The second annual Camden Festival of Poetry will take place on Friday, May 17, and Saturday, May 18, 2024. The festival will feature the celebrated Irish poet and peace activist Pádraig Ó Tuama, who hosts Poetry Unbound, a podcast that has been downloaded more than 10 million times.

On Friday there will be a craft talk with Pádraig ó Tuama: You You You: the address of poetry at the Camden Public Library from 2 – 4 pm (registration / $50 fee for on-site event; $35 to participate via Zoom), followed by an Open Mic at the First Congregational Church from 7 – 9 p.m. (preregistration for those wishing to read is recommended).

On Saturday, following the morning “Poems on Windows Walk” from 10 a.m. – noon (beginning at the Camden Opera House), the main festival will take place at the First Congregational Church where there will be readings by poets Carol Bachofner, Audrey Minotulu-le, Dave Morrison, Jefferson Navicky, Sandy Weisman and Arisa White plus musical performances by Chris Ross and Mehuman Ernst.

Following an opening round of poetry readings, workshop/discussion groups will take place with a variety of topics including: The Poem on the Page (Judy Kaber), 13 Ways of Starting a Poem (Kathleen Ellis), Into Wildness (Kimberly Ann Priest,) The Art of Poetry About Art (John Paul Caponigro), Parts of Speech (Arisa White), and Blackout Poetry (Maya Stein).

There will be a Book Fair with poets presenting their publications, local publishers, and refreshments.

During the closing session, the recipient of this year’s Gabriel Zimpritch Poet of Promise Award will read their winning poem followed by the keynote given by the celebrated Irish poet and peace activist Pádraig Ó Tuama.

Saturday’s event is free and open to the public – all are encouraged to preregister.
 
Pádraig Ó Tuama’s poetry and prose center around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. His work has won acclaim in circles of poetry, politics, psychotherapy and conflict analysis. His formal qualifications (PhD, MTh and BA) explore the fields of creative writing, literary criticism, and theology. Alongside this, he pursued vocational training in conflict analysis, specializing in groupwork. Profiled in The New Yorker, Pádraig’s poems have been featured in Poetry Ireland Review, Academy of American Poets, Harvard Review, New England Review, Raidió Teilifís Éireann’s Poem of the Week, and The Kenyon Review, among many others.
 
American Sign Language interpreters will be present for the Saturday readings and keynote. For more information please visit www.thepoetscorner.org/festival. The festival is supported by a large number of Midcoast arts and cultural institutions, businesses, and individual sponsors in order to provide this free community event. For a list of sponsors and event schedule, see www.thepoetscorner.org/festival.
 

The Camden Festival of Poetry is a nonprofit organization founded by Meg Weston and Mark S. Burrows.