Each year, on the last Thursday of April— National Poetry Month— HoCoPoLitSo partners with Howard Community College (HCC) to bring poetry to the students and residents of Howard County at the all-day Blackbird Poetry Festival presented on HCC campus, and so named after Wallace Steven’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” The program began in 2009 and has brought many notable and exciting poets to Howard County, including Taylor Mali, Chris August, Billy Collins, Terence Hayes, and Tara Betts. The festival features poetry workshops, an afternoon reading called Sunbird, and concludes in an evening ticketed event called Nightbird.

Newly this year, Nightbird will also welcome on stage Howard County Executive Dr. Calvin Ball, to announce the inaugural Howard County Poet Laureate appointee!

Poetry, Speak Easy
HoCoPoLitSo’s Sixteenth Annual Blackbird Poetry Festival

Thursday, April 25th, 2024

Nate Marshall headlines the Blackbird Poetry Festival to be held on April 25^th, 2024, at Howard Community College (HCC).  Now in its 16^th consecutive year, the festival is a day devoted to verse, presented in partnership between HoCoPoLitSo and HCC, and including a student workshop, multiple poetry readings, HCC Poetry Ambassadors, a recording session of HoCoPoLitSo’s writer-to-writer talk show The Writing Life—  and newly this year, the evening reading will welcome on-stage Howard County Executive Dr. Calvin Ball, to announce the inaugural Howard County Poet Laureate!

While the event is free and public, RSVP is required to attend the Nightbird evening reading where the announcement will be made, available now through this link while limited seating lasts: bit.ly/blackbird16

The event kicks off with an 11 a.m. writing workshop in the Science, Engineering, and Technology Building room 101 (SET-101), led by HoCoPoLitSo’s 2023–2024 academic year Bauder Writer-in-Residence, Hayes Davis.  The afternoon Sunbird Reading features guest artist Nate Marshall, local authors, and Howard Community College faculty and students, at 2 p.m. in the same space, SET-101.

Finally, the festival culminates its daylong celebration of poetry with the Nightbird Reading, in the Rouse Company Foundation Studio Theatre of the Peter and Elizabeth Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center on HCC campus; doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. performance.  Nightbird features guest artist Nate Marshall; Howard County Poetry Out Loud winners; and the exciting announcement of the Howard County Poet Laureate appointee by the County Executive.  Complementary light refreshments are offered, including adult beverages to guests providing proof of age.  Reception, book sale and signing to follow the reading.

Free tickets can be reserved through the Horowitz Center Box Office, at bit.ly/blackbird16 or by phone to 443-518-1500 Wed.–Fri., 12–4 p.m.

GET NIGHTBIRD TICKETS HERE

Festival Events

Poetry Police : 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., campus-wide

To celebrate National Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 25, we’re seeking a few volunteers for the Poetry Police Force. Poetry Police will roam the halls and outdoor spaces distributing rewards and (poetry) citations to encourage reading and sharing of poetry. Poetry Police receive an official festival t-shirt. To volunteer for a shift or for more information, contact our Poetry Police Captain Rick Leith at rleith@howardcc.edu.

Morning Songs Workshop : 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., Catherine Joan Cochran Community Room in SET 101

HoCoPoLitSo’s Bauder Writer-in-Residence for the 2023–2024 academic year, Hayes Davis, presents this morning workshop. Participants should come prepared to write. For more information, contact Tara Hart (thart@howardcc.edu) or Brian Martin (bmartin@howardcc.edu).

Sunbird Reading : 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., Catherine Joan Cochran Community Room in SET 101

Nate Marshall will be joined by students, faculty, staff, and community members for an afternoon of poetry. This event is free and open to the public. After the scheduled readings, there will be an opportunity to share your own poem during our ‘open mic’ session. For more information, contact Tara Hart (thart@howardcc.edu) or Brian Martin (bmartin@howardcc.edu).

Nightbird Reading : 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., Rouse Company Foundation Studio Theatre, Horowitz Center

The day-long celebration culminates with a special Nightbird Reading featuring guest artist Nate Marshall, titled “Poetry, Speak Easy.” RSVP is required to the evening reading, which includes complimentary light refreshments, live music by Recess Revival, reception, book sale, and signing, and an exciting announcement of the inaugural Howard County Poet Laureate by Howard County Executive Dr. Calvin Ball! Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Festival Poet —
Nate Marshall

Nate Marshall is an award-winning writer, editor, educator, and MC. His most recent book, Finna, was recognized as one of the best books of 2020 by NPR and The New York Public Library. His first book, Wild Hundreds, was honored with the Black Caucus of the American Library Association’s award for Poetry Book of the Year and The Great Lakes College Association’s New Writer Award. He was also an editor of The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop. Marshall co-wrote the play No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks with Eve Ewing. He also wrote the audio drama Bruh Rabbit & The Fantastic Telling of Remington Ellis, Esq., which was produced by Make-Believe Association. Marshall records hip-hop as a solo artist and with the group Daily Lyrical Product.

