Sunken Garden Poetry Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Over the past 20 years, tens of thousands of people have enjoyed the many voices the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival has brought to the Hill-Stead Museum. The warm Wednesday evenings in the garden offer inspiration and entertainment from top tier American poets as well as emerging and student writers.

This year, the Hill-Stead will celebrate the poetry festival's 20th anniversary with a three-day opening weekend, beginning Friday, June 1. The weekend will include poetry readings, live music, workshops, talks, house tours and Poetry on the Trails nature walks. 

On Friday, June 1, the opening reading will feature award-winning poet, Suji Kwock Kim.  The evening will also include a reading of Freedom Journeys in Four Voices by poet Bessy Reyna (in collaboration with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas) and the film Poetry of Resilience by Katja Esson, Alison Granucci, and Jan Warner. Poetry of Resilience is a finalist for the prestigious human rights award, the Cinema and Peace Award for the Most Valuable Documentary of the Year at the Berlin Film Festival.

On Saturday, June 2, Hill-Stead presents Connecticut Young Poets Day, featuring select high school- and college-age readers/winners of eight state writing programs, including: Hill-Stead’s Fresh Voices Competition and Hartford Student Poetry Outreach, Connecticut Poetry Circuit, Poetry Out Loud, Connecticut Young Writers Competition, Connecticut State University Poetry Competition, New Haven Free Public Library Poetry Contest, and ASAP’s Celebration of Young Writers.  The 21-year-old slam poet and international hip hop star, B. Yung, will give a student workshop and a performance in the afternoon, while the evening’s featured poet will be former U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner, Richard Wilbur.  Two concerts represent a spectrum of musical genres: Earth Mass, created by the Paul Winter Consort, will be performed by the choirs of Joyful Noise choirs and gospel legend, Theresa Thomason; and MetaFour brings together Andy Wrba from Barefoot Truth and guitar virtuoso Jeff Howard to create one of the best up-and-coming young bands in the state.   Connecticut Young Poets Day is intended to attract a younger audience to the festival, expose them to a wide spectrum of poetic forms, introduce them to some of the finest poets in the country, and create a central venue for youth poetry events statewide. 

Festivities on Sunday, June 3 include Ten for Ten, a reading by ten Connecticut poets from the festival’s first decade, featuring Doug Anderson, Robert Cording, Margaret Gibson, Gray Jacobik, Rennie McQuilkin, Marilyn Nelson, Pit Pinegar, Vivian Shipley, Steve Straight, and Sue Ellen Thompson.  Poet and story teller Minton Sparks brings her wildly original show to the Sunken Garden alongside world-class musician, guitarist John Jackson, followed by poet Toi Derricotte, winner of numerous literary awards and co-founder of the Cave Canem Foundation for African-American writers.  The evening concludes with a community dance on the estate’s west lawn, with music by Ten Penny Bit and caller Jim Gregory.

The remaining five Wednesday evening performances complete the stellar roster of poets and musicians: June 13, poet and former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Dana Gioia, with music by Eight to the Bar; June 27, poet Christian Wiman, editor of Poetry magazine, and 1st place Sunken Garden Poetry Prize winner, Marilyn Annucci, with music by Liz Queler & Seth Farber; July 11,  Pulitzer Prize winning poet, Natasha Trethewey, and 2nd place Sunken Garden Poetry Prize winner, Sue Burton, with music by Rani and daisy mayhem; July 25, former U.S. Poet Laureate, Donald Hall, with music by Brass City Brass; and August 1, award-winning poet Tony Hoagland  with music by Ed Fast and Conga Bop.  On July 30 – August 1, Tony Hoagland leads a 3-day workshop, Five Powers of Poetry: Reading, Writing, and Teaching Contemporary Poetry.  www.fivepowerspoetry.com  

For more information about the festival and workshops, please check Hill-Stead’s website www.hillstead.org or email poetry@hillstead.org.