October 18 – 19, 2019
For the 2019 Festival, Klinkhart Hall Arts Center was pleased to continue the tradition established by Festival founder Paul Muldoon of featuring distinguished poets to read, talk about their work, and conduct poetry workshops, all free to the public.
This year, we welcomed award-winning California-based poet, nonfiction writer and educator Ellen Bass, Princeton University faculty member and award winning poet Michael Dickman, and best-selling novelist and poet Erica Jong.
Complete Festival Events
Special note: The Sharon Springs Poetry Festival always begins with one very special event that is not open to the public.
Prior to the public events of the Festival, Mr. Muldoon and the three visiting poets spent an entire day with middle and high school students and teachers from across the region. They read, they talked, they discussed the students’ own poetry and conducted workshops.
Why are such well known poets willing to do this? Because, like us, they know it is important.
We believe that the arts are essential and that opportunities to learn and practice them contribute to the well being and development of diverse and democratic societies. What better way to show our commitment to these lofty ideals than to support the work and enthusiasm of our students?
This was followed by a weekend of …
Free Events
All of the Festival events are free and open to the public. They are free, but not cost free, so we work hard throughout the year to raise the necessary funding. Please see the list of the Festival supporters below, and be sure to thank them for their support if you have a chance!
- The always popular Friday night readings by our visiting poets took place at the Sharon Springs Central School Auditorium at 7:00 PM.
- On Saturday, October 19, Ellen Bass and Michael Dickman joined Paul Muldoon at 10:00 AM at the Sharon Springs Free Library to conduct free community workshops.
The Saturday workshops were followed by a full afternoon of special programming:
- at 2:00 PM Ellen Bass delivered a talk, “Strange Angels: Discovery in Poetry.”
- at 3:00 PM, Michael Dickman delivered a talk, “Surprising Images and Lyric Moments in a Handful of Contemporary Poems.”
- and at 5:00 PM, a special event: “Erica Jong in Conversation with Jean Hanff Korelitz.”
All three of these events took place at the Roseboro Hotel in historic “downtown” Sharon Springs.
Support for the 2019 Sharon Springs Poetry Festival
Klinkhart Hall Arts Center depends on donations from individuals, foundations, corporations and public agencies to support its programming activities.
Support for the 2019 Festival was provided by:
This project is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered in Schoharie County by The Greene County Council on the Arts.
Additional funding is provided by The Albert H. Shaheen Memorial Fund, through the Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties, Inc.
By Walmart, Cobleskill Supercenter, and Walmart Distribution Center, Sharon Springs.
And by Sterling Insurance, Cobleskill.
Additional major support for the event is provided by the American Hotel, with additional support from 204 Main Bistro, the Black Cat Cafe, the Roseboro Hotel, and from the many Friends of Klinkhart Hall.