Poetry Festival continues with Kerouac readings

For St. Petersburg Poet Laureate Gloria Muñoz, collaboration is the key to unlocking the city’s prodigious literary riches. “There’s so many writers here – I want it to be ‘City of Writers,” Muñoz said in a recent Arts Alive! podcast. “Something that feels like it’s ours. And not necessarily just one person’s.”

With that in mind, Muñoz has engineered the 2025 City of Writers Poetry Festival, which began April 2 and continues with events, at various venues, throughout the month.

Because April is National Poetry Month.

Particularly notable is Sunday’s event – “Jack’s House of Haiku” – at the Historic Jack Kerouac House, 5169 10th. Avenue N.

The legendary beat writer, who lived in the house until his tragic death in 1969, was a dedicated writer of the three-line Japanese haiku form. St. Pete poet Tim Huff will read 12 such poems by the On the Road scribe, and discuss Kerouac’s relationship with the form.

This will be followed by a haiku open mic, with “special Haiku pastries from Chef Shelley.” Admission is $10 (find tickets here).

The remaining City of Writers Poetry Festival event calendar:

Black Mestiza – An Evening with Yael Valencia Aldan

Today (Wednesday, April 9) at 7 p.m.

Tombolo Books, 2153 1st Ave. S

Experimental Poetry & Collaboration featuring Camilo Loaiza Bonilla, Keifer Calkins, Eleanor Eichenbaum, Tyler Gillespie, Tenea D. Johnson

Sunday, April 13 at 11 a.m.

Tombolo Books – Courtyard, 2153 1st Ave. S

Community Poetry: Show and Tell

Sunday, April 13 at 3 p.m.

Black Crow Grand Central – Courtyard, 2157 1st Ave. S.

dormilona – An Evening with Connie Mae Oliver

Wednesday, April 16 at 7 p.m.

Tombolo Books- Courtyard, 2153 1st Ave. S

Eckerd College National Poetry Month Reading Series presents: José Olivarez

Thursday, April 17 at 7 p.m.

Eckerd College – James Center Patio, 4200 54th Ave. S.

Partners: K.C. Wolfe (Eckerd College), Gloria Muñoz (St. Pete Poet Laureate), Tombolo Books, City of St. Petersburg, former poet laureate of St. Petersburg, Helen Pruitt Wallace

Community Poetry – Sunrise Poetry

Sunday, April 20 at 6:30 a.m.

St. Pete Pier, 800 2nd Ave. NE

Wellness Monday Poetry Workshop at the Youth Farm: Silk Jazmyne

Monday, April 21 at 6 p.m.

St. Pete Youth Farm, 1664 12th St. S.

Partners: Academy of American Poets, St. Pete Youth Farm

Creekshed Project Launch

Tuesday, April 22 at 4 p.m.

USF St. Pete – Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, 140 7th Ave. S

Partners: University of South Florida

Dalí Poetry Series and Eckerd College present: Natalie Diaz

Thursday, April 24 at 6:30 p.m.

The Dali Museum-Will Raymund Theater, 1 Dali Blvd.

Partners: K.C. Wolfe (Eckerd College), Gloria Muñoz (St. Pete Poet Laureate), Tombolo Books, City of St. Petersburg, Dalí Museum

This Is the Year:  Beach Clean-Up and Poetry with Take Mar and Gloria Muñoz

Saturday, April 26 at 9 a.m.

Fort DeSoto Park, 3500 Pinellas Bayway S

Partners: Florida Humanities

Community Poetry

Sunday, April 27 at 7 p.m.

Tony’s Pizza Downtown St. Pete, 533 Central Ave

Wellness Monday Poetry Workshop at the Youth Farm: LIFE Malcolm

Monday, April 28 at 6 p.m.

St. Pete Youth Farm, 1664 12th St. S.

Partners: Academy of American Poets, St. Pete Youth Farm

The Climate of Us: Poems Between Land and Sea

Wednesday, April 30 at 7 p.m.

Tombolo Books, 2153 1st Ave. S

Partners: Florida Humanities