![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Festival-Day-2024-by-Leesa-Richards.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOur Our Voices: Festival of Words is Fort Lauderdale’s answer to O, Miami Poetry Month and the Miami Book Fair. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tOur Our Voices: Festival of Words is Fort Lauderdale’s answer to O, Miami Poetry Month and the Miami Book Fair. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Photo by Leesa Richards<\/p>\n
Five years ago, Darius V. Daughtry was staring at literacy data for Fort Lauderdale<\/a>\u2019s Sistrunk neighborhood, the community where he grew up, and where he later taught middle school and high school English, creative writing, and theatre. What he saw stopped him cold. The numbers were staggering, and educators he knew, from preschool through high school, were telling him the same thing: Kids were underperforming in reading.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe libraries kind of saved my own life,\u201d says Daughtry, who founded the nonprofit Art Prevails Project a decade ago in response to the gutting of arts programs from schools. \u201cI spent hours and hours in my community libraries, and when I looked through the data for local communities, the literacy rates I saw were just staggering. I thought, \u2018What can I do to help bridge some gaps?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n His answer was Our Voices: Festival of Words, a literary festival<\/a> designed to put books<\/a> directly in people\u2019s hands and make reading desirable. The first edition, back in 2022, spanned one day. It was a success, and Daughtry sought ways to do more.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cGreat isn\u2019t good enough,\u201d he tells New Times. \u201cLike, that was cool, but I thought, \u2018What else can we do?\u2019 I want to make the idea of words \u2014 and reading, and writing, and language \u2014 cool; something that seems accessible and attractive to everyone in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n A Festival All Its Own<\/p>\n By the second year, the festival had grown into its current three-day form. Now in its fourth year, Our Voices has quietly become one of South Florida\u2019s most substantive and accessible literary events, with a lineup and community footprint that punch well above its grassroots weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n For those keeping score regionally, yes, Dade has O, Miami \u2014 the beloved poetry organization that programs events in its home city throughout the month of April. Daughtry has nothing but love for them (\u201cThe folks at O, Miami are my homies,\u201d he quips). He was inspired by it as well as the Miami Book Fair, both events that intertwine literacy into South Florida\u2019s everyday life, meeting people where they are.<\/p>\n This year, Our Voices opens on Thursday, April 23, with Lit Lounge, a reception featuring live painting, local poets, MCs, songwriters, and improv artists sharing work in what Daughtry describes as an \u201cintimate, jazzy kind of space.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The following morning, the festival travels to NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, where 200 elementary school students will attend a curated book fair with free donated books (from Books & Books and Miami-Dade and Broward public libraries) and take in a live performance, museum tour, and more. The kids can choose whatever strikes their fancy.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen so many smiles on these children\u2019s faces whenever that happens,\u201d Daughtry says. \u201cIt\u2019s not what their teacher told them to grab. It\u2019s not what their parents told them to grab. Sometimes it\u2019s just, \u2018Oh, this cover looks pretty,\u2019 or \u2018It looks exciting\u2019 \u2014 and that\u2019s what they grab. That moment, seeing that kind of joy and ownership, is one of the most exciting parts of the whole festival for me.\u201d<\/p>\n That evening, the festival hosts its now-signature Intimate Evening series. Past headliners have included Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown and poet Mahogany L. Browne. This year, acclaimed poet Aja Monet \u2014 whose work moves fluidly between surrealism and social urgency \u2014 takes the stage at the Bienes Gallery inside the Broward County Main Library for a performance and conversation with writer and radio host Wilkine Brutus.\u00a0<\/p>\n The festival concludes with a free family day on Saturday, April 25, featuring everything from panel discussions to film screenings, a children\u2019s village, a zen zone, food trucks, booksellers, live performances, and appearances by Monet, former U.S. Presidential Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco, and Haitian-American novelist Fabienne Josaphat.\u00a0<\/p>\n What ties it all together is Daughtry\u2019s curatorial philosophy, which has less to do with prestige and everything to do with local presence.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t care how many accolades you have,\u201d Daughtry says. \u201cThat\u2019s cool and all, but if you can\u2019t bend down and be with the people, if you can\u2019t reach out and touch the grandmother who listens to your story and is reminded of her own life\u2026If you can\u2019t smile and engage with this little boy who is just excited that you\u2019re in front of him, then this is not the festival for you. Here, we need you to be of the people and for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n