Dodge Poetry Festival Underway in Newark

From slam poetry, to poems that originated in Ireland and Brazil -  the Dodge Poetry Festival taking place over the next our days in Newark, has something for everyone.

Tickets are still available for this event, which is taking place at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. On Thursday evening - today - 25 poets will participate in a "poetry sampler" event for 2 1/2 hours.

"We're proud to welcome many of the world's greatest poets and their fans to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center this October," said John Schreiber, president and CEO of NJPAC. "The Dodge Poetry Festival draws a diverse and enthusiastic audience to Newark, and we're excited to greet the thousands of visitors who will share in this extraordinary celebration."

This year's festival will feature former U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine and the newly-appointed U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, along wtih Pulitzer Prize-winner C.K. Williams, National Book Award winners Terrance Hayes and Thomas Lux, and poet-musician Kurtis Lamkin, among many others.

Renowned poet Amiri Baraka, a Newark resident and founder of the Black Arts Movement, along with his son, Ras Baraka, will also be participating. Another noteworthy performance will be Patricia Smith's sequence "Blood Dazzler" about Hurricane Katrina, set to the music of Wynton Marsalis and played by a string quartet from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

More details about the festival are available on the festival website at: www.dodgepoetry.org

The Dodge Festival takes place starting Thursday and continues through Sunday. There are single and multi-day passes available at www.njpac.org and at the NJPAC box office at One Center Street in Newark.