Saturday, April 18, 2026
Program Schedule
8:30: Doors Open
Participant Registration, in the lobby
Poets & Presenters Check-In
Festival Café opens
Poetry Place opens
9:00—9:20: Welcome to Sierra Poetry Festival 2026!
Welcome with Eliza Tudor, Executive Director, Nevada County Arts Council.
Joined by Shelly Covert , Executive Director, Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe and Executive Director, HUṠWEJ
9:30—10:00: Morning Readings
10:00-10:10: Break—on the way to morning workshops
10:10-11:00: Morning Workshops
Writing More with Less || with Major Jackson
Remix, Rewind, Regenerate on How to Borrow Existing Work in Favor of the New || with Jimmy Vega
Women Who Speak Through Song: The Power of the Feminine Voice || with Kirsten Johnson
11:10—11:55: Keynote
Welcoming Robert Hass and Brenda Hillman
11:55—12:05: Break
12:05—12:50: Poetry in Translation: The Second Life of Poems
Boris Dralyuk will moderate a dialogue with Francesca Bell and Dan Bellm on how poems can be carried across languages, histories, and borders. Together, they will consider translation as an intimate collaboration between poets living and dead, between cultures, and between past and present. The conversation will be interwoven with readings, offering a glimpse into translation as both craft and creative transformation.
12:50—1:40: Lunch
including IZAKAYA, Japanese Tapas, offered by chef Hiroko Kirosaki
and PUPUSAS traditional Salvadoran griddle-cakes
1:40—2:25: Community Voices
Introduced by Nevada County Poet Laureate, Karen Terrey, a celebration of our Open Mic Winners, Poetry Out Loud, and Poetry Out LoudER student voices!
2:30—3:20: The Conversation: Who Belongs? Poetry in Public Life
Poets Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Laurel Chen, and Oswaldo Vargas reflect on the ways art reframes dissidence itself—asking who is seen, who is heard, and who is granted legitimacy in public life. These writers come together in conversation to read from their work and explore poetry that expands the cultural imagination through a collective language of belonging. This dialogue situates poetry not as commentary or witness alone, but as harbinger of change and joy that can come if we listen.
3:20—3:35: Break
3:35—4:20: Afternoon Readings
4:20—4:30 Break
On the way to afternoon workshops…
4:30—5:20: Workshops
Experimenting with Prose Poetry: A Generative Workshop || with Jose Hernandez Diaz
Lyric Empathy: Conversations with the Nonhuman || with Tess Taylor
The Split Self: The Self-referential “You” in Poetry || with Rooja Mohassessy
Poetry in Motion: Freestyle, Word & Movement || with Brandon “GR8” Greathouse
Power and Truth: New Entrances into Writing Poems || with Karen Terrey
5:20: Book Signings & Post-Poetry Unwind in the Kerby Lobby!
Book Signing by our featured poets
Happy Hour—the Center’s no-host bar and refreshments