Next Up to The Mic: Francesca Sidoti & Anna Boughtwood at the Sand Lake Center for the Arts

This week, Thom Francis welcomes poets Francesca Sidoti and Anna Boughtwood to the mic. They shared their work at the 2024 Word Fest Open Mic at the Sand Lake Center for the Arts on April 27, 2024.

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The Word Fest began in 2001 in Thatcher Park as a one-day open mic, bringing together poets from all over the region to share their work. Over the years, the event grew into a week-long celebration of poetry and spoken word with workshops, poetry slams, featured performances, and, of course, the open mic.

For the first time since 2019, the Word Fest Open Mic returned on Saturday, April 27, 2024, at the Sand Lake Center for the Arts with an afternoon of incredible featured spoken word artists and open mic readers.

Today we are highlighting two of those poets – Francesca Sidoti and Anna Boughtwood.

Francesca J. Sidoti’s poetry has been published in Chiron Review, Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, Viet Nam Generation, Moonstone Arts’ “Nikki Giovanni Tribute”, and other literary magazines. Upcoming publications include the Deep Overstock Fiction Podcast, which will feature her reading her work for the “Romance” edition. Sidoti has been the recipient of several awards, including the 2021 Dorn Space Poet of the Year. Her 2023 book, Civil Twilight and Other Transitions, are currently available.

Anna Boughtwood lives just over the Dunn Memorial Bridge from Albany. Her writing has appeared in Sad Girls Club, Dipity, Hudson Valley Writers Guild, Dime Show Review, and East Jasmine Review.