BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID;X-RICAL-TZSOURCE=TZINFO:-//com.denhaven2/NONSGML ri_cal gem//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN VERSION:2.0 BEGIN:VEVENT DESCRIPTION:The Massachusetts Poetry Festival\nThe fourth Massachusetts P oetry Festival will be held Friday\, Saturday\, and Sunday\, April 20&nd ash\;22\, in historic Salem. The three-day event\, which will bring 1\,5 00 poets and poetry lovers to the city\, will showcase a variety of extr aordinary local and regional poets\, and engage the public through poetr y readings\, interactive workshops\, panel discussions\, music\, film an d visual arts\, and performances geared toward a diverse statewide audie nce.\n&ldquo\;The Massachusetts Poetry Festival will bring a blizzard of verbal beauty to Salem\, a city with a rich literary history and vibran t writing community. It will connect generations\, and it will give the city and the university a leadership role in building culture in the Com monwealth\,&rdquo\; said J.D. Scrimgeour\, poet and professor of English at Salem State University. &ldquo\;The Poetry Festival is evidence of t he vitality of the fundamental\, central art of poetry\,&rdquo\; said Ro bert Pinsky\, former poet laureate of the United States and the honorary chair of the poetry festival.\n \;\nThis year&rsquo\;s festival fol lows a variety of small events across the state organized by schools\, l ibraries\, and bookstores in April as part of National Poetry Month.\n&n bsp\;\nFor National Poetry Month\, MassPoetry will:\n \;\n\nProduce Common Threads\, a set of poems by Massachusetts poets to be read throug hout March and April by schools\, colleges\, public libraries\, book clu bs\, community poetry reading series\, etc. \nProduce a kit that include s the poems in text form\, in audio form\, a guide to reading and discus sing each poem and several essays about each poem\n\n \;\nMassachuse tts Poetry Festival activities include:\n\nReadings by emerging and nati onally recognized poets\nAn exciting lineup of programming created by th e Peabody Essex Museum\nAn expansive Small Press Fair \nA Literary Magaz ine Fair \nPoetry slams\nPoetry-inspired music performances and visual a rts \nA poetry train from Boston to Salem to provide both transportation and another venue for poetry \;\n URL:http://lynnfield.patch.com/events/fourth-massachusetts-poetry-festiva l-eb1b5bf0 SUMMARY:Fourth Massachusetts Poetry Festival LOCATION:161 Essex St\, Salem\, MA 01970: 161 Essex St\, Salem\, MA END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR