12th biennial Skagit River Poetry Festival starts Thursday

The poets are coming, the poets are coming!

Lori Buher is ready. She is one of 20 La Conner-area residents who will be hosting a poet during this weekend’s 12th Biennial Skagit River Poetry Festival.

Her guest, Lorraine Healy, is an Argentinian poet-photographer who lives on Whidbey Island and teaches in the Skagit River Poetry Foundation’s Poets in the Schools program. Healy is one of 35 poets, some internationally famous, gathering for workshop sessions, discussions and readings in intimate La Conner venues.

The Festival opens at Maple Hall 7:30 p.m. Thursday with “Finding Cascadia.” Elizabeth Bradfield, CMarie Fuhrman, Tim McNulty and Derek Sheffield will share poems that explore the richness of the Northwest. Buy a ticket at the door for $25.

Friday morning’s sessions are reserved for students who experience poetry through the Poets in the Schools program. At the popular Poetry Slam session led by Roberto Ascalon, they’ll get a memorable lesson in welcoming each other to an open mike with high-energy introduction and vigorous applause. Four Whatcom, Island and Skagit county schools are confirmed so far.

From 2:30 p.m. Friday through 9:30 p.m. Saturday, grownups can listen to thoughtful voices in contemporary poetry reflecting cultures from around the world. Poet Ilya Kaminsky, an émigré from Ukraine and co-founder of Poets for Peace, is one such voice. Listen to his work in the “War: Poems of Witness & Warning” on Saturday or during Friday night’s Poetry Sampler, which also includes Ellen Bass, Canadian poet Lorna Crozier and Arthur Sze.

Irish poet Tony Curtis, a festival regular, always travels the farthest to reach La Conner. Taking the longest domestic journey is poet Rio Cortez, a New York Times bestselling author of picture books who lives in Harlem.

Northwest poets on the bill include former Washington State Poets Laureate Elizabeth Austen, Claudia Castro Luna and Samuel Green plus Crozier, Idaho poet CMarie Fuhrman and former Montana State Poet Laureate M.L. Smoker.

There will be sessions on poetry and immigration, professing love and passion in poetry, poetry and comedy, poetry and darkness and an intriguing session titled “Three Poets Walk into a Bar...” with Curtis, Crozier and Idaho poet Robert Wrigley.

Poetry Foundation Director Molly McNulty and her 30 volunteers are ready and excited. “Every year I say that this is the best festival ever,” said McNulty, “and it always is.”

A ticket for all three days costs $100 and includes the Thursday evening reading. A Friday-afternoon-only ticket is $25 and a Saturday ticket is $50. Buy tickets at Maple Hall or online at skagitriverpoetry.org/festival/festival-tickets/.