The weekend in Berkeley features a cultural double helix: the 10th annual Berkeley Poetry Festival and its offshoot, the Art in the Atrium Festival.
The poetry festival, which includes community poets who read throughout the Bay Area -- and even a brief open mic for burgeoning if unscheduled talent -- runs from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 5 in the auditorium of Berkeley City College, 2050 Center St.
The sixth Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry goes to Clive Matson for his 45-year commitment to the educational and literary community of the Bay Area.
Sparring with Beatnik Ghosts features Daniel Yaryan, Marc Olmsted and Suzi Kaplan Olmsted in a performance blending music and poetry and, it is promised, “spectacle, magic, the mystery revealed.”
Marc Kockinos will emcee and and Wes “Scoop” Nisker will lead the Invocation.
Poets include Clive Matson, Jack and Adelle Foley, Mary Mackey, Gary Turchin, Julia Vinograd, Kirk Lumpkin, Joan Gatten, Alice Rogoff, Glenn Ingersoll, Sharon Coleman, Jeanne Lupton, H.D. Moe, Mark Schwartz, Jan Dove and Open Mic poets.
Eligibility to read at the open mic is by lottery. Those interested in being heard should arrive early enough to drop their names in the hat for a 12:30 p.m. drawing.
Mother’s Hen again hosts the Art in the Atrium Festival.
This year, Berkeley City College instructor Jan Dove, and Mother’s Hen staffer Marcia Poole have assembled a group show whose participants have shown in juried exhibits, had their work published, or whose work is being seen in local, state or national galleries.
They include Jan Dove, Sammuel M. Ribitch, Kristin Doner, Marcia Poole & Louis Cuneo, Jo-Anna Pippin, Yuksel Dinccag, Gary Turchin, Barry M. Shapiro, Judith Allen, Al Edgerton, Joanna Ruckman, Kevin Tikker, Cheryl Robertson, Erika Gagnon, Gabriel Martinez, Diane Wallace, Vickie Leonard, Arden K. Varnel and others. All sales go directly to the artists.
“It is a real privilege to present to the public these gifted artists and it is also a real chance for the public to see the talent that flourishes in Berkeley,” Poole said.
