“Word Power is now in its third year. And the goal is always, ultimately, to promote WBL's spoken word programming,” says Patrick Washington, Words Beats & Life’s director of poetry and WBL Fest producer. “When I was given the job of poetry director, that was one of the main goals to just bring more of a spotlight to the Academy, poetry classes, the DMV Slam Team, and the Youth Poet Laureates.”

Mark your calendars because WBL Fest is back for another year this April! This year’s event series is not only featuring free music and parties, but for the first time, it’s joining forces with the Word Power Festival to give guests even more events and experiences! 

“This year is a little different because it's a festival within another larger festival happening in April, which is National Poetry Month,” says Washington, “Word Power Fest was definitely going to happen anyway. But, placing it under the umbrella of jazz and poetry, it’s a good fit.” 

Unlike prior years, WBL Fest will be combining with the Word Power Festival to host poetry events at Busboys and Poets locations in DC and Maryland, from April 4th to the 7th. Each event will have a different theme, along with special guest performances such as DMV Youth Poet Laureates with O-Slice, DMV’s Youth Poetry Slam Team with Born I, and Other People’s Poetry with T-Low.

“Our young artists are going to be performing, and they're also high-energy performers, and they are always out in these streets as well,” Washington says, “Our Youth Slam Team, our Youth Poet Laureates, they're definite change agents. So we want to give them some shine as well.”

In addition to these events, Words Beats & Life will also be hosting “A Poet’s Mixtape,” a special event featuring hip-hop poet all-stars and a live band. Notable headliners include Philly native, Ursula Rucker, and Grammy-nominated Amir Sulaiman, to name just a few. “We're bringing people like Bilal and IO, some of the great musicians, with some really incredible spoken word artists from outside of our area, like Jessica Care Moore and Ursula Rucker,” says Washington about the star-studded event, “I'm excited that we're adding more of a musical aspect to the way poetry is delivered and received. These artists that I mentioned, they've all done poetry on musical albums.”

The Words Beats and Life Festival kicks off on April 4th with Story District with Malpractice, Anyia Taylor Girl Genius, Nerd, and more; at Busboys and Poets (14th St NW DC). Make sure to RSVP and get there early to get the best seats in the house! To check out more events that are happening during the WBL Fest visit our website!