Scholarships Available.  Click for application.

Click "Read More" for full conference description.

 

For 56 years, California Poets in the Schools has brought the powerful magic of poetry creation and performance to over one million students.  Our work is more important than ever!  Studies show that student involvement in the arts is linked to higher academic performance, increased standardized test scores, greater involvement in community service and lower dropout rates. 

 

Creativity is the #1 desired skill in today's job market.  Poetry instruction builds empathy and a sense of belonging in the classroom setting.  Poetry and the arts can be a powerful, healing tool for schools and communities recovering from natural disasters and other traumas such as gun violence.  This weekend conference is open to the public and geared towards literary teaching artists (for all audiences), classroom educators, poets, MFA candidates and more.  Content will be engaging for those brand new to teaching the literary arts and to the "old hats" among us.

 

Please join us June 26th- 28th, 2020 at Sonoma State University in Sonoma County.  Online registration is now open. Registration closes June 11th.  Early registration is recommended.  

 

The CalPoets' 2020 Poetry Symposium is supported in part by a generous grant from Creative Sonoma and the County of Sonoma.

 

Jane Hirshfield and Jason Bayani will both join us as creative writing workshop leaders, and readers. 

 

Jane Hirshfield, in poems described by The Washington Post as belonging “among the modern masters” and by The New York Times as “passionate and radiant,” addresses the urgent immediacies of our time. Ranging from the political, ecological, and scientific to the metaphysical, personal, and passionate, Hirshfield praises the radiance of particularity and the consequence of the daily. Her poems and essays traverse the crises of the biosphere and social justice, abiding in the intersections of facts and imagination, desire and loss, impermanence and beauty— all the dimensions of our existence within what one poem calls “the pure democracy of being.”  Her nine poetry books include The Beauty, long-listed for the 2015 National Book Award; Given Sugar, Given Salt, a finalist for the 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award; and After, short-listed for England’s T.S. Eliot Award and named a “best book of 2006” by The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and England’s Financial Times. Hirshfield has taught at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Duke University, Bennington College, and elsewhere. Her work has been translated into over a dozen languages and set by numerous composers, including John Adams and Philip Glass; her TED-ED animated introduction to metaphor has received over 875,000 views. An intimate and profound master of her art, her frequent appearances at universities, writers’ conferences and festivals in this country and abroad are highly acclaimed.  Click to read more about Jane Hirshfield.  

 

Jason Bayani is the author of Locus (Omnidawn Publishing 2019) and Amulet (Write Bloody Publishing 2013). He’s an MFA graduate from Saint Mary’s College, a Kundiman fellow, and works as the artistic director for Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest multi-disciplinary Asian Pacific American arts organization in the country. His publishing credits include World Literature Today, BOAAT Journal, Muzzle Magazine, Lantern Review, and other publications. Jason performs regularly around the country and debuted his solo theater show “Locus of Control” in 2016 with theatrical runs in San Francisco, New York, and Austin. Click to learn more about Jason Bayani. 

 

Additional workshops/panels will include (Check back for more details and more workshops):

 

Retreat schedule (subject to minor changes):

Friday: 

2:30pm-4:30pm:  Creative Writing Workshop with Jane Hirshfield

4:30pm-6:00pm:  Networking hour

6:00pm-7:00pm:  Dinner

7:00pm-8:30pm:  Reading at Person Theatre (on campus) with Jason Bayani and Jane Hirshfield

8:30pm-9:15:  Book signing with Jason Bayani and Jane Hirshfield  

 

Saturday:

7:00am-8:00am: morning optional activity 

8:00am-9:00am:  breakfast

9:00am-9:30am:  Keynote address & welcome from Gregory Sarris, renowned author, scholar, teacher and Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria

9:45am-11:45am:  Creative writing workshop with Jason Bayani

12:00-12:45pm-  Presentation TBD

12:45pm-1:45pm:  lunch

1:45pm-3:15pm:  workshops - your choice

3:30-4:30pm: workshops - your choice

5:00pm-6:00pm:  networking hour 

6:00pm-7:00pm:  dinner

7:30pm-11:00pm:  Open mic reading  

 

Sunday:

7:00am-8:00am- morning optional activity 

8:00am-9:00am:  breakfast

9am-10:30am:  workshops - your choice

10:45am-12:45pm:  all group closing

12:45pm-1:45pm:  lunch

 

COST & DISCOUNTS

It is our hope that cost will not be a barrier for anyone who wants to attend the 2019 symposium.  

• Workshop presenters will receive a $75 discount. (Active Poet-Teachers, area coordinators and advisory council members are invited to submit an application to present a workshop at the symposium.  Please click here for an application and return by April 3rd, 2020.)
• There is an Area Coordinator discount of $75. 
• If you qualify for a discount, online registration may not be possible.  Please click here to print a hard copy of the payment form and mail your check or credit card information to:  California Poets in the Schools, PO Box 1328, Santa Rosa, CA 05402
• We will be offering scholarships to the symposium on an as-need, rolling basis.  Please click here to fill out a scholarship application by May 1st.     

MORE INFORMATION ON CONFERENCE FACILITIES:  Sonoma State University will be our host for the weekend conference. Housing for the conference will be located in The Tuscany Village on campus.  Click for more information and photos of rooms and accomodations.  There will be multiple conference groups at Sonoma State at the same time as ours.  Please leave time for navigating the campus and finding your way.  Detailed maps will be provided.  We will be meeting as a whole group in a divided ballroom, with breakout sessions occurring in classrooms.  We will be eating meals in the large, student dining hall, alongside all other conference groups.  A variety of foods including dairy-free and vegeterian options are always available.   

 

SPONSOR A POET TO ATTEND: We have launched a fundraising campaign with the goal of raising $3,000 in order to offset the cost of attendance for up to 20 Attendees.  All donations are very much appreciated.  You can donate below by choosing one or multiple tickets labeled "SPONSOR A POET TO ATTEND."  (Choose a sponsorship level that fits your budget.) or through PayPal on our website  by clicking here.  THANK YOU.

 

MORE DETAILS: 

Cancellation Policy: CalPoets will offer a full refund, minus a $25 processing fee for all cancellations made prior to June 11th. After June 11th, no refunds will be issued.  

For more information, please contact Meg Hamill, Executive Director - (415) 221-4201, meg@cpits.org  For more information about Conference facilities at Sonoma State, please click here.  Thanks for directing all questions regarding the center to Meg Hamill (contact above).  

Getting there:  There is an airport in Santa Rosa with daily nonstop flights from many locations, including Los Angeles. Oakland and SF airports are an hour from Sonoma State University.  Please reach out if you need more information.  

 

The CalPoets' 2020 Poetry Symposium is supported in part by a generous grant from Creative Sonoma and The County of Sonoma.