SUNKEN GARDEN POETRY FESTIVAL

Since 1992, audiences have enjoyed verse and music among the fragrant blooms of Hill-Stead Museum’s Sunken Garden. The performance series has featured the likes of Billy Collins, Yusef Komunyakaa, Maxine Kumin, Grace Paley, and many other nationally and regionally acclaimed poets. Festivities include a plein air café and bookstore and meet-the-poet opportunities. Bring your blankets, chairs, wine, and friends, and sink into the magic of the evening.

Seating, Admission, Food & More Festival Facts
Festival Chronology
Festival Slideshow
National Competition Winners 2004–2010

To request information about the summer 2012 festival, email poetry@hillstead.org.

To join Hill-Stead’s poetry mailing list, contact Cynthia Cagenello: 860.677.4787 ext 111 or cagenelloc@hillstead.org.

Have you heard about the Live Poets Society? (Download Benefits PDF). Join this growing circle of poetry lovers and we'll arrange for free parking, vendor discounts, and special opportunities to meet the poets. Contact Mimi Madden, Artistic Director of the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival, at 860.677.4787 ext 133 or maddenm@hillstead.org. Help keep the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival thriving for years to come!

Advertise in the 2012 Poetry Program! Download our advertising Rates and specs PDF or email poetry@hillstead.org for information / reservations. For Early Bird discount (–25%), reserve and pay by February 15, 2012. Standard reservation deadline March 15, 2012. Non-profits receive 15% discount (not to be combined with early bird discount). All camera-ready ads due no later than April 13, 2012.

Become a Corporate Sponsor of the Poetry Festival – it's a win-win arrangement! View Corporate Sponsorship Opportunities (pdf) here.

Hill-Stead is deeply grateful to all supporters who made the Poetry Festival possible in 2011:

Festival Funding
Aetna Foundation, Inc.
J Walton Bissell Foundation
Beatrice Fox Auerbach Foundation Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving
Connecticut Humanities Council
Adolf & Virginia Dehn Foundation
Department of Economic and Community Development, State Office of the Arts
Institute of Museum and Library Services
Phyllis Joffe Memorial Poetry Fund, started by Sara Niego
Recycles.org—A valuable resource for computer hardware for non-profits.
Spacefitters
The Ellen Jeanne Goldfarb Memorial Charitable Trust
The Fund for Greater Hartford
Target
Tunxis Wealth Management
Live Poets Society members and additional contributors

Sponsors & Partners
Ed Fast and Conga Bop
Epicurean Caterers
Farmington Inn
Hartford Advocate
The Hartford Courant
Homewood Suites by Hilton
Jonathan Edwards Winery
Millrace Books
Naples Apizza
Truffles Bakery

Live Poets Society
Champions
Cynthia & Martin Cooper

Visionaries
Ms. Diana Barbieri
Margaret & Peter Darby

Muses
Mr. & Mrs. Jack T. Blozy
Drs. Marian Kellner & Timothy McLaughlin
Mr. & Mrs. Robert R. McQuilkin

Enthusiasts
Mr. & Mrs. Peter Bartucca
Ms. Sheryll Bedingfield, LMFT, MA
Mr. Paul H. Eddy & Ms. Elizabeth J. Normen
Mr. & Mrs. James Finnegan
Mrs. Helen Houghton
Ms. Gray Jacobik
Ms. Alison A. Roessle & Mr. Joseph Magdol
Mr. Michael J. Schloss

Patrons
Mr. & Mrs. Riccardo Ambrogio
Ms. Christine Beck
Mrs. Justina & Mr. Lonnie Black
Ms. Kathleen Blint
Mr. Lary Bloom
Mr. & Mrs. Roderick Brown
Mr. & Mrs. Richard Bue
Dr. Nausherwan & Wendy Burki
Bruce & Dody Cagenello
Mr. James F. Calciano & Ms. Marcie B. Schwartz
Mr. & Mrs. Halsey Cook
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Cording
The Honorable Alfred V. Covello & Ms. Carol Santry-Covello
Ms. Kathleen Curry
Mr. & Mrs. Russell D. Fisher
Ms. Patricia Hale
Ms. Joan Joffe Hall & Mr. David Morse
Drs. James Hoffman & Karen Zabrensky
Mr. & Mrs. Robert H. Jacob
Mr. & Mrs. Patrick Kenny
Mr. & Mrs. Michael J. LaFrancis
Mr. Paul M. Canning & Ms. Marie Lavendier
Mr. & Mrs. Paul R. Pescatello
Mr. & Mrs. Preston H. Reed
Ms. Mara Sfara
Mr. Ravi Shankar
Ms. Clare B. Smith
Mr. Stephen C. Straight & Ms. Marian Maccarone
Ms. Edwina A. Trentham & Mr. Greg Coleman
Mrs. An-Ming & Mr. Thomas Truxes
Ms. Chion Wolf
Ms. Pamela J. Morrison-Wolf & Mr. Guy W. Wolf III
Mr. & Mrs. Chip Yates

2011 Advertisers
Asylum Hill Congregational Church | www.ahcc.org
Bradley, Foster & Sargent, Inc. | www.bfsinvest.com
Canton Barn, LLC | www.cantonbarn.com
Connecticut Explored Magazine | www.ctexplored.org
Cugino's Restaurant | http://www.cuginosrestaurantfarmington.com
The Epicurean Caterers | http://www.theepicureancaterers.com
Farmington Miniature Golf & Ice Cream | www.farmingtonminiaturegolf.com
Friends & Enemies of Wallace Stevens | www.stevenspoetry.org
Greater Hartford Arts Council | www.letsgoarts.org
Hartford Advocate | www.hartfordadvocate.com
The Hartford Courant | www.courant.com
Hartford Foundation for Public Giving | www.hfpg.org
Hartford Symphony Orchestra | www.hartfordsymphony.org
Homewood Suites by Hilton | homewoodsuites1.hilton.com/
Jonathan Edwards Winery | www.jedwardswinery.com
Lewis Walpole Library | www.library.yale.edu/walpole
Manchester Community College | www.mcc.commnet.edu
Millrace Bookshop | www.millracebookshop.com
Miss Porter's School | www.porters.org
Naples Apizza | www.naplespizzact.com
New England Autumn Fest
Norfolk Chamber Music Festival | music.yale.edu/norfolk
River Ridge at Avon | www.seniorsforliving.com/community/River-Ridge-at-Avon
Shortell Framing, Hartford, CT
Truffles Bakery & Kitchen | www.trufflesbakery.com
West Hartford Counseling Center | www.westhartfordcounselingcenter.com

Poetry Links
Academy of American Poets | www.poets.org
Antrim House | www.antrimhousebooks.com
Association of Writers and Writing Programs | www.awpwriter.org
Buttonwood Tree, Middletown, CT | www.buttonwood.org
Cave Canem | www.cavecanempoets.org
Common Ground Poetry Review | www.cgreview.org
Connecticut Poetry Society | www.ct-poetry-society.org
Connecticut Review | www.ctstateu.edu/univrel/ctreview
Curbstone Press | www.curbstone.org
Hudson Valley Writers’ Center | www.writerscenter.org
IMPAC Young Writers Awards | www.impacyoungwriters.com
National Public Radio | www.npr.org, key words “Sunken Garden Poetry Festival.”
Poetry Daily | www.poems.com
Poetry News | www.poetrynewsonline.blogspot.com
Poetry Society of America | www.poetrysociety.org
Poets House | www.poetshouse.org
Riverwood Poetry Series | www.riverwoodpoetry.org
Smith College | www.smith.edu/poetrycenter
Soul Mountain Retreat | www.soulmountainretreat.com