Plunkett Maine Poetry Festival set for April 27

AUGUSTA — The 22nd annual Plunkett Maine Poetry Festival, a celebration of emerging and established poets and poetry, is set for Saturday, April 27, at the University of Maine at Augusta. It will be held both in Jewett Hall at 46 University Drive, and online.

Brian Turner Miyako Hannan-Scarponi photo

This year’s keynote speaker is Brian Turner, a poet, musician, professor, and U.S. Army veteran who served in Bosnia-Herzegovina with the 10th Mountain Division, and later as an infantry team leader for a year in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, according to a news release from UMaine’s Ellen Taylor.

Known for his poems about serving in the Iraq war, Turner has authored five collections of poetry, including “Here, Bullet” and his newest “The Wild Delight of Wild Things.” His poems and essays have been published in National Geographic, the New York Times and The Guardian. Roxana Robinson of The Washington Post proclaims, “Turner is … a poet, and he cannot help but see the world, even the world of combat, in terms of beauty, fragility and heartbreaking splendor … . [His] eloquent rendering illuminates both the shared space and the painful divide between poet and soldier, mission and memory, war and peace.”

Two free workshops will be presented by celebrated award-winning Maine poets Julia Bouwsma and Claire Millikin.

Bouwsma is Maine’s sixth Poet Laureate and the author of two poetry collections: “Midden” and “Work by Bloodlight,” both of which received Maine Literary Awards for Poetry Book. She is the Library Director for Webster Library in Kingfield.

Millikin is the author of seven books of poetry, including “State Fair Animals.” She is a 2021 recipient of the Maine Literary Award, and teaches art history and American Studies at the University of Maine and for the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts.

Attendees may choose “Phantom Noise: Entering the Sound Archive” with Julia Bouwsma or “Poetry of Transmutation” with Claire Millikin. These workshops will be offered concurrently from 1-2:30 p.m. in Jewett Hall, and each session is limited to 16 participants. Both workshops are free but do require registration. Visit uma.edu/plunkett for more details about each or to register.

A panel discussion on Publishing is set for 2:45 p.m. in the Farber Forum in Jewett Hall, and livestreamed. All the panelists are from small, independent, Maine-based presses and publications. Panelists include Steve Luttrell of Café Review: International Journal of Art and Poetry, Maya Stein of Kerning Journal and Toad Hall Edition, and Agnes Bushell of Littoral Books.

Preceding the keynote event will be Readings and Open Mic at 4 p.m. in Jewett Hall’s Danforth Gallery. Light refreshments will be provided. Then, across the hall in the Farber Forum and via livestream, from 4:30-6:00 p.m. is the keynote event. There will be music performed by UMA jazz students.

The day’s events conclude with a reception in the Danforth Gallery at 6 p.m. Hors D’oeuvres will be served.