Carrboro’s Premier Poetry Event

The West End Poetry Festival is scheduled to be held on October 14 & 15, 2022.
Theme – Music in Poetry

What is it that turns words into poetry? Poems don’t always have to rhyme, they can be in many different forms and of any length. What makes a poem a poem? It is finding the music in words that transforms prose into poetry. The essence of music can transform a page of sentences into poetry, one word, one line at a time.

Music in Poetry, a cinquain:

Slow down
find the music
in poetry. Just add
music to prose and it becomes
a poem.

New Poet Laureate selected

Liza Wolff-Francis has been selected as Carrboro’s new Poet Laureate, a unanimous selection by the Carrboro Arts Committee. For more about Liza, see Bios.

Schedule

Friday – October 14 – Carrboro Town Hall, 301 West Main St.

7 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. – A poetry prompt workshop based on Write It! 100 Poetry Prompts to Inspire with Jessica Jacobs and Nickole Brown. Please arrive at 6:30 for informal social time before the workshop.

Saturday – October 15 – Carrboro Century Center, 100 North Greensboro St. (Parking Map)

1:00 p.m. – Greetings and opening remarks
1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. – Recent book poets – Joan Barasovska, Cedric Tillman, Jacinta White, and Alana Dagenhart
2:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. – Poetry in the Round – led by Gary Phillips and Susan Spalt
4:15 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. – Community poem reading
5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. – Featured poets – Alan Shapiro, Fred Joiner, Jessica Jacobs, Nickole Brown, and Liza Wolff-Francis, Carrboro’s new Poet Laureate.

Here is our 2022 poster.

The 2021 West End Poetry Festival on the Carrboro Town Commons – photo by Allen Spalt

We hope to see you in October!