By Bella Whitmore | Intern
The Beall Poetry Festival will take place from Wednesday to Friday on Baylor’s campus, celebrating its 30th anniversary. This year, the special guest will be Tracy K. Smith, author of “Wade in the Water” and “Life on Mars” and 2022 Poet Laureate of the United States.
Founded by Virginia Beall in 1994, the festival is a beloved tradition that has withstood the test of time and helped unite students and faculty across Baylor in the name of poetry.
World renowned poets, including many Poet Laureates and Nobel Prize winners, have been highlighted in the festival, encouraging Baylor students to write and appreciate the beauty of poetry. Dr. Sarah Ford, director of the Beall Poetry Festival and Baylor English professor, noted the ever-changing nature of the festival.
“By inviting contemporary poets every year, the festival necessarily reflects the cultural moment, as these poets demonstrate what poetry looks like today while they speak to and reflect on significant issues in our current moment,” Ford said. “To mark the 30th anniversary of the festival, we decided to add an additional poet to our normal number and to do something we have never done before: invite back a previous guest to the festival.”
The festival has honored tradition while adapting and celebrating the contemporary and modern form that poetry has taken today. This is seen primarily in the deliberate selection of poets.
This isn’t your grandma’s poetry festival. Jacob Shores-Arguello, author and Baylor English professor, said the festival stands out among others.
“It presents a fantastic opportunity to host highly esteemed artists and critics at Baylor,” Shores said. “The caliber of the writers that the festival brings to campus is extraordinarily high. You just don’t see events at this level happening at other universities very often, and it is such a wonderful opportunity for our students to have access to these world-class artists on a yearly basis.”
An event like this also highlights the importance of hearing spoken-word poetry, beyond just reading it in a book or online.
“By hearing contemporary poets read their own work, students are exposed to an art form that they may have previously experienced only in books,” Ford said. “Hearing poetry helps audience members appreciate how sound informs the meanings of the words, how emotions can be communicated through language and how poets can use different forms for different effects.”
And even if you have never written poetry before or even read it, the Beall Poetry Festival encourages all to attend. Who knows — you may even leave inspired to begin writing some of your own.
The Beall Poetry Festival is an event that not only honors contemporary poets who are making waves today but also celebrates Baylor students who submit their personal writing and represent the future of poetry in America.
“While the festival does bring esteemed authors to campus, it is so important to celebrate our own student writers,” Shores said. “Baylor has a large and devoted group of creative writers, and these student voices are the voices of the future. It is an extraordinary privilege to be in the audience as they read their work for the public for the first time.”