Marshall is an experienced and versatile educator, working with learners of all ages in both academic and community settings. He co-wrote Chicago Public School’s first literary arts curriculum and develops lesson plans using creative writing to help participants discuss social justice, mental health, community development, and other issues. He is an assistant professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has previously taught at a number of institutions including Colorado College, Wabash College, Young Chicago Authors, Northwestern University, InsideOut Literary Arts, and the University of Michigan.

Nate is a member of The Dark Noise Collective and co-directs (with Eve Ewing) Crescendo Literary, a partnership that develops community-engaged arts events and educational resources as a form of cultural organizing. As a young person Nate won the Louder Than A Bomb Youth Poetry Festival in Chicago and was a finalist at Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam.

Nate was born at Roseland Community Hospital and raised in the West Pullman neighborhood of Chicago. He is a proud Chicago Public Schools alumnus. Nate completed his MFA in Creative Writing at The University of Michigan’s Helen Zell Writers’ Program. He holds a B.A. in English and African American Diaspora Studies from Vanderbilt University. Marshall has received fellowships from Cave Canem, The Poetry Foundation, and The University of Michigan. Nate loves his family and friends, Black people, dope art, literature, history, arguing about top 5 lists, and beating you in spades.

Festival Host —
Hayes Davis

Hayes Davis has taught English in Washington, D.C. area independent schools for 24 years, and currently teaches at Sandy Spring Friends School where he serves primarily as Assistant Director of Institutional Equity, Justice, and Belonging. Even before taking this role, Hayes enjoyed teaching texts through a social justice lens and has enjoyed helping students engage in activism. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Maryland where he won an Academy of American Poets Prize; he is a member of Cave Canem’s first cohort of fellows, a former Bread Loaf working scholar, and a former Geraldine Miles Poet-Scholar at the Community of Writers.

His first collected volume of poetry, Let Our Eyes Linger, was published by Poetry Mutual Press in 2016, and his work has appeared in many journals and anthologies. He is the winner of a 2022 Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artists Award, and has appeared on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU, and at the Hay Festival Kells in Kells, Ireland. He lives in Silver Spring, MD with his wife, poet Teri Ellen Cross Davis, and their two children.

Nightbird Pre-show Live Music —
Recess Revival

Recess Revival is influenced heavily by Americana roots rock and Alternative Bluegrass with echoes of Brit pop and Irish punk dressed down to core elements and built again with classical string instruments and melodic harmonies. Aaron Lubliner Walter plays mandolin and banjo; Sean McElroy rocks lead guitar; and Will Hill styles lead vocals and rhythm guitar.

Entering its semicentennial in autumn of 2024, the Howard County Poetry & Literature Society— HoCoPoLitSo for short— has for the past near-50 years nurtured a love and respect for the diversity of contemporary literary arts in Howard County.  The society sponsors numerous literary readings; the Bauder Writer-in-Residence program providing for a current working author to visit Howard County high school classrooms; produces The Writing Life talk show; and partners with many other cultural arts organizations to support the arts in Howard County, Maryland.  More information is available at hocopolitso.org, and tax-deductible donations are always welcomed.

HoCoPoLitSo is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and receives funding from Howard County Government, Howard County and Maryland State Arts Councils, Community Foundation of Howard County, Dr. Lillian Bauder, The Reis Foundation, and generous individual contributors.  The Howard County Poet Laureate program is administrated in partnership between HoCoPoLitSo, Howard County Arts Council, and the Office of the Howard County Executive.  Proceeds support live and recorded literary programs produced by HoCoPoLitSo for student and general audiences.

Festival History

• April 27, 2023 — Noah Arhm Choi
• April 28, 2022 — Molly McCully Brown
• April 29, 2021 — Ilya Kaminski
• April 25, 2019 — Beth Ann Fennelly
• Pandemic Hiatus
• April 26, 2018 — Marylin Chin
• April 27, 2017 — Tyehimba Jess
• April 28, 2016 — Marie Howe
• April 23, 2015 — Taylor Mali, Chris August, and Steve Mandes
• April 24, 2014 — Billy Collins
• April 23, 2013 — Rives, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Kendra Kopelke and Rocket Sled
• April 26, 2012 — Michael Cirelli, Kim Addonizio, and Mother Ruckus
• April 28, 2011 — Lyubomir Nikolov, Sue Ellen Thompson, Gayle Danley and Martín Espada
• April 2010 — A Tribute to Lucille Clifton with Kendra Kopelke
• April 2009 — Patricia Van Amburg and Steve Mandes