Join us for the Peoples Poetry Fest!!

Schedule of Events:

Thursday, March 6, 2025

11:00 am: Opening - Welcoming Remarks J.D. Leza, Dr. Andrea Elizondo

We kick of the 10th Annual People's Literary Festival with opening remarks from Festival Chair J.D. Leza along with Del Mar College's own Andrea Elizondo

11:15 am: Session 1 - Keynote Kickoff - Debut Novelist Reading and Discussion - Detective Fiction:  Holy City

Detective Fiction is a historically popular genre that represents literature's unique connection to shifting audiences, media, and artistic convention. The genre's mark on the last century is immense, ranging from expanding national literacy via pulp media to adaptations in Hollywood file. More importantly, Detective Fiction has long sought to complicate reductive images of justice, represent the underrepresented, and underscore the human desire for truth. In a continuing effort to bring exciting new writers to the Del Mar student body and community, novelist Henry Wise will read from and discuss his debut novel Holy City, published by Grove Atlantic in June 2024 and professional creative writing process. Holy City explores the weight of life and tragedy in rural America, particularly forgotten communities where the nation's labor, racial, and ecological histories are intrinsically tied to justice and public service. Holy City's themes are relevant to students in English, Journalism, Liberal Arts, Criminal Justice, Political Science, Economics, and Anthropology. This presentation is funded in part by Del Mar College's Cultural Programs Fund.

12:45 pm: Session 2 - How to Get Published Panel: Cultural and Community Leadership - Editing Magazines, Journals and Books

Editing Magazines, Journals and Books explores the art, science and process of selecting and editing articles, literature, poetry, art and ads for publication, as well as the choices, challenges and process a newly published author used to select and work with agents, editors and publishers.  Participants will learn about what led these cultural and community leaders to their fields, what criteria and steps their publications and publishers use, the evolution of their industries and what the future looks like from their positions, and tips for aspiring authors, editors and publishers.  This presentation is funded in part by Del Mar College's Cultural Programs Fund.

12:45 pm: Session 3 - Professional Development Workshop - The Writing Process
02:00 pm: Session 4 - How to Get Published: Self-Publishing - The Lived Human Experience in Self-Publishing

The Lived Human Experience in Self-Publishing explores the decision to self-publish and the steps necessary to secure rights of intellectual property involved in several self-published works ranging from autobiographical, poetry, collaborative, and self-help. In an effort to encourage, inspire, and educate on the journey of self-publishing, Say Something host Bryan Jones will be introducing three Corpus Christi, TX resident black authors to speak on their upbringing and the paths that drew them to the literary mediums they've published.

2:00 pm: Session 5 - Professional Development Workshop - Research and Resources for Writing
7:00 pm: Session 9 - Corpus Christi Poet Laureate Panel

2023-2024 Outgoing Poet Laureate Dr. Robin Carstensen, will introduce the incoming 2025-2026 Corpus Christi Poet Laureate. There will be City and County Proclamations, an award ceremony, reading and discussion, and the new Poet Laureate's vision presentation.

8:00 pm: Session 10 - Robb and Vanesa Jackson Award Ceremony for High School Poets

This contest, honoring the life of Robb Jackson, who was a Regents Professor of English at Texas AandM University-Corpus Christi, awards exceptional high school poets, who will read their winning poems.

9:30 pm: Remarks - Closing Remarks - Alan Berecka (Sinton, TX), Sarah Lenz, and Rev. Jonathan Wickham

Friday, March 7, 2025

10:00 am: Remarks - Opening Remarks - J.D. Leza, Charles Etheridge, Stefan Sencerz

Welcoming remarks from People's Literary Festival committee members to kick off Day 2.

10:15 am: Session 11 - Flowing: Intergenerational Stories through Coastal Bend Waters

Join authors Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson and Anel I. Flores for a transformative writing workshop celebrating intergenerational storytelling inspired by the waters of the Gulf Coast. Through guided prompts and creative exercises, participants will dive into themes of limitless love, activism, and the powerful voices carried by the tides.  This workshop will explore the interconnectedness of water, memory, and resilience, culminating in an afternoon reading where participants can share their creations. Together, we'll honor the Gulf Coast as a source of life, storytelling, and collective empowerment as it lives across families and flows into our connected rivers.

1:30 pm: Session 12 - Reading and Discussion - Robin Carstensen, Anel Flores y Andrea Vocab Sanderson
3:00 pm: Session 13 - Performance Workshop - Breakers Improv - Meredith Melville, Associate Professor of Theatre, TAMUCC

The Breakers Improvisation Ensemble is comprised of up to 6 current undergraduate students majoring in Theatre.  It is a scholarship performance ensemble and is the only ensemble like it in the nation. In addition to performing in the Department of Theatre and Dance, they engage in community outreach, campus collaborations, perform and teach improvisation.

