The Blackbird Poetry Festival Closes with Nightbird: a Coffee House Reading

FEATURED POETS RIVES AND RACHEL ELIZA GRIFFITHS MIX VISUAL ART AND POETRY

HoCoPoLitSo (Howard County Poetry & Literature Society), in partnership with the Howard Community College Division of English and World Languages and the Office of Student Life, presents the Blackbird Poetry Festival’s Nightbird: a coffee house reading with poets Rives and Rachel Eliza Griffiths and music by country-rock music duo Rocket Sled, on Tuesday, April 23, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. in the Kittleman Room of Duncan Hall on the campus of Howard Community College. The theme of this year’s Blackbird Festival is “Poetry Seen,” exploring the intersections of poetry and the visual arts.

A performance poet, storyteller and frequent speaker at TED Talks, Rives has also appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and was the co-host of Tommy Hilfiger’s Ironic Iconic America, a Bravo TV series on pop culture. Rachel Eliza Griffiths is a poet and photographer who was awarded the 2012 Inaugural Poetry Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association for her most recent poetry book, Mule & Pear. In 2011, Oprah’s O Magazine featured Griffiths as an emerging poet in its first poetry issue. Griffiths’ photographs will be on display during the Blackbird Festival.

Rocket Sled is an alternative country-rock music duo with Ed Tetreault, the engineer for several Grammy-nominated releases, and musician and Baltimore music promoter Will Hill.

Audience members will be seated at tables during the Nightbird reading; coffee and tea will be served. Books will be sold, and authors will be available for signings. Tickets are general admission and cost $15 ($10 for students and seniors). Tickets are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/353577 or by sending a check payable to HoCoPoLitSo to 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway, DH 239, Columbia, MD 21044. For accommodations, please call 443.518.4568 by April 15.

For more information about HoCoPoLitSo, visit http://hocopolitso.org or contact the organization at hocopolitso@yahoo.com or 443.518.4568.

Founded in 1974, HoCoPoLitSo is a nonprofit organization designed to enlarge the audience for contemporary poetry and literature and celebrate culturally diverse literary heritages. HoCoPoLitSo sponsors readings; produces The Writing Life, a writer-to-writer interview show on cable television and YouTube; and programs for students. The organization receives support from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Business and Economic Development; the Howard County Arts Council through the Howard County government; Howard Community College; the Columbia Foundation; The Rouse Company Foundation; Kennedy Family Foundation; the Jim & Patty Rouse Charitable Foundation; and individual contributors.

###