Do you like summits? Do you like poetry? Do you live in or around the Bay Area? You’re in luck! Info provided by event organizer Andrew Kenower after the jump…

“With the plummeting of arts funding and the general disappearance of public space, salon-style events (“house readings”) are taken very seriously in the Bay Area; performing at one can garner more kudos than at a public venue. House readings frequently take place on the weekend and are just as devoted to partying as to poetizing. When the reading begins the party slams to a halt and attention is rapt. The atmosphere may be casual—those not lucky enough to snag a seat on a couch are crammed together on the floor, some are sprawled across a mattress that somebody—who knows who—actually sleeps on, but this audience knows poetry, and they listen with razorlike precision. At such readings, whether I’m performer or audience, I feel like a beat in a larger matrix of communal creativity.”

—Dodie Bellamy

To celebrate the long tradition of non-instutitional spaces for poetry and writing in the Bay Area, we’re throwing a looong weekend party. And you’re invited!

We’ve invited many poets from around the US to converge on Oakland to give readings, lead conversations, mix cocktails, and teach and learn from each other. Confirmed readers include Anne Boyer, Anna Vitale, Bhanu Kapil, David Wolach, Dolores Dorantes, Jen Hofer, Douglas Rothschild, Frank Montesonti, Sophie Sills, Matt Longabucco, and Uyen Hua. Many more names to come!

The summit will start on Friday night with a house reading and party. Saturday readings and talks in the daytime, breaks for big group dinner, and a reading and party in the evening. Sunday ditto. Monday, a daytime barbecue and house reading to decompress and recover from the mayhem.

For our poets coming from out of town, we are asking that the community can pitch in and help with the cost of their travel. All the readings and events will be absolutely FREE! so any help you can provide would be critical to help these poets with the burden of travel costs. Please donate at our Indiegogo page.

Let us know you are coming at our Facebook Event Page!