Albany Poets Announces Information and Schedule for 2005 Albany Word Fest

Albany Poets is proud to present the 2005 ALBANY WORD FEST on April 22-23, 2005. This year we are expanding the event to two days and holding festivities at four venues in Albany. The 2005 Albany Word Fest will represent a "new beginning" in the Albany poetry scene as this is the first Word Fest to take place in April (National Poetry Month) as well as the first to be presented by the re-organized Albany Poets.

Albany, NY (PRWEB) April 13, 2005 -- Albany Poets is proud to present the 2005 Albany Word Fest on April 22-23, 2005. This year we are expanding the event to two days and holding festivities at four venues in Albany. The 2005 Albany Word Fest will represent a "new beginning" in the Albany poetry scene as this is the first Word Fest to take place in April (National Poetry Month) as well as the first to be presented by the re-organized Albany Poets.

The 2005 Albany Word Fest events will take place at the Firlefanz Gallery, Lark Tavern, Lark Street Bookshop, and Valentines Music Hall in Albany. A kick-off cocktail party will be at the Lark Tavern on Friday, April 22 at 5:00PM.

This years Word Fest will truly be a celebration of poetry and spoken word, not just by presenting poets, but also with music and art. Albany Poets is committed to expanding the local poetry community by inviting poets, musicians, and artists of all genres and ages, as well as the general public, to join us at this years event.

We begin the Word Fest with a poetry open mic at the Firlefanz Gallery at 7:00PM on Friday, April 22. Over 50 poets have already signed up for the Friday night open mic on the Word Fest website. There will be a limited opportunity for more poets to be added to the list at the event.

On Saturday afternoon we are hosting a high school open mic, where students from all over the area are encouraged to perform their work at the Lark Street Bookshop. Those who perform at this event are also invited to submit their work to an upcoming anthology of young poets to be published in the fall of 2005.

Saturday night will bring us back to Valentines in Albany for the final event of the 2005 Albany Word Fest. Here Albany Poets will be releasing a new spoken word CD Didnt I Hear You Read?", featuring area poets and artists. Leo, Emily Gonzalez, Mary Panza, Marcus Anderson, and others will be performing their work from this CD. The music for this event will be Mother Judge, Kate McKrell, Joe Glickman, Jon Krakat, and Jared Funari.

There will also be an opportunity for small press publishers, poets, musicians, and artists to sell their books, CDs, and other merchandise at tables throughout the Saturday night event.

We believe that this years Word Fest will appeal to all who attend as there will be something for everyone.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, go to http://wordfest.albanypoets.com

About Albany Poets:

The mission and purpose of Albany Poets is to increase awareness and activity of the art of poetry and spoken word in the Albany, NY area. Albany Poets is doing this by hosting poetry events, readings, open mics, and workshops around the Upstate New York area in order to promote the art and increase participation by both established poets in the community as well as new writers and performers from out of the area. We wish to utilize the high schools, colleges, and universities around the area in order to develop programs and events with students in an attempt to draw attention to Albany as a literary and cultural hub in the Northeast United States.

Albany Poets

84 South Pine Ave

Albany, NY 12208

www.albanypoets.com

info@albanypoets.com

Thom Francis

President, Chairman of the Board

518-453-0515

thom@albanypoets.com

Mary Panza

Projects Director

panza@albanypoets.com

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