Now in its fifth year at Boston College, the Greater Boston Intercollegiate Poetry Festival, held on April 22 in the Murray Room, featured readings of original work by student poets from 23 area colleges and universities. The poets were selected to represent their schools by faculty, who were also present. Skye Shirley ’10 (pictured) represented Boston College with a reading of “Beacon Fires” and “Icaria.” Poet Kevin Young, the Haygood Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University, gave the keynote address.
The festival originated in the mid-1980s but went dormant after 15 years, until revived by Boston College English professor and writer Suzanne Matson in 2006. Poetry Days, an English department program that supports the introduction of poetry on campus, sponsored the festival with the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences and Boston College Magazine. A commemorative chapbook of poems by the students has been produced.