A Winter Tradition: The Paul K. Bergan Poetry Festival

The Foxcroft community will celebrate the written and spoken word next Thursday and Friday at the Paul K. Bergan Poetry Festival.
Renamed in 2007 in honor of beloved English teacher Paul Bergan, the Poetry Festival brings established poets to campus to read their published works, to discuss the writing process with students, and to lead poetry writing workshops. It also provides an opportunity for students to raise their voices in both competitive and non-competitive readings.

The Festival kicks off at 7pm on Thursday evening, January 23, with the Open Mic followed by the Poetry Slam. The Open Mic allows students to express themselves in a variety of ways, anything from poetry readings and stand-up comedy to musical performances. The Poetry Slam is a friendly competition that determines the School’s spoken-word poetry champ. Prizes will be awarded to the top slammers as determined by all the students who will vote electronically.

A day dedicated to poetry follows Thursday's evening events on Friday, January 24, starting at 9:30am in the Audrey Bruce Currier Library as the community welcomes our Visiting Poet Sabrina Benaim, an award-winning slam poet and performance artist, who will deliver the keynote poetry reading as well as work with smaller groups of student writers in her workshop. After the reading, students will choose from the following workshops in morning and afternoon sessions:
  • Visiting Poet Workshop: Spoken Word/Performance Poetry – Sabrina Benaim
  • Found Poetry: Discovering Poetry in Everyday Texts – Jennifer Boudrye,  Kerri Gonzalez, and Ryan Farrington
  • Ekphrastic Poetry: Exploring Art through Poetry – Julie Fisher
  • Headline Poems: Liberating Poems from the Headlines – Anne Burridge
  • Pop Culture Poetry: Making High Art out of Low-Brow – Steven McCarty
  • Innovation Lab Poems: Let’s Add the Physical to Your Metaphysical! – Alex Northrup
  • Word + Art: Creating Art from Inspiring Words – Karin Thorndike
  • Algorithmic Poetry: Coding Meaning and Pattern – Daniel Hales and Rebecca Wise
  • Poetic Form: Learning the Rules so You Can Break Them – Lindsay O’Connor
  • Exploring Poetry in Spanish: Crafting Identity Poems – Vilma Riestra
Students, faculty, and friends will then gather at 2:15pm in FoxHound Auditorium for the final round of the Recitation Competition, judged by our Visiting Poet Benaim. These competitive reading finalists will vie to take home the laurels for their grade level. Chimera contest winners determined earlier in the week will read some of their original poetry to close the Festival.

If you’re in the area, we hope you’ll join us for the Keynote Poetry Reading by Sabrina Benaim at 9:30am and the Recitation Competition finals at 2:15pm. Space for Thursday evening’s Open Mic and Poetry Slam is limited.
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An all-girls boarding and day school in Northern Virginia, Foxcroft prepares young women in grades 9-12 for success in college and in life. Our outstanding academic program offers challenging courses, including Advanced Placement classes and an innovative STEM program. Our premiere equestrian program is nationally recognized, and our athletic teams have won conference and state championships. Experience the best in girls' boarding schools: visit Foxcroft.