Portland’5 Centers for the Arts and The Attic Institute of Arts and Letters present Poets on Broadway – a free poetry series hosted by Portland’5. Three monthly poetry events will be presented December 2016 – May 2017 in the Antoinette Hatfield Hall rotunda. Nationally renowned poets will read alongside local emerging poets in the greater Portland community and the Pacific Northwest. Portland’5 presents Poets on Broadway with Renee Mitchell and Emily Warn, plus Rough Writers at Antoinette Hatfield Hall Monday, April 24, 2017 at 7:30pm.

S. Renee Mitchell is a writer, artist, performance poet community organizer and Creative Revolutionist. You may remember her as a former award-winning columnist for The Oregonian. She now teaches storytelling at Roosevelt High School, where she encourages and empowers students to use their voice to honor the stories of themselves, their families and their community.

Roosevelt High School, located in North Portland, is the most diverse high school in the state; students there speak more than 50 languages. The Rough Riders community is also fortunate to have one of the only high school based writing centers, which uses professional writers and college students to support student voice and storytelling. Renee has worked with freshman classes for several weeks to help them honor their cultural and community stories in the presence of growing gentrification in the St. Johns neighborhood. Several of these students will present their poems today.

All readings begin at 7:30pm in the Antoinette Hatfield Hall rotunda- located at 1111 SW Broadway Ave., Portland, OR 97205. The ArtBar & Bistro will be open with food and drinks available to purchase.