The lineup for the 2022 NOPF is now taking shape, and we’re thrilled to announce that we’ll be returning to an in-person festival for the first time since 2019 (festivals in 2020 and 2021 were all-digital due to the pandemic). A few virtual events will still take place to kick the festival off, but the main events will be on-site in New Orleans once more.

Further details are available at nolapoetry.com. Best news of all? Thanks to some wonderful grants from SouthArts, The Academy of American Poets, and more, the 2022 festival is totally, 100%, free.

I am beyond excited to join poets Amy Fleury and Christopher Louis Romaguera at Beausoleil Books in Lafayette next month, for their monthly Pour It and Poet reading series. The only regular poetry night in Acadiana’s capital, Pour It has built a devoted following of book lovers from across southwestern Louisiana — and rumor has it they have one of the best ‘local interest’ sections of any bookshop in the state.

The reading starts at 7pm on January 12, and will be followed by an open mic, which I’m told is always excellent. Free and open to all.

After an incredible festival this year — even over Zoom, the events was fantastic — video from the Words and Music awards reading is now available online. Thanks again to the organizers, hosts, and judges for such a memorable event, and congratulations again to all who entered. Issue Six of the Peauxdunque Review, which will feature the winning works, will appear early next year.

I still can’t quite believe it, but my poem ‘The Dream of Light’ has won the 2021 Words & Music Writing Competition for poetry. How grateful I am, and how humbled, especially to be in the company of such wonderful poets as Andrea Young and Nicole Eiden, both perpetual inspirations — and that this poem, which is based on a painting at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art, was chosen by Aimee Nezhukumatathil, whose book “Oceanic” is easily one of my favorite collections in years. What a thrill—thanks to Aimee, to the Words & Music Festival, and to The Peauxdunque Review, where all the winning entries will appear.

The 2021 festival runs from Wednesday to Saturday this week, with killer lineups each day, so don’t sleep on it. The finalists in each category will be reading their entries on Friday afternoon at 2.30pm. If you’re out there in TV land, we’d love for you to join us – there’s going to be some exceptional work on offer. Tickets are free, at Eventbrite.

Grateful to see the recent interview with Catherine Baab-Muguira at the Millions picked up both by the Library Journal and by Poets & Writers magazine. It’s a perfect book for spooky season– and for stuffing stockings, too!