The second annual Hot Springs Poetry Festival returns Nov. 1-8, bringing eight days of free poetry readings, workshops, and literary events to venues throughout Hot Springs.
The festival is presented by Garland County Library, with support from Emergent Arts, Kollective Coffee + Tea, Club House Hot Springs, Sibling Rivalry Press, and the Community Literacies Collaboratory. All events are free and open to the public.
The celebration begins Sunday, Nov. 1. GCL will host the Poetry Playground from 1-5 p.m., featuring hands-on activities for all ages. Writing workshops will take place at GCL in the afternoon before the festival’s kickoff and zine release party at Kollective Coffee + Tea from 6-9 p.m.
Throughout the week, the festival will offer online writing workshops and an online open mic, alongside Wednesday Night Poetry at Kollective on Nov. 4.
On Friday, Nov. 6, Static on Ouachita will host “Jazzoetry!” during Gallery Walk. Saturday, Nov. 7, at the Club House, Hot Springs Pulitzer Prize finalist James McWilliams will discuss the life and work of Arkansas poet Frank Stanford at 2-3 p.m., followed by two workshops and a featured reading from Ellie Black’s new collection, “Revelator,” at 6-7 p.m.
The evening concludes with the Spa City Poetry Slam.
The festival concludes Sunday, Nov. 8, with the Spa City Book Fair from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Club House Hot Springs. “Big Gay Poetry,” a celebration of LGBTQ+ poets and the legacy of Sibling Rivalry Press, follows from 5-7 p.m. A screening of “Come See Me in the Good Light,” a documentary following poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley, will close the festival from 7-9 p.m.
The complete schedule is available at hspf.org.
