Palm Beach Poetry Fest Celebrates Vets' Day With Soldier/Poet Brian Turner

Palm Beach Poetry Festival Celebrates Veterans Day 2011 with Award-Winning Soldier-Poet Brian Turner

Miles Coon, Director of the Palm Beach Poetry Festival (PBPF), today announced that the nonprofit organization would be celebrating Veterans Day 2011 by sponsoring a series of public events with award-winning soldier-poet Brian Turner. 

"As we prepare for the return of the eighth annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival next January, we can think of no better way to honor all of our active and retired servicemen and women than by presenting Brian Turner, who is both a distinguished poet and a proud American veteran," said Coon.  

Friday, November 11 Noon - Salute to Veterans Luncheon

Sponsored by The American Health Society and The United States Marine Corps League, this patriotic event will include remarks by U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, plus a special reading by Brian Turner. The cost to attend the luncheon is $40 per person. RSVP to 561.361.9091  

2 p.m. - FREE Poetry Reading

Brian Turner will read poems, followed by an audience Q&A and book signing. The public - particularly all veterans - are invited to attend this free event that will follow the Salute to Veterans Luncheon at Benvenuto Restaurant, 1730 North Federal Highway in Boynton Beach 

Saturday, November 12

9 a.m. to Noon: FREE Poetry Workshop

The Line of Departure: From Experience to the Page

Limited to 15 participants, this workshop with Brian Turner will focus on how poets from World War I through Iraq and Afghanistan have drawn from their wartime experiences to cross into the imaginative landscape of the page. Participants will be writing poetry during the workshop, so pen, paper or laptop is required. In addition, Turner has agreed to critique, by mail, up to three poems per person. To sign-up or for more information, please contact drblaiseallen@aol.com.  

This workshop will take place at Old School Square, 51 North Swinton Avenue in Delray Beach. 

Brian Turner is a soldier-poet whose debut book of poems, Here, Bullet, won the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award, The New York Times "Editor's Choice" selection, the 2006 Pen Center USA "Best in the West" award, and the 2007 Poets Prize, among others. Turner served seven years in the US Army, to include one year as an infantry team leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. Prior to that, he was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999-2000 with the 10th Mountain Division. Turner's poetry has been published in Poetry Daily, The Georgia Review, and other journals, and in the Voices in Wartime Anthology published in conjunction with the feature-length documentary film of the same name. Turner was also featured in Operation Homecoming, a unique documentary that explores the firsthand accounts of American servicemen and women through their own words. 

Eight faculty poets, a special guest poet and two performance poets will be featured at 11 ticketed public events, January 16-21, including readings, talks and a lively panel discussion. In addition, the workshop participants will read at three late-night open mics, free to the public. For a complete list of the public events, refer to www.palmbeachpoetryfestival.org.  

Tickets will go on sale to the public later this year through the festival website and at the Crest Theatre Box Office at Old School Square. General Admission ticket prices per event are $12/adult, $10/senior and $8/student. Special student group rates are available. 

The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is generously sponsored by Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney, the Windler Group of Morgan Stanley, and Smith Barney's Atlanta Office; the Palm Beach County Cultural Council and the Board of Commissioners of Palm Beach County; The Palm Beach Post, WLRN-TV, WPBI-FM (Classical South Florida Radio), and Murder on the Beach, Delray Beach's independent bookseller. All events take place in the Crest Theatre and Vintage Gymnasium of Old School Square in Delray Beach. The 7th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival was underwritten, in part, by an Arts Challenge Grant in 2010 from The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

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