, in terms of the rhythms and verbal inventiveness and the naming of figures of popular culture, is without equal anywhere." Meltzer's other books include No Eyes, poems on Lester Young, and a book of interviews, San Francisco Beat: Talking with the Poets (City Lights Books).Meltzer teaches at the New College of California in the Poetics Program which was originally founded by Duncan. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Michael Rothenberg (Bio from Wikipedia)
Is an American poet, songwriter, editor, and active environmentalist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born in Miami Beach, Florida, Rothenberg received his Bachelor of Arts in English at UNC-Chapel Hill. Afterward, he moved to California in 1976, where he began "Shelldance Nursery", an orchid and bromeliad nursery. In 1993 he received his MA in Poetics at New College of California. In 1989, Rothenberg and artist Nancy Davis began Big Bridge Press[1],a fine print literary press, publishing works by Jim Harrison, Joanne Kyger, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Whalen and others. Rothenberg is editor of Big Bridge[2], a webzine of poetry. Rothenberg is also co-editor and co-founder of Jack Magazine[3], He is the editor of: Overtime, Selected Poems by Philip Whalen As Ever, Selected Poems by Joanne Kyger Davids Copy, Selected Poems by David Meltzer
Way More West, Selected Poems by Ed Dorn (Penguin, 2007) Collected Poems of Philip Whalen (Wesleyan University Press, 2007). Rothenberg's poems have appeared in 88: A Journal of Contemporary American Poetry, First Intensity, Cortland Review, Golden Handcuffs Review, Exquisite Corpse, Zyzzyva, Mudlark [4], Jacket, Rolling Stock, Sycamore Review, and other publications. His books include Unhurried Vision, Paris Journals, What The Fish Saw, Nightmare Of The Violins, Man/Woman w/Joanne Kyger, and Favorite Songs. In 1990 Rothenberg began writing songs. His songs have appeared in films by Hollywood Pictures, Shadowhunter and Black Day, Blue Night.
4-5pm: Open Mic at the Summit
Join your instructors and fellows from the two workshops in an open mic to share new work and other experiences.
Itinerary- Part Two
Part Two: Around the World in Poetry
$10 to 20 (pay what you can sliding entry fee)
6:30 -7:30pm: From Beat to Beat an Exploration of a Poetic career.
Reading and Panel Discussion with David Melzter and Michael Rothenburg
8:00pm: International Poetry Showcase
Sit back and listen to the sounds of poetry. This multi-lingual poetic event will tickle the ears and open the mind. Brought to you by poetry lovers who speak languages other than English. This showcase will bring new favorites from around the world. All poems presented in the original language by a native speaker, then briefly explained.
8:30pm: An Experiment in Translation
"The words on paper are only a tool, they are only a medium, they are only something that is meant to help me get to the original language, to the original poem"
-Kai Nieminen On Translation a lecture a Naropa University
"Every text is unique and at the same time it is the translation of another text." -Octavio Paz
Communication of one message through various "languages." The audience will play an active role in this experiment. How many times can we translate a thing, an idea, without losing its meaning? This multi-genre translation-investigation will use poetry, music, performance, writing, and drawing to carry one message across. The source text will be hidden until the end of the evening. When it is revealed, all those present will be able to compare their translation to the original. Participants will be urged past a simple word-for-word correspondence and onto creative interpretation.