Craft Talk: Patricia Smith, Initiating the Squirm, Writing the Poems That Changed My Life

The 11th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival was held January 19-24, 2015. Our faculty included Chard deNiord, Linda Gregerson, Thomas Lux, Maurice Manning, Molly Peacock, Brenda Shaughnessy, Patricia Smith, and Robert Wrigley. We presented six days of reading events, interviews, craft lectures, and, of course, poetry workshops. Malcolm London and Rachel McKibbens headlined the annual coffee house and performed for local high school audiences. Additional conference faculty Sally Bliumis-Dunn, Nickole Brown, and Ginger Murchison who taught one-on-one conferences. Our very special guest poet was Dana Gioia, poet, essayist, critic and former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (2003-2009). The phrase we chose to represent this festival was, “Poetry Is Alive!”