This year’s Washington Poets Association festival is promising to combine prize-winning writers with hot new talent, beautiful views and delicious treats into a day-long party of poetry.
The all-day event, called “Burning Word 4,” starts at 9 a.m. Saturday and features more than 50 talented poets gathered at historic Greenbank Farm on Whidbey Island.
While at Greenbank, festival-goers can see expansive water views, hike on miles of beautiful trails, eat delicious food at Whidbey Pies Cafe, or drink a refreshing beverage in the beer garden.
This year, Seattle-based poet Jack Prelutsky, author of 35 volumes of children’s verse and America’s first Children’s Poet Laureate, will be honored at the festival with the WPA’s 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Prelutsky, who has penned such classics as “A Pizza the Size of the Sun” and “The New Kid on the Block,” plans to give a reading.
“Jack lives his life creating and teaching poetry and has brought such wonderful attention to children’s poetry,” WPA president Victory Lee Schouten said in a written statement. “He’s a great match for our festival, too, which celebrates all kinds of poetry for people of all ages.”
The Paul Gillie Stage in Greenbank Farm’s historic main barn will showcase more than 40 talented poet performers, including Canada’s first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, George Bowering, and internationally acclaimed poet Naomi Shihab Nye.
A second, more intimate performance venue this year is a heated festival tent housing the new Cascade Stage. The Cascade Stage will showcase the works of Jim Bodeen, Clark Crouch, Kathleen Flenniken, Pesha Gertler, Arthur Ginsburg, Eric McHenry, Alexandra Oliver, Peter Pereira, Belle Randall, Susan Rich, Roy Seitz, Judith Skillman, Annette Spaulding-Convy and Michael Spence.
The Cascade Stage will also offer open-mic opportunities for poets to read their work.
The heated Writing Workshop Tent is the third festival venue with seven, 70-minute poetry workshops presented by noted poets and teachers.
Burning Word also will feature a small press fair. Participants will be able to talk with publishers and buy their books on site.
Greenbank Farm is at 765 E. Wonn Road, Whidbey Island. An all-day, all-event pass costs $15, $5 students.
Information: www.washingtonpoets.org.
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