Holler 100 in the Media

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This Friday, September 30th, marks the 100th Holler Poets Series event at Al’s Bar as well as the last monthly installment of the series. While series founder Eric Scott Sutherland hasn’t made any concrete plans, he has hinted that it will continue in some form, just not as a monthly series and not necessarily at Al’s Bar.

Below are a few news articles about Holler 100.

Hoot and holler for poetry

photo by Joel Repoley, from KY Kernel

Matt Wickstrom writes about the event for the Kentucky Kernel, the University of Kentucky’s student newspaper.

In the article, Sutherland says, “I feel like I need to be thrown back into that creative unknown and see what that provokes in me as far as being an organizer goes.”

Wickstrom goes on to detail some of the founding for the “Poets for Peace” event that eventually became Holler as well as lists the featured artists for the event: Mason Colby, Devine Carama, and Warren Byrom and The Fabled Canelands.

Matt Wickstrom studies Journalism at the University of Kentucky and writes about music for Big Blue Tunes.

Click here to read the full article.

Farewell to Holler

photo by Malinda O’Quinn, for Smiley Pete

I wrote an article for the Chevy Chaser that asks the question “What’s happening after Holler?”

The article is a bittersweet love letter to Holler, detailing its inception at the Bluegrass Baking Company sessions and Poets for Peace and how it changed from a political rally into a literary movement:

“I didn’t want [Holler] to be a venue to beat people over the head with a certain viewpoint, but [for] it to be a place to speak to people’s hearts in a way that was creative and passionate, that’s not divisive.”

On a personal note, I want to give a very special thanks to Saraya Brewer for her work as Managing Editor for Chevy Chaser and Southsider magazines. Without her talent and insight, the article would not have

Click here to read the full article.

Holler Poets set to end on a high note

Candace Chaney’s piece for the Lexington Herald-Leader starts with a quote from Accents Publishing’s own Editor, Christopher McCurry:

“I wouldn’t be the poet I am today if it weren’t for Holler.”

Chaney reflects on the importance of Holler to Lexington’s writing community, calling it “the epitome of an underground arts movement in progress”.

Since the article came out in April and officially announced Holler 100, it includes Sutherland’s reassurance that Holler isn’t going away:

“I don’t plan on never doing any Holler events again. I still have passion for the writing community, but I think Holler can show up in different places. It can show up in different towns. Maybe it’s one big shebang every year, maybe it’s four quarterly events. I haven’t quite figured out the plan except for I’m not totally killing the Holler Poets Series. It just won’t be every single month.”

Candace Chaney is a Contributing Arts Critic for the Lexington Herald-Leader. The above video is by Marcus Dorsey.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here for the Facebook Event page

Eric Scott Sutherland is the author of pendulum (Accents Publishing, 2014), a collection of poems inspired by the people he’d see while working downtown at the Lexington Public Library. pendulum is currently available from Accents Publishing.