In today’s poetry roundup Greensboro gets its first literary festival, 6 people are arrested for verbally abusing a poet and EasyJet launch their rather unusually themed poetry competition.
Greensboro Gets First Literary Festival
The city of Greensboro will be hosting its first literary festival in May. The festival which will be called “Greensboro Bound” has confirmed that the poet Nikki Giovanni has been added to the line-up of speakers they have already confirmed, together with the authors Carmen Maria Machado, Kaveh Akbar and Kevin Power. In total, they are hoping that there will be around 70 poets, authors and spoken word artists attending the festival.
The inaugural festival is planned to take place from 18th May to 20th. During the course of the three days, a selection of world-class authors; both non-fiction and fiction and poetry will be at a number of downtown locations, with the Greensboro Cultural Centre serving as the hub.
The organisers are hoping that the majority of the festival will be free of charge to the public.
Nikki Giovani who is one of the most eminent poets in America will conclude the festival on 20th May.
6 People Arrested for Verbally Abusing Poet
Noted poet Kureeppuzha Sreekumar, was allegedly verbally abused and attacked by a number of men over criticisms he had made of the right-wing. The incident which took place on Monday night near Kottukal in Kollam, happened as the poet was returning to his car. He had been making an address at an event at the Kairali library. During his address, it is thought that the poet had made criticisms of the right-wing.
The six men are alleged to have followed the poet out of the library and verbally abused him, there was no physical violence involved. A complaint was filed with the local police station which resulted in the arrest of the six men who were charged with a number of counts relating to the abuse.
Airline Launches Poetry Competition
With Valentine’s day just around the corner, EasyJet has launched a poetry competition that could see the winner pocketing two free flight tickets. In order to enter the Love-Sick Poetry Competition entrants simply need to get their hands on an EasyJet sick bag, pen their poem and then share an image of their entry on Twitter or Instagram @easyJet remembering to use the all-important tag #LoveSickSonnets.
And who exactly do we have to thank for this rather unusual competition; the inspiration behind the idea comes from the increasing number of passengers on the airline who have been penning love note on the sick bags on board the planes and then leaving them in the seat pockets for other passengers to find!
The competition opened on 1st February with a specially written poem from the “Poet Laureate of Twitter” Brian Bilston, and will close at midnight on the last day of February. Of course, in order to enter you will need a sick bag which is only available on board an EasyJet flight!
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