Poetry Workshop hosted by Poets Laureate, Richard Blanco and Laura McDermott Matheric officially opens the CSFOA on Sunday March 10th, the weekend before the Festival

(Coral Springs, FL, January 31, 2024) – The Coral Springs Festival of the Arts is excited to announce that the 2024 Festival Literary Event will be a Poetry Workshop featuring Richard Blanco, Poet Laureate appointed by Former President Obama, and Laura McDermott Matheric, Coconut Creek Poet Laureate. This year’s Poetry Workshop will be held in-person at the Northwest Regional Library in Coral Springs the weekend before the actual festival begins, on Sunday, March 10th from 2:00 – 4:00 PM. Tickets are not required but seating is limited and will be on a first come, first served basis.

The Coral Springs Festival of the Arts is truly honored to partner with the Broward Library to bring this FREE event to our community. Mr. Blanco and Mrs. Matheric are well known in their field and everyone should take advantage of attending. Participants in the poetry workshop will be able to submit a poem to be judged by Mr. Blanco and Mrs. Matheric. The top two winners will receive monetary awards of $250 for 1st place and $100 for 2nd place during the Festival on Sunday March 17th. 1st place will also be given the distinction of The Coral Springs Festival of the Arts Poet Laureate.

Selected by President Obama as the fifth Presidential Inaugural Poet in U.S. history, Richard Blanco was the youngest, the first Latinx, immigrant, and gay person to serve in that role. In 2023, Blanco was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Biden from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Born in Madrid to Cuban exile parents and raised in Miami in a working-class family, Blanco’s personal negotiation of cultural identity and the universal themes of place and belonging characterize Blanco’s many collections of poetry, including his most recent, Homeland of My Body, which reassess traditional notions of home as strictly a geographical, tangible place that merely exist outside us, but rather, within us.

Laura McDermott Matheric, a native Floridian, studied creative writing, business, and education as an undergraduate at Florida State University and received her Master of Fine Arts in poetry from Florida International University. She regularly teaches writing workshops, literature, and leadership courses at Broward College and throughout the community. She was appointed the first Poet Laureate of the City of Coconut Creek in 2022, furthering her efforts to support growth in education, the arts, and the community. With this appointment she can promote these goals on a larger scale. Her first book of poetry, Visions on Alligator Alley, is an ekphrastic story in verse inspired by the 2015 Girls’ Club Fort Lauderdale gallery exhibit “The Moment. The Backdrop. The Persona.” Poems inspired by artwork from the exhibit depict a story through verse as well as by visual landscape.

For more information on Richard Blanco, visit https://richard-blanco.com

For more information on Laura McDermott Matheric, visit http://www.lauramcdermottmatheric.com

For more information about the Coral Springs Festival of the Arts or the Signature Artist selection, click here.

Attention Volunteers

Want to help the Art Festival and get involved behind the scenes? Now is your chance! The Coral Springs Festival of the Arts is looking for Adult and Student Volunteers to help with the 2024 Art Festival before and during the event!

Volunteers can help in various areas from Set Up & Breakdown to Children’s Areas to Traffic & Parking! Students must be 16 years or older and are eligible to receive Service Hours. Volunteer opportunities are available on March 14-17, 2024! Please visit our website for details on how to sign up and the available volunteer shifts available at: https://www.csfoa.org/volunteers/

We look forward to hearing from you!

Funding for this organization is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council