MARQUETTE — This April, join the Peter White Public Library in celebrating National Poetry Month with the fourth annual Great Lakes Poetry Festival, a series of engaging events for poetry lovers of all ages.

A highlight of the festival will be Kimberly Blaeser, former Wisconsin Poet Laureate and founding director of Indigenous Nations Poets. Blaeser will be reading from her five full-length collections of poems that deeply engage with themes of identity, nature, and heritage at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 22 in the PWPL Community Room. Additionally, Jeff Kass, author of Teacher/Pizza Man, will read from his newly released poetry collection, True Believer.

This dynamic work explores the origins of Marvel superheroes and inspires readers to believe in the power of good. This event is scheduled for at 6:30 p.m Thursday, April 24, in the PWPL Community Room.

For those seeking to hone their craft, the festival offers two poetry workshops. The first is the Marquette Poets Circle Workshop, which takes place from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 10, in the PWPL Shiras Room. Later in the month, Cindy Hunter Morgan, a Michigan Notable Book poet and educator, will lead a workshop from 10 a.m.-noon Friday, April 25, in the PWPL Shiras Room.

Festival organizer Marty Achatz shares, “The people of the Great Lakes region are surrounded by poems every day–the waters, forests, and animals. To paraphrase poet Mary Oliver, the Great Lakes Poetry Festival celebrates this wild and precious place we call home.”

All events are free and open to the public, thanks to the generous support of the Friends of Peter White Public Library, the Marquette Poets Circle, the Upper Peninsula Poet Laureate Foundation, Janeen and Richard Rastall, and the Carroll Paul Memorial Trust Fund.

For more information and a complete schedule of events, visit www.pwpl.info or contact Marty Achatz at 906-226-4322.