Smith College to Host 11th Annual Five College Student Poetryfest

The 11th Annual Five College Poetryfest will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28, in Neilson Browsing Room at Smith College. The event is free and open to the public.

The inspiration of Lorna Peterson, former executive director of Five Colleges, Inc., and Ellen Doré Watson, director of the Smith College Poetry Center, the Poetryfest celebrates the quality and range of student poetry with two writers representing each of the colleges and the University of Massachusetts. The inaugural Poetryfest was held at Smith in 2002, thereafter rotating among the other institutions.

The participants this year are Diana Babineau and Peter Smith of Amherst College; Anna Rinehart Meister and Omnia Osman Mohamed of Hampshire College; Lauren Abbate and Anthea Karanasos-Hubanks of Mount Holyoke College; Kat Black and Hannah Young of Smith College; and Kristen Mosher and Aidan Stone of The University of Massachusetts Amherst. Each student will read for five minutes.

The reading will be followed by a reception, and booklets of the students’ work will be available. For further information, contact Jennifer Blackburn in the Poetry Center office at (413) 585-4891 or Ellen Doré Watson, director, at (413) 585-3368.

For disability access information or to request accommodations, call (413) 585-2407. To request a sign language interpreter specifically, call (413) 585-2071 (voice or TTY) or e-mail ODS@smith.edu. All requests must be made at least 10 days prior to the event.