Featuring Chen Chen
and the winners of the 2021 Fresh Voices Poetry Competition
Music by Sophie Spaner
The Festival will take place on Hill-Stead’s expansive and picturesque West Lawn, allowing attendees to be safely socially distanced in clearly marked pods. Bring a blanket, chairs, and a picnic. Inspired by the surroundings, many attendees take the opportunity to write their own poetry and prose, lingering after dusk to finish their poems and conversations.
Seating will be limited, but a live-stream ticket option will also be available for those who may prefer to tune in from the comfort of home.
Schedule
5 pm Prelude Interview with Chen Chen
6 pm Readings from 2021 Fresh Voices Winners
6:30 pm Music from Sophie Spaner
7 pm Chen Chen
For additional poetry events, see our Calendar.
Tickets
In-person ticket Purchase now
Livestream ticket Ticket link coming soon!
For reserved seating with chairs and VIP parking, please join The Live Poets Society.
Chen Chen is the author of When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, which was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, the GLCA New Writers Award, and the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry. The collection was also a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry and was named one of the best of 2017 by The Brooklyn Rail, Entropy, Library Journal, and others. His work has appeared in many publications, including Poetry, Tin House, Poem-a-Day, The Best American Poetry, Bettering American Poetry, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading. Chen earned his MFA from Syracuse University and is pursuing a Ph.D. in English and Creative Writing as an off-site Texas Tech University student. He lives in frequently snowy Rochester, NY, with his partner, Jeff Gilbert, and their pug dog, Mr. Rupert Giles. Chen is the 2018-2020 Jacob Ziskind Poet-in-Residence at Brandeis University.
Accessibility at the SGPF
Hill-Stead is proud to make the Sunken Garden Poetry Festival accessible. Wheelchair ramps are available, and many volunteers are on hand to assist the mobility impaired. An accessible section is reserved close to the main stage, and a large-print edition of the program book is available on-site.
Hill-Stead makes every effort to ensure that deaf and hard-of-hearing people feel welcome. ASL interpreters are provided at the main Poetry stage (depending on interpreter availability) or by request in advance by calling 860-677-4787 x111.