International Poetry Forum Presents: A 60th Anniversary Celebration with Joel Dias-Porter and Jake Grefenstette
November 15 @ 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EST
Photo Courtesy: Joel Dias-Porter
Join us as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the International Poetry Forum, a local, independent nonprofit organization dedicated to spoken poetry and poetry education. Founded by Dr. Samuel Hazo in 1966, the International Poetry Forum has hosted hundreds of the world’s most celebrated poets and performers in its reading series and educational outreach programs, including legends like Seamus Heaney, Gwendolyn Brooks, Mary Oliver, James Earl Jones, Grace Kelly, and many more.
This in-person event will feature stories about the history of the International Poetry Forum from Jake Grefenstette, president and executive director of the Forum, as well as original poetry from Joel Dias-Porter (aka DJ Renegade). After presentations from Grefenstette and Dias-Porter, all artists and attendees are welcome at a public reception with complimentary hors d’oeuvres and drinks.
About the Artist:
Joel Dias-Porter (aka DJ Renegade) was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, and resides in South Jersey. The 1998 and 1999 Haiku Slam Champion, his work has been featured in POETRY, Best American Poetry 2014, Callaloo, Asahi Shimbun, Ploughshares, and anthologies Short Fuse, Role Call, Def Poetry Jam, Poetry Nation, and Catch a Fire. He is a Cave Canem Fellow and 1995 Furious Flower “Emerging Poet.” His collection Ideas of Improvisation is on Thread Makes Blanket Press (2022).
About the Moderator:
Jake Grefenstette is president and executive director of the International Poetry Forum. Following undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame and the University of Oxford, Grefenstette received an M.Phil. from Peking University in Beijing, an M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. Outside of the International Poetry Forum, Grefenstette teaches English and philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University and is editor of the Carnegie Mellon University Press Poetry Series and Literary Translation Series. He lives in Pittsburgh with his family and their dog, Frodo Waggins.
