BRATTLEBORO — Poets from around the region will participate in a worldwide effort to “share in a day of global healing,” according to event organizer GennaRose Nethercott, organizer and moderator of the 100 Thousand Poets for Change reading on Saturday.
The free reading, one of 800 such events in 115 countries, is designed to share poetry and song that gives voice to peace, economic justice, and environmental sustainability, though poets at the Brattleboro event will speak to all contents.
“Any art within a community leads to change,” Nethercott said.
The roster of readers in Brattleboro is nearly full, but for those still interested in reading, a few slots will be kept open until the day of the event.
Among those signed up to read: Peter Gould, Elizabeth West, Georgie Delgado, Jesse De La Rosa, Addison Rice, Michael Nethercott, Lani Wright, Bill Devlin, Lynn Martin, Somara Zwick, Anna Meister, Sunny Tappan, and Christina Bean. GennaRose Nethercott will also read.
The annual event was founded last year by poets Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion, and is headquartered in California. Its organizers describe the inaugural event as the largest poetry reading in history.
“Poets and artists will gather at venues around the world to read, play, dance, and flashmob in the name of change,” Rothenberg and Carrion write on the event website.
This year's events include an Occupy Wall Street poetry reading in New York City, peace gatherings in Afghanistan and Syria, and a blues festival in New Orleans.
The Brattleboro reading will take place between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. at the River Garden on Main Street.
Write Action, an area nonprofit offering resources to writers in Windham County, has offered support for the event.
Light refreshments will be served. All funds collected will be donated to a local organization “working for peace or toward environmental sustainability,” according to the event's publicity.
For more information, contact Nethercott at genna.nethercott@gmail.com or 802-380-0665.