Sponsored by
Art That Heals, Inc. * McAllen Chamber of Commerce * Raul Tijerina, Jr. Foundation * Narciso Martínez Cultural Arts Center * El Zarape Press *
~Rio Grande Valley International Poetry Festival: Established 2008~
"Let the plethora of words commence!"
The Narciso Martínez Cultural Arts Center
Founded by Daniel Garcia Ordaz and Brenda Nettles Riojas with Creative Director: Vanessa Brown Now Seeking Sponsors to join Art That Heals, Inc., the Mcallen Chamber of Commerce, the Raul Tijerina, Jr. Foundation, McAllen Creative Incubator, the Narciso Martínez Cultural Arts Center, El Zarape Press, and Heredado Designs.
Phone: (956) 358-7211
Celebrate National Poetry Month . . .
FEATURED POETS for 2012 are: (thus far; more to come)
2012 Texas Poet Laureate Jan Seale
Lady Mariposa
2011's featured poets:
Olivia Gatwood--star of HBO's "Brave New Voices"; Ken Jones, of Houston, Texas, and Jon Davis, a.k.a. Chuckissimo!, and Jay Alvarez
Featured Poet Olivia Gatwood
Olivia Gatwood is one of the stars of HBO's "Brave New Voices International Poetry Slam Competition";
"I accidentally ended up on HBO. I was told there'd be cake."
Featured Poet Ken Jones
Ken Jones has been a published poet for over 30 years. His work combines a traditional ear for rhyme, meter, word play and alliteration with radical subject matter. His aesthetic combines the 18th Century irony of Pope and Swift with the 20th Century modernist sensibilty of Eliot and Stevens to create a 21st Century new formalist paradigm in opposition ot the imagist workshop school currently in ascendance in modern American poetics. He has an MA in English/Creative Writing from the University of Texas at Austin, is a full-time faculty member at the Art Institute of Houston and hosts its monthly Borders Poetry Reading Series. He has been a finalist for the West Chester Poet's Prize and a Pushcart Prize nominee.
Featured Poet Jon Davis
Jon Davis is the author of six collections of poetry, including Preliminary Report (Copper Canyon, 2010) and Scrimmage of Appetite (University of Akron, 1995). He has received numerous awards for his poetry, including a Lannan Literary Award, two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, and the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets. For the past twenty years, he has been professor of creative writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe. He wrote the screenplay for the short film “The Burden Carriers,” which was screened at ImagineNative Film Festival in Toronto and at the Santa Fe Film Festival, and for “The Hand Drum,” a National Geographic All Roads Festival selection. He occasionally appears as the performance/street poet Chuck Calabreze . . . Chuckissimo!!
Featured Poet Jay Alvarez
I’m one of those almost obsolete poets, still messing with rhyme and metric, the classic style. It is always a challenge to write a poem this way and that is what I like about it. I have published a poetry book, Fantasias, besides six more books in different subjects: history, adventure, biography, humor, etc. I also do oil paintings and like to sing boleros accompanied by my guitar.
[2011 Registered Poets] [2011 Featured Poets] [2011 Schedule of Events] [2011 Venues] [2011 Poetry Pachanga] [2011 Sponsors & Sponsorship Opportunities] [2011 Volunteer Opportunities] [2011 Youth Poetry Slam] [2011 Adult Poetry Slam] [2011 Registration] [Boundless 2010 Anthology Submissions] [2011 VIPF Home]