Celebrating National Poetry Month in Style!

DiVerse Gaithersburg Poetry Reading Series Celebrates National Poetry Month and 15 Years of the Gaithersburg Book Festival

By Serena Agusto-Cox, GBF Poetry Coordinator

On April 4, we had a full house for the DiVerse Gaithersburg Poetry Reading Series, which celebrated National Poetry Month and 15 years of the Gaithersburg Book Festival. The event was hosted by Kristin Kowalski Ferragut.

Joseph Ross

In preview of their featured programs at this year’s Festival, Joseph Ross and Indran Amirthanayagam read from their latest collections, “Crushed & Crowned” and “Powèt nan po la” (“Poet of the Port”), respectively. Alison Palmer, one of the Festival’s previous featured poets, read from her collection, “Bargaining with the Fall.” All three featured readers awed the audience with their exploration of grief, memory and the rebirth of those memorialized.

Ross read elegies for those men and women lost to racial injustice, breathing new life into the stories of people who spurred movements and

whose lives were cut down too soon. Palmer reminded us that grief can be all-consuming but also provide us with moments of peace and hope. Amirthanayagam wove stories of Haiti in Creole and English and brought Walt Whitman back to life with a bit of humor.

Alison Palmer

As with any other DiVerse@Casey Poetry night, the open mic was filled with new voices, including first-time readers and poets. Coming from all walks of life, the diversity of Gaithersburg was in attendance and on the stage. The open and welcoming community cheered on its first-time readers and encouraged them to keep reading and writing.

Join DiVerse@Casey Poetry Nights the first Thursday of every month at the Casey Community Center in Gaithersburg, Md. Upcoming programs include Laura Costas and Sage Yamashita on May 2, and for Pride Month on June 6, Kim Roberts will be featured. Both events will be followed by an open mic.

On May 18, the Gaithersburg Book Festival’s poetry lineup includes the voices of Richard Blanco, Clint Smith, Edgar Kunz, Ping Wang, and many more. But the festival isn’t just chock full of poets. From fiction authors like Alice McDermott, Simon Van Booy, Angie Kim and Paul Yoon to non-fiction authors like Susan Page, Bernardine Watson and R. Eric Thomas, the adult programming at the Festival will knock your socks off. Don’t forget the Children’s Village full of activities, our workshops for writers of all ages, and our young adult and children’s programming with Ciera Burch, Derrick Barnes, Kekla Magoon and Dave Roman, who will entertain you and your children for hours.