Marvinlouis Dorsey has been working hard to create a new literary festival in SoCal. Originally, the poet envisioned it taking place over three days with readings, workshops and musical performances. A celebration of poets and poetry.

Poetry, Dorsey says, saves lives. It’s not a luxury, in a similar vein to what poet, professor and activist, Audre Lorde says in her famous essay “Poetry Is Not A Luxury.” Poetry forces the poet and society to confront their hardest truths, on an individual or societal level. To not look away, as poets create the language in which ideas can be understood. And, Dorsey knows, poets are horrible at promoting themselves, so he wanted to create a way to celebrate the work they do and allow for their ideas to find a wider audience.

It wasn’t easy to put together a new poetry festival, essentially on Dorsey’s own. But he swung for the fences because he wouldn’t have the chance to make the change he wanted to see and to support the local literary community he’s a part of. After he swung for the fences, Dorsey was able to set up a day of poetry to take place in the Antelope Valley, near where he lives. The Neenach Poetry Festival will take place on April 22 from 10am to 11pm in Neenach, off California Highway 138.

Dorsey already has the line up set. Readings take place every hour, kicking off with Lancaster Poets at 10am, hosted by Marvinlouis Dorsey. The reading is followed by Spectrum Poets at 11am hosted by G.T. Foster, featuring Jackie Chou, Bill Ratner and Aaron Hernandez, among others. Other poets reading on the 22^nd include Lynne Bronstein, Ruth Nolan, Lynda V.E. Crawford, Lisbeth Coiman, Linda Ravenswood, James Coats, Nancy Lynee Woo, Roberto Blanco and myself, among others.

Dorsey intends the Neenach Poetry Festival to be an annual literary event in the High Desert, a region lacking in cultural activities. It begins with year one.