The daylong festival, held on the campus of Howard Community College in RCF 400, includes workshops, on-campus patrols by the Poetry Police in recognition of National Poem in Your Pocket Day, and poetry readings. Workshops are free and open to the public with RSVP to [email protected]. Workshops begin with Steven Leyva at 9:30 a.m. presenting “The Poetics of Anime.” Beth Ann Fennelly and Teri Cross-Davis will present a dynamic mix of readings and interactive poetry exercises from 11:00 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.

The Sunbird Poetry Reading, open to the public with no reservations required, begins at 2:30 p.m., featuring Beth Ann Fennelly and Teri Cross-Davis joined onstage by students, ;pca; poets, faculty, and staff.

The Nightbird at 7:30 p.m. in the Smith Theatre, features Beth Ann Fennelly, the Poet Laureate of Mississippi. The Rumpus noted Fennelly’s most recent “collection will invite you into the delicate balance between the challenging, sometimes squalid, human condition and the beauty and sadness of the transcendent.” Fennelly’s newest book, Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs (2017), was selected as one of the ten best Southern books of 2017 by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “Readers, you are in for a hootenanny of a wild ride. This is Fennelly at her most laid-bare, wickedly funny, and irrepressibly poetic best,” raves Kirkus Reviews. This ticketed event will include a book sale and signing. Tickets are required.