Press release:

On Feb. 15th, Senior Libby Piper and Sophomore Jade Wolff participated in the 2023 Poetry Out Loud Semifinal Competition held at Buffalo State University. The event was co-hosted by the Western New York Writing Project. Piper and Wolff had previously advanced to this round after winning the Byron-Bergen School-Level competition. During the event, they competed against students from around the Western New York area including schools such as Brighton High School, the Westfield Academy, and Jamestown High School.

During the first two rounds of the competition, the students were required to recite two poems: one poem needed to be 25 lines or fewer and the other must have been written before the 20th Century. Piper recited William E. Stafford's Traveling Through the Dark and Ella Wheeler Wilcox's Friendship After Love while Wolff recited Carl Sandburg's I am the People, the Mob and Edgar Allen Poe's To Helen. The students were evaluated on categories such as physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, and accuracy.

After the first two rounds, three students were selected to advance to the third round and recite a final poetry selection. Piper was selected and recited Jeffrey Skinner’s The Bookshelf of the God of Infinite Space. After the final scores were tabulated, Piper was named the Western New York champion.

With this award, Piper has earned the right to move on as one of only 20 students from the state of New York and compete in the Poetry Out Loud New York State Finals held at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, NY on March 11, 2023. The winner of this competition will advance to the 2023 Poetry Out Loud National Finals to be held May 8-10th in Washington, DC. 

An open mic will follow the readings.

In the Glass Roots parking lot, 12 Center Street, Batavia.

Bring your own camping chair for seating.

Gregory Hallock, executive director of GO ART!, reads poems by Annette Daniels Taylor for National Poetry Month.

Batavia resident Dan Crofts reading "The Dark Night" by John of the Cross for National Poetry Month.

Eric Zwieg, a writer and musician from Batavia, reads "Sometimes We Wake Transformed" by Jason Irwin for National Poetry Month.

Elba resident Bill Kauffman reads 'To a Siberian Woodsman' by Wendell Berry for National Poetry Month.

S. Shade Zajac, conductor and musical director for the Genesee Symphony Orchestra, reading "Power" by Jim Morrison for National Poetry Month.

Nici Johnson, radio personality with WBTA, reads "Flamingo Watching" by Kay Ryan.

For National Poetry Month, David Reilly reads "Nostalgia" by Billy Collins.

Byron Hoot is not a Batavia resident but over the years he's become a significant part of our local literary climate, attending local literary events and the annual John Gardner Society reading of the famous author's work at the Pok-A-Dot each October.

He's reading one of his own poems, "The Discomfort of Healing."

April is National Poetry Month.