Open Mouth Poetry Festival

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Open Mouth Reading Series, curated by alum and current students of the U of A's Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing and Translation Molly Bess Rector, J. Bailey Hutchinson, and M.D. Myers, is hosting a 5-day, 5-stage event from Oct. 29 to Nov. 2. The festival brings a celebration of literary art to Fayetteville, showcasing local and visiting poets, and featuring haiku-and-costume contests, as well as a performance the Latinx Youth Theatre Project.

The Open Mouth Reading Series is a Fayetteville-based literary arts nonprofit whose mission is to work with the Northwest Arkansas community to create a space for writing, creativity, and expression.

Little Rock poets Bryan Borland and Seth Pennington kick off the festival with a performance at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, at the Nines, 546 W. Center St. Pennington and Borland live in Little Rock, where they run the independent publishing house Sibling Rivalry Press.

Ashley Roach-Freiman and Caitlin Scarano headline the Monday, Oct. 30 events at 7 p.m. at Arsaga's Church & Center location, 200 W. Center St. Roach-Freiman, a librarian and editor, lives and co-curates the Impossible Language reading series in Memphis, Tennessee. Scarano, who was featured in Best New Poets 2016, recently released her first book, Do Not Bring Him Water, from Write Bloody Publishing.

Halloween night begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 31, at Stage 18, at 18 E. Center St., and will feature live music, performance poetry from the local slam community, and literary-themed costume contests (with categories like "Best Zombie Poet").

Janine Joseph performs at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, at The Nines Alley, 100 W. Center St. Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Oklahoma State University, Joseph was a finalist for the 2017 Oklahoma Book Award and a winner of the Kundiman Poetry Prize for her first book, Driving Without A License (Alice James).

The festival concludes on Thursday, Nov. 2, with a two-part event at the Fayetteville Underground, 101 W. Mountain St. At 7:15 p.m., the Latinx Youth Theatre Project will perform a short set of adaptations from the original play, "Follow Me @TíoSam," a creative, complex vision of Latin/x and Hispanic culture, community cohesion, immigration and family.

Part two begins at 7:45 with Ashley M. Jones, former editor at PANK magazine and winner of a 2015 Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award and a 2015 B-Metro Magazine Fusion Award. Jones is a faculty member in the Creative Writing Department of the Alabama School of Fine Arts. Her debut poetry collection, Magic City Gospel, was published by Hub City Press in January 2017.