Youth poetry festival comes to Philadelphia

Hundreds of young poets from all of the country are descending upon Philadelphia this week for the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival.

The festival, in its 17th year and a first for Philadelphia to host, kicks off Wednesday evening at the University of Pennsylvania Annenberg Center for Performing Arts Zellerbach Theatre.

Mayor Nutter and event organizers are hoping that much of the city's youth come out to watch or participate.

"In a city that, like many other cities, has a number of challenges and distractions ... clearly poetry, the opportunity for artistic expression, for many, many peopel can be a lifeline," Nutter said at a news conference Tuesday.

In addition to young poets from across the country, several youths from South Africa, Bermuda, England, Pakistan, Ireland and Toronto will be participating in the four-day event that wraps up Saturday.

"The goal of this festival is to ignite a spark in the city," Hodari Davis, co-executive producer of the Brave New Voices Festival, said. "To perhaps engage more people into this cause, into this movement of telling their stories, and transforming their world and becoming agents of change."

A schedule of the events can be found at Bravenewvoices.org

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