Martin Farawell, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation's Poetry Director and Director of the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, has announced that a program focusing on war veterans and their families will be one of the special events taking place during the 15th biennial Dodge Poetry Festival, presented in partnership with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) and the City of Newark, from October 23-26, 2014. The Festival will take place for the third time at NJPAC and other nearby venues in Newark, New Jersey's Downtown Arts District.
"Another Kind of Courage," part of the evening program on Saturday evening, October 25 on the stage of NJPAC's Prudential Hall, will feature Pulitzer Prize winner Yusef Komunyakaa, former Connecticut Poet Laureate Marilyn Nelson and Beatrice Hawley Award Winner Brian Turner. They will be joined by veterans who've participated in the Warrior Writers and Combat Paper Project workshops, and by poets Jehanne Dubrow, Elyse Fenton, Charles H. Johnson, and Gardner McFall as well as others.
According to Mr. Farawell, "Classic war stories often evolve around finding the courage to enter battle, but there is another kind of courage required of veterans and their families as they face the impact and aftermath of war: The courage required to acknowledge trauma; to turn with love toward those transformed and wounded by war, including ourselves; to take up a pen or stand before a microphone and tell our stories; to listen without turning away to the truths our spouses, children, siblings, cousins, friends or neighbors have to share with us; to not give up on the hard work of trying to heal."
Yusef Komunyakaa began writing poetry in 1973, shortly after completing his service in the United States Army as a correspondent and as managing editor of the Southern Cross during the Vietnam War, earning him a Bronze Star. His many books of poetry include Copacetic, for which he first received wide acclaim in 1984, Thieves of Paradise which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Neon Vernacular: New & Selected Poems 1977-1989 for which he received the Pulitzer Prize and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His poem "Facing It," about facing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, DC, and the memories and emotions it evokes, has received wide recognition.
Marilyn Nelson is the daughter of a U.S. serviceman in the Air Force and was brought up on several different military bases. Her books of poetry include The Fields of Praise: New and Selected Poems which was a finalist for the 1998 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize and the 1997 National Book Award, and The Homeplace which was a finalist for the 1991 National Book Award. From 2001-2006 she served as the Poet Laureate of Connecticut.
Soldier-poet Brian Turner served seven years I the United States Army, including one year as an infantry team leader in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division. Prior to that he was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1999-2000 with the 10th Mountain Division. His books include two poetry collections, Here, Bullet, which won the 2005 Beatrice Hawley Award, and Phantom Noise as well as a memoir, My Life as a Foreign Country, in which he retraces his war experience. He was featured in Operation Homecoming, a unique documentary that explores the firsthand accounts of American servicemen and women through their own words.
Warrior Writers' mission is to create a culture that articulates veterans' experiences, provide a creative community for artistic expression, and bear witness to the lived experiences of warriors. Warrior Writers is a veteran-focused arts organization that fosters artistic exploration and expression through casual, welcoming workshops and retreats.
In Combat Paper Project papermaking workshops, veterans use their uniforms worn in service to create works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper. Participants use the transformative process of papermaking to reclaim their uniforms as art and express their experiences with the military.
The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, an initiative of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation held biennially in even-numbered years since 1986, is a celebration of poetry that immerses participants in four days of readings, performances, and conversations. Prior to its move to NJPAC and Newark in 2010, the Festival was held primarily at Waterloo Village in Stanhope, New Jersey. In its 26-year history, the Dodge Poetry Festival has involved more than 500 poets, including Nobel Laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, and an unparalleled array of much-published and award-winning poets.
The Dodge Poetry Festival is the largest poetry event in North America. Called "Wordstock" by The New York Times, audience members have the opportunity to hear performances from and interact with dozens of the world's foremost poets with an extraordinarily wide range of backgrounds and styles. Two-Day and Four-Day Passes are currently on sale at
www.njpac.org and at the NJPAC box office or by calling 1-888-GO-NJPAC. Single Day tickets go on sale August 11.
Anchored by events at NJPAC, the Festival will transform Newark's Downtown Arts District into a "Poetry Village," with many of the performances and readings occurring at multiple venues and cultural destinations in the city, all within easy walking distance of NJPAC. At times during the Festival ten or more separate stages will offer events simultaneously for audiences from 100 to 2,000 people, including at the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, NJPAC's Center for Arts Education, First Peddie Baptist Memorial Church, the New Jersey Historical Society, the Newark Museum, North Star Academy, and Trinity & St. Philip's Cathedral. Each evening and Sunday afternoon all readings will take place in NJPAC's magnificent Prudential Hall.
Known for its tremendous ethnic and cultural diversity, downtown Newark is located three miles from Newark Liberty International Airport, one of the largest international airports in the United States. Downtown Newark is easily accessible by public transportation via Amtrak, New Jersey Transit (NJTransit), and PATH trains, and is located at the center of the New York metropolitan area. This year, as a key component of the Dodge Foundation's commitment to a healthier environment, the Festival will partner with NJTransit to make public transportation more affordable for Festival-goers. NJTransit will offer $10 ticket vouchers for Festival participants for a round-trip ticket from any NJTransit rail station to Newark Penn Station or Newark Broad Street Station. The voucher will also be honored on the Newark Light Rail once riders arrive in Newark. Vouchers can be purchased with Festival tickets online, over the phone, or at the NJPAC Box Office.
