Poets in the Park

Poets in the Park 2021 on Zoom

Celebrating Travel

For various reasons, we had to cancel the 2021 Poets in the Park festival on Zoom. We have not been able to revive this event since the pandemic, but it might be possible in the future.

Thank you for your patience.

Saturday, June 5, 2021 (readings and performances), 9:00 am to 5:30 pm

Sunday, June 6, 2021 (workshops), 9:00 am to 5:00 pm — all FREE!

Plus evening extras!

Our 2021 festival, with a theme of travel, will be via Zoom, with a full day of readings and performances on Saturday and workshops on Sunday, all free, but with registration required.

See below for the full schedule, individual and group participants, and more.

Highlights

• Natalie Goldberg, Kelli Russell Agodon, Susan Alexander, Tiel Ansha Ansari, Chaun Ballard, Allen Braden, Terry Ann Carter, Don Colburn, Angela Decker, Elizabeth Jacobson, Amy Miller, Barbara Pelman, Raul Sanchez, Daniel Scott, Heidi Seaborn, Derek Sheffield, Linda K. Thompson, John Sibley Williams, Lucien Zell, and more

• Poetry readings by Terrain magazine, Jack Straw Poets, Prague poets, Oregon poets, British Columbia poets, Washington state and Redmond poets laureate

• New book showcase readings

• Open-mic readings

• Four 90-minute generative poetry writing workshops by Janée J. Baugher, Claudia Castro Luna, and more (all free)

After a pandemic hiatus in 2020, Poets in the Park in 2021 will once again feature groups and organizations, mostly with 50-minute reading slots, this year often with a travel theme. On Sunday we will also have 90-minute workshops—all free! Scroll down to see the schedule. If you have questions, please contact Michael Dylan Welch.

Click here to register (so you can receive the Zoom links)

See Facebook event. Tweet to #poetsinthepark.

Sponsored by the Redmond Arts & Culture Commission and the Redmond Association of Spokenword, directed by Michael Dylan Welch. This event is supported in part by Poets & Writers. Additional thanks to all our volunteers.

2021 Schedule

All our events will be on Zoom this year, only one event at a time, so you won’t need to choose between various performance stages. We’re also moving all the workshops to the Sunday. Most Saturday event are slated to end five or ten minutes before the next event, allowing breaks between nearly all events.

Saturday, June 5: Readings/Performances

9:00 Welcome by Michael Dylan Welch

9:05 Jack Straw Poets

  Abi Pollokoff and Kristie Song

9:30 New Book Showcase

  Kelli Russell Agodon: Dialogues with Rising Tides (Copper Canyon)

  Heidi Seaborn: An Insomniac’s Slumber Party with Marilyn Monroe and Bite Marks

  [more to be announced]

10:00 Terrain Magazine

  Derek Sheffield, Chaun Ballard, Allen Braden, and Elizabeth Jacobson

11:00 Prague Poets

  Lucien Zell and others to be announced

12:00 Lunch Break (informal open-mic reading)

Volunteers

Pamela Denchfield

Janka Hobbs

Michael Heavener

Darren Nordlie

Michael Dylan Welch

and others

Poets in the Park Photos

See what Poets in the Park is like! Check out photos, by Michael Dylan Welch, from our 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 festivals.

History

Read about Poets in the Park for 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 (albeit cancelled in 2020)—including photos, schedules, participants, vendors, and more.

Michael Dylan Welch started the Poets in the Park conference in 2004, and the first two conferences were held at Marymoor Park’s Clise Mansion in Redmond, Washington, sponsored by the Redmond Association of Spokenword. These well-attended two-day events took place in April of 2004 and March of 2005. The 2014 revival of this event took place at Redmond’s Anderson Park, cosponsored by the City of Redmond and the Redmond Association of Spokenword, as more of a social and poetry reading/performance festival, with fewer workshops. Bring a blanket and picnic lunch to enjoy on the park lawns while listening to poetry at the next Poets in the Park!

Poets in the Park was one of Michael’s proposed duties as the 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 poet laureate of the city of Redmond. See also the 2014 Redmond Summer Poetry Walks.

See archived websites for the 2004 and 2005 Poets in the Park conferences. See Seattle Post-Intelligencer story about the 2004 conference.