{"id":273990,"date":"2026-05-17T04:09:40","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T04:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/273990\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T04:09:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T04:09:40","slug":"st-petersburg-celebrates-poetry-month-with-fourth-annual-city-of-writers-poetry-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/273990\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Petersburg Celebrates Poetry Month with Fourth Annual City of Writers Poetry Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-pm-slice=\"1 1 []\">April 1, 2026 &#8211; In celebration of National Poetry Month this April, the City of St. Petersburg&#8217;s new poet laureate, Denzel Johnson-Green, and several partners are presenting the fourth annual City of Writers Poetry Festival. All month, the festival will bring a wide range of events to the community, from thought\u2011provoking discussions with acclaimed poets to hands\u2011on writing workshops and inspiring live readings.<\/p>\n<p>The City of Writers Poetry Festival includes partnerships with local organizations and businesses, including Black Crow Coffee, The Studio@620, Book+Bottle, Culture Creative, Tombolo Books, and many more.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The City of Writers Poetry Festival is back, and St. Pete is ready to showcase all we have to offer,\u201d said St. Pete Poet Laureate Denzel Johnson-Green. \u201cThis festival is where our city\u2019s voices, businesses, and performers come together to remind residents and visitors what makes this place so special when it comes to the written word.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Events featuring local and national poets and authors include:<\/p>\n<p>Keep St. Pete Lit Poetry Open Mic<br \/>Wednesday, April 1, 7-9 p.m.<br \/>The Studio@620<br \/>620 1st Ave. S<\/p>\n<p>Poetry Sound Bath <br \/>Thursday, April 2, 6-8 p.m.<br \/>President Barack Obama Main Library<br \/>3745 9th Ave. N<\/p>\n<p>Rainy Season: A Cozy Poetry Open Mic with Rain Sounds<br \/>Wednesday, April 8, 6-8 p.m.<br \/>Book + Bottle<br \/>17 6th St. N<\/p>\n<p>Doodads and Shim Shams: Show-n-Tell Style Poetry<br \/>Sunday, April 12, 3-5 p.m.<br \/>Black Crow Coffee in Grand Central<br \/>2157 1st Ave. S<\/p>\n<p>Tombolo Books Presents &#8220;Speaking in Italics&#8221; with Gregg Shapiro, Rick Karlin, and Tyler Gillespie\u00a0<br \/>Thursday, April 16, 7 p.m.<br \/>Tombolo Books<br \/>2153 1st Ave. S<\/p>\n<p>Speak Easy: Words That Breathe Poetry Show<br \/>Saturday, April 18, 8 p.m.<br \/>Culture Creative<br \/>2108 34th St. S<\/p>\n<p>Mangrove Poems: As Weedon Island Poetry Walk<br \/>Sunday, April 19, 9 a.m.<br \/>Weedon Island<br \/>1800 Weedon Dr. NE &#8211; at the parking lot<\/p>\n<p>Book + Bottle Poetry Reading with Poets\u00a0&#8211; Alexandra Morgan, Unspoken, and Jamaal Rocke<br \/>Wednesday, April 22, 6-8 p.m.<br \/>Book + Bottle<br \/>17 6th St. N<\/p>\n<p>Moonrise Poetry: Who Are We? Why Do We Create?<br \/>Thursday, April 23, 7-9 p.m.<br \/>Lassing Park<br \/>2042 Beach Dr. SE<\/p>\n<p>Blackberry Poetry Jam<br \/>Friday, April 24, 6-9 p.m.<br \/>Black Crow Coffee<br \/>722 2nd St. N<\/p>\n<p>Tombolo Books Presents the Launch Event for &#8220;Mending the Nets&#8221; with Maureen McDole and Helen French<br \/>Friday, April 24, 7 p.m.<br \/>Tombolo Books<br \/>2153 1st Ave. S<\/p>\n<p>Distant Worlds: Writing Poems to the Sounds of a Cello and a Lush Colorscape, <br \/>with Cellist Cori Lint <br \/>Sunday, April 26, 3-5 p.m.<br \/>Museum of Fine Arts<br \/>255 Beach Dr. NE<\/p>\n<p>For more information and the full event list, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stpete.org\/visitors\/city_of_writers_poetry_festival.php\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">stpete.org\/cityofwriters<\/a>. Events are free and open to the public unless stated otherwise. Some events require advance registration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 1, 2026 &#8211; In celebration of National Poetry Month this April, the City of St. Petersburg&#8217;s new&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-273990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}