06:00 pm: Session 14 - Rotating Readers
07:00 pm: Session 15 - Poet Night  -Kiya Vance, Word of Mouth
09:00 pm: Session 16 - Rotating Readers - Adolescents, Children's Picture Book, Science (Other/Multiple Genres)
10:00 pm: Session 17 - Moon Jazz - Kiya Vance
06:00 pm: Session 19 - Poets Writing - Forthcoming

Saturday, March 9, 2025

All Day: Session 23 - Austin Typewriter, Ink: Type-In - David Torres

Drop in and type in. Join typewriter enthusiast and master collector, David Torres, who will have a selection of vintage and antique typewriters for you to try. Enjoy writing with the tactile clack of these beautiful machines and see how changing your mode of writing can transform your ideas.  

9:15 am: Session 24 - St. Teresa Room

Poems of Change: Writing Revolution and Revelation Workshop - Cindy Huyser (Austin, TX)

We come to art to see the world differently and to discover ourselves along the way; this is as true for writers as it is for readers. In this workshop, we'll learn from poems by Lucille Clifton, James Crews, Chen Chen, and Teresa Palomo Acosta and write some drafts of our own. (Each participant will need a copy of the poem packet–4 pages to be printed on 2 sheets if possible.)

9:15 am: Session 26 - St. Hildegard Room

Children's Books Plus Young Adult Genres Panel Discussion
Ron Ramirez (McAllen, TX), Randal Lee Gritzner (Sebastian, TX), Angela Rosko (Weslaco, TX), Rey A. Banda (Welasco, TX)

Three authors who have written Children's and Young Adult books are teaming up to discuss our books. Five genres will be discussed:  Children's books, Young Adult Fiction, Autobiographies, Romance, and Science Fiction.

10:30 am: Session 25 - St. Teresa Room

Using Lists to Inspire Writing - J. L. Wright (Corpus Cristi, TX)

I don't believe in Writer block because I can always write a grocery list. This brief workshop will give you a head start on how you can use list to takeoff and a new direction on a new project or go back into your current project and get back on track. (A whiteboard or chart paper for a wall)

10:30 am: Session 27 - St. Hildegard Room

Navigating Grief through Writing and Research - Hailey Rose Hanks (Corpus Christi, TX), Dr. Desireé Thorpe, Rebecca Holcomb, Heather Kolf

In this interdisciplinary panel, each writer will share their work and their experiences with writing and research that shaped their navigation of grief. We will think about grief writing from creative and critical perspectives—across genres and disciplines such as creative nonfiction, poetry, and scholarly work. We will discuss the intricate relationship between writing, remembering, and grieving as we invite audience members to consider the usefulness of writing as a form of dialogical grief expression in their own lives.

11:30 am: Lunch - The Labyrinth

Open Mic - J.D. Leza

Enjoy lunch on The Labyrinth and browse the Book Fair while an Open Mic is taking place.

12:30 pm: Session 28 - The Labyrinth

Keepsake Postcard Poetry - Clemmie-Li Clyde (Corpus Cristi, TX)

Participants create postcards and write poems on them to send along through the mail. Discussion includes the logistics of a postcard along with set parameters writing the poetry. Each participant will have the opportunity to decorate and write a short poem on a keepsake postcard.

12:30 pm: Session 29 - The Labyrinth

Southern Voices: 50 Contemporary Poets - Andrew Geyer (Aiken, South Carolina), Jan Seale (Rio Grande Valley, TX), Joey Brown (Joplin, MO), Alan Berecka (Sinton, TX)

From the editors of the innovative composite anthology A Shared Voice (INDIEFAB and Spur Award Finalist, 2013) comes this unique anthology of works by Southern poets. The poems in this exciting volume crisscross the Greater American South from Virginia to the Ozarks, from the Texas hill country to the Florida coast. Writing in a variety of forms and on an amazing array of subjects, the fifty master-poets in Southern Voices explore all the corners of this gradually evolving region along with its flora, fauna, cultural idiosyncrasies, and distinctive cuisines.

2:00 pm: Session 30 - The Labyrinth

Haiku Deathmatch - Stefan Sencerz

A legend has it that, in the early 1670s, Bash? and his students devised an event called "the seashell game" in which poets competed head-to-head with their original haiku and a winner was selected by a judge. In the early 1990s, over 3 centuries later, a poet from the Illinois poetry slam scene named Daniel Ferri created the Haiku Death Match, infusing the Japanese practice with a slew of Western conventions ranging from the roast to the rap battle. The slam-style haiku, also known as "ku," is just a 17 (or less) syllables poem and contains no title. Poets battle one-on-one until only one "haikuin" is left standing.

7:00 pm - 9:00 pm: Session 31 - Live Jazz Fundraiser - Bryan Jones, Ms. Destiny

Date: March 6 - 8, 2025

Location: Various Venues In Corpus Christi, TX

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