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Press Release – Win a free ride on the Poetry Cab during the National Poetry Month
In 2021, Dutch artist Erik van Loon, gave America a five day coast to coast poetry festival to celebrate his 50th birthday. To promote his third Los Angeles Poetry Beach Festival he will visit this April, National Poetry Month, again all independent bookstores, public libraries and trainstations in 64 cities/town in 20 states between NY and LA. Last year he rented a car. This time he will drive the 3,400 miles with the Poetry Cab and one poet a city can earn a free ride!
Free rides for poets
New this year is the Poetry Cab, as Erik doesn’t want to drive again all 3,400 miles alone. That’s why he offers poets in the 64 big urban cities and small rural towns a free ride on his Poetry Cab. This is a NYC yellow cab that he bought and will turn March 23 till April 1 into the Poetry Cab.
From Hollywood Studio to Broadway Theatre
First he will make some small changes outside but most people will not see the differences. It’s still a yellow cab. Inside, the car will get a metamorfose. At the backseats he will create a tiny “Hollywood-style” film studio as he will film each poet reading. Subsequently all selected poems will also appear in the Poetry Cab anthology 2023. After the trip he will change the filmstudio into a small “Broadway-style” theater. At LA Times Festival of Books people can watch and listen to the 64 poets in the backseat theater.
How to get selected
Goto www.poetrycab.com for more info.
National Poetry Month Promotion Tour
In April, during the National Poetry Month, he will visit for the second time all independent bookstores (260), public libraries (60) and train stations (64) along the route of the Poetry Train. Last year, he distributed 400 posters. This year he designed a newspaper which all the news fit to print about his poetry festival.
3rd L.A. Poetry Beach Festival
L.A. Poetry Beach Festival from September 20 till 24 is a five days festival and it consists of the following three poetry events:
(DAY 1-3) 3rd Poetry Train
September 20-22
This poetry festival starts each year at Penn Station, New York when the whistle of the Poetry Train blows. This year the Poetry Train will depart at sunrise 6.45 am at Wednesday, September 20, and it will stop in 64 cities / towns in 20 different states to pick up and bring as many poets as possible to poetry paradise Los Angeles. The Poetry Train connects poets in big urban cities on the East and West coast with poets in small rural towns in between and gives poets a cheap, fun and unforgettable opportunity to meet, talk, learn and work with other poets while traveling from NY to LA!
(DAY 4) 2nd Los Angeles Poetry Downtown
September 23
At Saturday, September 23, just a few hours after the Poetry Train arrives at Union Station, Los Angeles the 2nd Los Angeles Poetry Downtown will start. Los Angeles Poetry Downtown will be kicked of with the ‘We Need More Poetry’ talkshow and after the talkshow local (LA) poets will read together with poets from the Poetry Train their work in various places like bookstores, libraries, museums, cafes, etc in greater Los Angeles to introduce them and all kind of poetry to all kinds of people in Los Angeles and to get them ready for the main and final event Los Angeles Poetry Beach. Last year, we organized poetry readings at Union Station, Skid Row Museum and Archives and Chevalier’s Books. This year we will organize 9 different poetry readings all over Los Angeles and at night people can watch two Sylvia Plath movies in a small cinema.
(Day 5) 3rd L.A. Poetry Beach
September 24
On Sunday September 24 from 10.00 am till 6.45 pm (sunset) the 3rd edition of L.A. Poetry Beach will be held in front of the Venice Beach Poet’s Monument in Los Angeles! The final day will start with a
commemoration of death poets at 11.11 am and after that there will be book presentations, signings and readings with the 12 best poets of L.A. Poetry Beach 2023. This five days poetry festival will end with a small beachparty till sunset.
Theme: I Never Could Talk To You
Deadline: September 1
Theme of LA Poetry Beach this year is Sylvia Plath’s ‘I Never Could Talk To You’ and poets from all over the world can submit a poem. The deadline is September 1 and the entry fee is $10.
Fight illiteracy
Bringing poets from of all over America and abroad, level and ages once a year together, and bringing them into contact with the audience helps communities to fight illiteracy. Erik choosed poetry above prose as a few words poetry, an Haiku for example, can already improve the skills Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. Poetry helps also to improves vocabulary, sentence formation, syntax, fluency and creativity.
Two anthologies and a zin
We will publish this year two different anthologies and one zin. First and most important the annual L.A. Poetry Beach Festival anthology with max 52 selected poets. For the first time also a Poetry Cab anthology and for the poets on the Poetry Train we will manual print and staple a zin (magazine) with (art)works drawn or written manually or typed at an old vintage Underwood typewriter. The Poetry Train zin will be published, briefly after the trip and it will not be reprinted.
Three Times Charm
In 2021 one poet, in 2022 5 poets and in 2023 Erik hopes to welcome 64 poets (one poet each stop) on the Poetry Train. Like the first two years we will travell also this year again with AmTrak. 64 is too small to lease a whole train, but it’s enough to rent this year two extra cars. In 2025, Erik van Loon, want to find enough sponsors and poets to lease his own train with in addition to the coach, restaurant and sleeper cars, also a disco, a bar and a library car where poets can meet each other.
Crowdfunding
To finance this five days Poetry Festival Erik van Loon recently recently started a crowdfunding. Go to https://www.lapoetrybeach.com/crowdfunding for more info.
Erik van Loon
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More info:
Los Angeles Poetry Beach Festival
Erik Van Loon
www.lapoetrybeach.com
lapoetrybeach@gmail.com
EU +31 6 E VAN LOON (+31 6 3 826 5666)
US +1 323 744 7494
Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Tiktok: @lapoetrybeach
