SILS student organizes first Carrboro Poetry Festival

The Carrboro Poetry Festival, organized by SILS student and town poet laureate Patrick Herron, will feature readings by 40 poets from across North Carolina and the country June 5 and 6.

Poets will include Dr. Paul Jones, SILS professor; North Carolina poets Carl Martin, Gerald Barrax, Jaki Shelton Green, Jeffrey Beam, John Balaban and shirlette ammons; Brian Henry, editor of Verse and founder of Verse Press; Linh Dinh, anthologized in Best American Poetry 2000 and the editor and co-translator of Night Again: Contemporary Fiction from Vietnam; K. Silem Mohammad, author of Hovercraft and Deer Head Nation; and Lee Ann Brown, Charlotte native and winner of the New American Poetry Prize.

The free public festival will be held in the Carrboro Century Center at 100 N. Greensboro St., Carrboro. Readings are scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and from 12:30 to 9 p.m. Sunday. The festival is co-sponsored by the Town of Carrboro, The Independent Weekly, The Town of Carrboro Art Committee and The Open Eye Cafe.

For more information, visit the festival Web site at http://carrboropoetryfestival.org or e-mail Herron at patrick@carrboropoetryfestival.org .