The 5th annual “One Word Poetry Festival” will take place on May 29-June 1, 2025. The event will include poetry workshops for various ages and backgrounds, readings, a poetry slam, and open mics. SC Humanities supported the festival with a Fast Track Literary Grant.
The goal of the One Word Poetry Festival is to expose the Rock Hill community to the power of poetry and celebrate the countless ways that it impacts lives. The Festival Director is the award-winning Poet Laureate of Rock Hill, Angelo Geter.
The festival kicks off on Thursday, May 29, 2025 with the “Passing the Torch” ceremony at 7:00 p.m. the Rock Hill School District office. At that event, Angelo Geter will publicly transfer the Poet Laureate position to the new Rock Hill Poet Laureate Carlo Dawson. On Friday, May 29, the Vibes & Verses Open Mic will be at 8:00 p.m. in the Gettys Center parking lot. On Saturday, May 31, there will be workshops for all ages from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and the One Word Poetry Slam at 8:00 p.m. More information about the schedule will be available on the website soon: https://www.onewordpoetryfestival.com/.
Festival Director Angelo Geter said, “Rock Hill is an often overlooked community when it comes to the arts…but the community truly does have some amazing artists who contribute great work to the landscape of the city. The One Word Poetry Festival seeks to place a spotlight on the literary arts and poetry in the community.”
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c)3 organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos, and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation and individual donors. The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
