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AUGUSTA – The 20th annual Plunkett Maine Poetry Festival will include a keynote in-person event with poet Reginald Dwayne Betts at 7 p.m. Friday, April 29, in the Fireside Lounge, Randall Student Center, on the University of Maine Augusta campus.
The event is free and open to the public, but registration, by clicking here, is required and face masks are required. The talk is also available via Zoom.
This year’s festival theme is Race & Social Justice. A panel discussion will be from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, April 22, on the topic Literature and Social Justice, via Zoom. To receive the link, register for the event by clicking here.
Panelists will include Julie Bouwsma, Maine poet laureate; Samaa Abdurraqib, poet and Maine Humanities Council educator; Jaed Coffin, memoirist and essayist; Joseph Jackson, poet and director of Maine Prisoners Advocacy Coalition.
Betts is a 2021 MacArthur Fellow, award winning author, poet, lawyer, and outspoken advocate for criminal justice reform. His most recent work is largely concerned with effects of incarceration, including homelessness, drug abuse, domestic violence, as well as fatherhood and the possibilities of grace and love. As a man who experienced the criminal justice system as a teenager and transformed his life upon his release, Betts does more than write exemplary verse, he has lived a life that speaks to redemption, attending law school and working in public defense and advocacy.
