6th Annual POETRYLIFE Weekend Comes to FST Ths April

2017 marks the 6th Anniversary of PoetryLife weekend, bringing together nationally recognized poets, students, teachers, and community members all in one place to celebrate the art of the written word. Events will take place in FST's Bowne's Lab and Keating Theatre. Special guest poets Edward Hirsh and Aimee Nezhukumatathil will be participating in this year's PoetryLife Weekend. For a full list of events, please see below. Proceeds for this weekend go to benefit The PoetryLife Fund, a support for educators teaching poetry in the community. Tickets for all events can be purchased through the Box Office at 941-366-9000 or online at www.floridastudiotheatre.org.

PoetryLife Weekend is a one of a kind celebration of poetry and the power of creativity. Event organizer Georgia Court, owner of Bookstore1Sarasota speaks to the excitement of this poetic weekend stating, "PoetryLife is a weekend in which we come together to enjoy poetry, pure and simple. We read aloud the poems we love; we enjoy the voices of accomplished poets who read their own work; and we encourage young people in their new-found appreciation of the genre. I am deeply grateful to Florida Studio Theatre and their partnership on PoetryLife. FST's beautiful venues help bring the art to life."

PoetryLife Weekend welcomes renowned guest poets as they read aloud their own original work. Featured in this year's PoetryLife Weekend are Edward Hirsh and Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Edward Hirsch, a MacArthur Fellow, has published nine books of poems, including The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems (2010), which brings together thirty-five years of work. His book-length elegy, Gabriel: A Poem (2014), which The New Yorker calls "A masterpiece of sorrow," won the National Jewish Book Award for poetry. He has also published five books of prose, among them, How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry (1999), a national bestseller, and A Poet's Glossary (2014), a full compendium of poetic terms. A condensed version will appear as The Essential Poet's Glossary (2017). He is the editor of The Best American Poetry 2016. He taught for seventeen years in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston and now serves as president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York.

Born to a Filipino mother and Malayali Indian father, Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of three books of poetry: Lucky Fish (2011), winner of the Hoffer Grand Prize for Prose and Independent Books; At the Drive-In Volcano (2007); and Miracle Fruit (2003), all from Tupelo Press. With Ross Gay, she co-authored Lace & Pyrite, a chapbook of nature poems (Organic Weapon Arts, 2014). Lucky Fish won the gold medal in Poetry for the Independent Publishers Book Awards and was featured in the New York Times and on the PBS NewsHour ArtsBeat. Poems from this collection were also awarded an NEA Fellowship in poetry, the Glenna Luschia Prize from Prairie Schooner, and the Angoff Award from The Literary Review for the best poems appearing that volume year.

At FST, words are at the root of what we do. Made possible with the support of BookStore1Sarasota, FST, and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, all proceeds of the weekend go to benefit The PoetryLife Fund, a support for educators teaching poetry in the community. Tickets for all events can be purchased through the Florida Studio Theatre box office at 941-366-9000 or online at FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

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