Poetry Festival to launch soon

07:40 - 25 June 2015

The Hill-Stead Museum's 23rd Annual Sunken Garden Poetry Festival launches today with its first of five performances

In some countries summer is underway, However for lovers of the arts in the Farmington Valley that means it's time for the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival.

The Hill-Stead Museum's 23rd Annual Sunken Garden Poetry Festival launches today with its first of five performances. The festival is held outdoors on the historical museum grounds off Route 4 in Farmington. There are poetry writing workshops before each reading and there are also concerts on the estate.

The museum also has an Impressionist art collection people can peruse and guests are welcome to walk the trails before the performance.

Here's the schedule for featured poets:

Wednesday, June 24: Ted Kooser, Pulitzer Prize winner for 2005 and former U.S. poet laureate, 2004-06, and Hadara Bar-Nadav, Sunken Garden Poetry Chapbook Winner
Thursday, June 25: Writing workshop with Kooser, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Sunday, July 12: Marie Howe, New York state poet laureate, 2012-14, Ciaran Berry
Wednesday, July 22: Vijay T. Seshadrim, Pulitzer Prize winner for 2014, and Ravi Shankar
Sunday, Aug. 9: Li-Young Lee and Brooklyn poet laureate Tina Chang, Outspoken: Celebration of Asian Poetry
Wednesday, Aug. 19: Natalie Diaz, Aja Monet and Fresh Voices Competition winners, CT Young Poets Day