Penn State Altoona professor featured at international poetry festival

ALTOONA, Pa. - Patricia Jabbeh Wesley, professor of English at Penn State Altoona, was one of 17 international poet laureates featured at the 55th Poetry International Festival held in June in the Netherlands. The festival's theme was "Laureates and Legends."

Representing her home country of Liberia, Jabbeh Wesley joined other poets from across the globe in lectures, discussions, workshops, interviews, debates, readings and performances.

Jabbeh Wesley served as a headliner poet at the opening ceremony, performing her poem "Black Woman Selling Her Home in America." On June 14, she was one of three featured poets on the panel "Poetry Press Conference," answering questions about their craft, vision for poetry, and writing in a world in chaos.

On June 15, Jabbeh Wesley was featured in a solo performance of her poetry with translation in Dutch in "Main Reading," a program that included an interview about her place as a woman poet, as an immigrant living and writing in America and her literary style as a womanist. Discussion topics also included her anti-war themes in her work, her survival of the Liberian civil war and her place as a Diaspora African poet.

Jabbeh Wesley concluded her participation in the festival with a poetry improvision performance with other featured poets and musicians.