Thoughts & Thirsts: Poetry Panel 101 Session

Poetry Unbound Panel: From Voice to Verse to Visibility

Whether you’re curious about spoken word, traditional poetry, a high school student/ teacher interested in DE's Poetry Outloud or a poet wanting to learn how to navigate the world of submissions and grants, we have an exciting event just for you!

Panelists will include (with the possibility of others):

Linda Blaskey, whose prose and poetry have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Her short story, The Haircut, was dramatically presented at the Adrienne Theater by Philadelphia’s InterAct Theatre group. Her poetry was selected by Dorianne Laux for inclusion in Best New Poets 2014, and was chosen for North Carolina’s Poetry on the Bus project. She is the recipient of three fellowship grants from Delaware Division of the Arts, including the 2022 Masters in Literature: Poetry. The online poetry journal Quartet, featuring the work of women fifty and over, is currently edited by her; previously, she was the poetry/interview editor emerita for The Broadkill Review. She is past coordinator for the Dogfish Head Poetry Prize and is the author of the prize-winning chapbook, Farm, the full-length collection, White Horses, co-author of the prize-winning poetry collection, Walking the Sunken Boards, and co-author of Season of Harvest. As an adjudicator, she has served for Poetry Out Loud and the Scholastic Awards. She spent her childhood in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas and on the plains of Kansas, and now lives in southern Delaware on a small horse and goat farm with her husband, twelve cats, and a dog.

Dr. Traci Currie is a Jamaican American poet who has been in the Communication Studies field for over 20 years as a spoken word poet, artist-activist, youth arts program director and university professor. She served as the University of Delaware's Poetry as Activism Poet-in-Residence in the 2024 spring semester. She is currently an assistant professor at Goldey-Beacom College in Communication and Media Studies and Delaware's State Coordinator for the national arts education program, Poetry Out Loud. Currie's focus is compassion-building, which revolves around creating inclusive environments in exclusive spaces.

Delaware Division of the Arts will be represented by Deputy Director Kristin Pleasanton, who will give an overview about DDOA grants for poets and spoken word artists.

Dennis Spence, accomplished spoken word artist, will perform several pieces and moderate the event.

**There will be complementary light refreshments and a cash bar with wine and beer for the attendees.

Also check out other Arts events in Dover, Literary Art events in Dover, Theatre events in Dover.