[ Featured Poets | Sponsors | Introduction & Special Features | Event Highlights | Full Schedule | Workshops | 828-681-5348 ]


Live Video

Free and Open to the Public, Featuring Acclaimed Writers:

Featured Authors

And Other Nationally-Recognized Poets

Lee Ann Brown
Richard Chess
Thomas Rain Crowe
Jeff Davis
Keith Flynn
Graham Hackett
David Brendan Hopes
Laura Hope-Gill
Devin Johnston

Sponsors

Sponsor Logos

Mountain Area Information Network
Rivendell
Malaprops Bookstore & Café
Asheville Book Works
North Carolina Humanities Council
University of North Carolina at Asheville
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center

Asheville WordFest Media Outreach Project

Our goal is to draw as diverse an audience as we possibly can to experience poetry's power to unite people. All content will also be available for podcast and online education via Mountain Area Information Network at www.ashevillewordfest.org. We also plan to present an International Hour of Poetry wherein poets from around the world will webcast their readings to Asheville Wordfest 2008. Join us as we look forward‚ backward‚ and all the way around the world.

  • Pulitzer Prize winning poet Galway Kinnell
  • Gift Festival of Native Writers Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Simon Ortiz
  • Four-Time National Poetry Slam Champion Patricia Smith
  • Renowned Translator of Sufi Poet Rumi Coleman Barks
  • Persian mystical poetry scholar and poet from Iran Fatemeh Keshavarz
  • North Carolina Poet Laureate Kathryn Stripling Byer
  • Award Winning and Nationally Beloved Glenis Redmond
  • Poet and Assistant Director of The Jewish Arts Institute at Elat Chayim Richard Chess
  • Award Winning Cherokee poet MariJo Moore

Special Features of Asheville WordFest 2008

  • Galway Kinnell’s return to Black Mountain where he attended Black Mountain College in 1944. Connecting two divergent strains of the literary voice‚ the Academy and the experimental community of Black Mountain College.
  • Retrospective of the early 1990’s Performance Poetry scene. The poets who shouted their wares from the stone stage of the Green Door now have books‚ kids‚ lives and still write.
  • Protospective of the Black Mountain College legacy in language. Devin Johnston‚ Cathy Wagner and Lee Ann Brown present their work and vision of where the history unfolds to next.
  • Each reading presents a different combination of intercultural exchange—Muslim‚ Jewish‚ Agnostic‚ Christian‚ Pueblo‚ Cherokee‚ African American‚ White. Presenting a model and memory of language as unifying force.
  • Content will be webcast live via Mountain Area Information Network. Content will be available for podcast‚ presenting poetry as expansion of popular media. Merging the ancient tradition of poetry with technology.
  • All events are free and open to the public. We encourage everyone to spread the word about Wordfest to bring as many communities with you when you come.
  • Sign Language interpretation will be available for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Highlights of Events

RICHARD CHESS‚ PATRICIA SMITH

Thursday April 24 7:00 pm UNC-A Humanities Lecture Hall

SIMON ORTIZ‚ MARIJO MOORE‚ KATHRYN STRIPLING BYER

Friday April 25 7:00 pm UNC-A Humanities Lecture Hall

GLENIS REDMOND‚ ALLAN WOLF‚ JIM NAVE‚ LAURA HOPE-GILL

Re-Opening the Green Door: a Retrospective of the 1990’s Performance Poetry Scene
Friday April 25 10:00 pm Malaprops Bookstore/café corner of Walnut and Haywood St.

COLEMAN BARKS WITH ELIOT WADOPIAN

Saturday April 26 2:00 pm The Fine Arts Theater 36 Biltmore Avenue

WORDFEST AT MALAPROPS: RECEPTION AND SIGNING

Saturday April 25 4:00 pm Malaprops Bookstore/café

FATEMEH KESHAVARZ‚ GALWAY KINNELL

Saturday April 26 7:00 pm UNC-A Humanities Lecture Hall

POETIX LOUNGE

Saturday April 26 10:00 pm Bobo Gallery on Lexington Avenue

FLOOD GALLERY READING: GLENIS REDMOND‚ SEBASTIAN MATTHEWS‚ LAURA HOPE-GILL‚ MARK PRUDOWSKY

1:00 pm. 109 Roberts St. at corner of Clingman and Roberts by the river.

LEE ANN BROWN‚ CATHY WAGNER‚ DEVIN JOHNSTON

This History Isn’t Closed: A Protospective of The Black Mountain College Legacy: Sunday April 27 2:00 pm Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center, 56 Broadway in downtown Asheville

WORDFEST LOCAL: DAVID HOPES‚ LEE ANN BROWN‚ JEFF DAVIS‚ ROSE MCLARNEY‚ GARY COPELAND LILLEY‚ THOMAS CROWE‚ ALLAN WOLF‚ KEITH FLYNN

Sunday April 27 7:00 pm Black Mountain College Museum and Arts Center, 56 Broadway in downtown Asheville