Sunken Garden Poetry Festival to feature Mahogany L. Browne, US poet laureate Joy Harjo
Sunken Garden Poetry Festival isn’t letting the coronavirus stand in its way. Unlike many cultural gatherings shelved as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 28th annual event at Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington will open Aug. 9 with headliner Mahogany L. Browne. It will be followed by a Sept. 13 event headlined by Joy Harjo.
A total of 100 people can attend each event. Ticket holders will be socially distanced in pods marked 8 feet apart on the grass, small pods for couples and larger pods for families.
Anna Swinbourne, executive director and CEO of the Hill-Stead, said the popularity and safety of the From the Porch live entertainment series, which has been held thrice weekly since June 20, encouraged the museum staff that the poetry festival could go on safely.
“Given the outpouring of appreciation and attendance as well as confidence we’ve built in the course of that, we believe we will be doing it in a safe manner,” Swinbourne said.
Alongside Browne, the Aug. 9 event, which will be from 5 to 8 p.m. on the West Lawn, will include readings by the winners of the annual Fresh Voices Poetry Competition.
This year’s Fresh Voices winners are Haneen Alkabasi of Avon High, Alicia Chiu of Hall High in West Hartford, Jake Colangelo of Joel Barlow High in Redding, Olatunji Osho-Williams of Westminster School in Simsbury, Maggie Munday Odom of The Grove School in Madison and Charlotte Watts of Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts.
Jeffrey Howard, formerly of the McLovins, and vocalist Meghan Jessica of Litchfield will perform. The evening will be moderated by Kamora Herrington of Kamora’s Cultural Corner in Hartford.
The second event, Sept. 13 from 4 to 7 p.m., will feature Harjo, the first Native American poet laureate of the United States, and Dujie Tahat, who won the 2020 Tupelo Press Sunken Garden Poetry Prize. Music will be performed, with performers TBA.
The festival, which in previous years has run five nights, has been condensed to two nights. Swinbourne said the decrease in events is due to many factors: making room for From the Porch, the number of poets who feel comfortable performing live, and longtime funders who redirected their money this year to COVID-related philanthropies. Jennifer Mooney, manager of the event, added that the constantly changing guidelines from the state made scheduling events difficult.
In-person tickets to each event cost $20. Tickets must be bought in advance at hillstead.org. No tickets will be sold on-site.
Attendees can bring blankets, chairs and picnics. In past events, food vendors have been present, but Mooney said coronavirus and the smaller crowd made the vendors decide to forgo the event this year. Details: hillstead.org.
The festival also will be live-streamed, for those who still prefer to shelter in place at home. Swinbourne said Sam and Marian Reisner of Farmington set up the Hill-Stead’s live-streaming apparatus free of charge. An unlimited number of livestream tickets cost $10 at hillstead.org.
Susan Dunne can be reached at sdunne@courant.com
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