Statement by Bookstock May 15, 2024
We are pleased to announce that Bookstock’s poetry program for 2024 has been transformed in the Woodstock Poetry Festival, to be held in Woodstock, June 21 – 22, in the historic North Chapel. The festival begins at 1 PM, Friday, June 21, and ends on June 22 with a reception at 5PM. All readings on both days are free and open to all. This will be the largest concentration of poetry readings and poetry-related events in Vermont in 2024.
The complete program is available on the Festival’s website.
The program includes many featured poets with national recognition, readings by members of the Poetry Society of Vermont, workshops, an open mic, and a musical/poetry performance by Los Lorcas.
The Festival welcomes life-long poetry fans as well as those returning to or new to poetry. It will be a perfect chance to get close to this revered form of expression, full of emotion, play, and attention to the world around and within us.
During Bookstock 2009-2023, over 75 poets have read, including those with many major awards including the Nobel Prize. For the 15h year, we continue this tradition of giving to the public an immersive experience with poetry.
The Festival is sponsored by Sundog Poetry and the North Chapel. Funding is provided by Bookstock, the Davenport Fund and Vermont Humanities.
Send any inquiries here.
Original Statement by Bookstock from April 15, 2024
Bookstock has been an important summer event in Woodstock since 2009. Since then it has hosted over 400 authors, sold over 70,000 used books under a huge circus tent on the Town Green, and been attended by tens of thousands of individuals – with all talks and readings being free and open to all. Bookstock has been a beacon of literary life and a source of fun and enrichment in the region.
Any event that features dozens of speakers, dozens of volunteers, and multiple venues requires a huge amount of work every year. It has a lot of moving parts. It’s also a delicate balance at best, with some people wanting each year to be bigger and better than the previous year, and others preferring a more modest event. This year, despite numerous dedicated partnering organizations, energetic volunteers, and generous supporters, it proved not possible to pull off. As a result, the board of Bookstock is sorry to announce that it has decided to cancel this year’s festival and suspend any future plans.
We’re enormously grateful for all that the enormously talented staff, dedicated and energetic volunteers, and generous financial supporters and local partners have invested this year and previous years to bring outstanding writers and poets to our community to share their work.