Registration now closed

National Poetry Month Celebration

With Collective Voices and former Maryland State Poet Laureate, Grace Cavalieri

Join us for a National Poetry Month celebration presented by Collective Voices, featuring a powerful poetry reading. The evening will include African drumming, with Doc Powell playing Djembe, and a special presentation by Grace Cavalieri, former Maryland Poet Laureate, as our Poet of Distinction.

Collective Voices, originally a sisterhood of five poets, is a Washington-area poetry group that traveled to London, England, in 1998 to participate in “In Celebration of My Sisters,” an International Women’s Month celebration. The group, now consisting of four poets, including its first male member, is best known for poems of social conscience, empowerment, and inspiration. Collective Voices continues to maintain strong community ties throughout the Washington metropolitan area.

Founded in 1995, the group’s current members are Sylvia Dianne "Ladi Di" Beverly, Andre "Brenardo" Taylor, Billye Okera, and the group’s founder, J. Joy "Sistah Joy" Matthews Alford, who was appointed the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Prince George’s County, Maryland, in 2018. In addition to performing their original poetry, the group presents poetry workshops and coordinates arts-oriented activities throughout the metropolitan region.

Notably, the group presented an annual arts-based tribute, Poetry Extravaganza, for 20 years at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, honoring the life and legacy of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With support from community groups, area businesses, and organizations—including mayoral proclamations—the event’s audience grew significantly over the years.

Collective Voices, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2024, has self-published two chapbooks: Poetry and Prose for a New Millennium (2000) and Experience, Expression, Expansion (1996). Its members have also published eight individual books of poetry. Collective Voices’ poetry has appeared in numerous anthologies. The group and its individual members have received numerous awards and recognitions for artistic excellence, community service, and literary activism, including the 2002 Poet Laureate Special Award from the DCCAH for "outstanding contributions to the art of poetry in Washington, DC."

With its debut performance at a women’s shelter, Collective Voices has continued its socially relevant presentations at libraries, churches, schools, galleries, youth and senior support facilities, and various regional, national, and international conferences and conventions.

Poet of Distinction, Grace Cavalieri, is the author of 26 poetry books and chapbooks, as well as 26 produced plays. Her most recent play, Anna Nicole: Blonde Glory, was produced by Theatre for the New City in New York City in 2012. Grace has also spent 48 years on public radio, celebrating her long-running show The Poet and The Poem, which is now recorded at The Library of Congress.

In addition to her writing and broadcasting career, Grace’s distinguished background includes co-founding WPFW-FM, serving as Associate Director for Children’s Programming at PBS, and later as Senior Media Program Officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Her contributions to literature and the arts have been widely recognized. In 2015, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Washington Independent Review of Books. Other honors include the George Garrett Award from the Association of Writers & Writing Programs for "Service to Literature," two Allen Ginsberg Awards, the Paterson Award, the Bordighera Prize, the Folger’s Columbia Award, a PEN Fiction Award, the National Association of Working Women Award, and CPB’s Silver Medal.

We are excited to also welcome guest musician Doc Powell, who will perform during the event. Doc Powell is the Musical Director of the renowned Malcolm X Drummers and Dancers.