“All Lit Up!”: Lit Crawl Boston’s The Great American Poetry Challenge

After interviewing Sara Siegel about her session The Great American Poetry Challenge it is clear to see the biggest challenge is having to wait for June 6 to attend it! The Great American Poetry Challenge will have everyone exploring the poet within themselves while bonding with fellow Bostonians over laughs, language, and great drinks and food. Continue reading below to find out more and once you are done check out our previous posts on the other sessions involved in this year’s Lit Crawl Boston.

1. Tell me a bit about how your session came to be? Was there something that inspired you to form your group?

Sara: There are so many different challenges around—from American Gladiator to the Ice Bucket Challenge. We liked the idea of grouping together friends or strangers for a literary challenge—creating an original poem based on a specific set of guidelines that will be secret until the evening-of. It will make for an interesting assortment of pieces—since no one will have the luxury of agonizing over theme, word choice, meter, etc. beforehand, because no one will know the guidelines!

2. What is one thing you hope those attending Lit Crawl Boston will gain from your session?

Sara: We hope that attendees will come away with the assurance that poetry is accessible and realize that it can also be silly, fun, and modern. We also hope that having working poets as team cheerleaders will give attendees confidence in their own writing.

3. In honor of Lit Crawl including drinks or food, what would your session be if it could be any type of drink and or type of food item?

Sara: I think the Great American Poetry Challenge would be a jambalaya—a mix of a little bit of everything. Who knows what’s going to come out of each team’s creations?

4. Boston is such a historic and literary city! If you could have any historic figure attend your session who would it be and why?

Sara: I’m leaning towards Dorothy Parker—she had such a quick wit. I think she’d be fine creating a masterpiece on the spot.

Thank you Sara for such a wonderful interview! Now let’s get ready to “Lit Crawl!”