Join us for the opening event of the 2024 Ventura County Poetry Festival and stay tuned for more festival updates!

Friday Headliners: Luke Kennard and Jennifer L. Knox

Luke Kennard (1981) is a poet and novelist who lives in Birmingham, England. He won an Eric Gregory award for his poetry in 2005 and his 2nd book of poems The Harbour Beyond the Movie (2007) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize, making him the youngest poet to be nominated in the prize’s history. His 5th collection, Cain (2016), was shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize 2017. His first novel, The Transition (4th Estate), longlisted for the Desmond Elliott award, was published in 2017 and his second, The Answer to Everything (Harper Collins) was published in 2021. Notes on the Sonnets, a sequence of 154 prose poems in response to Shakespeare’s sonnets was published by Penned in the Margins in 2021 and won the Forward Prize for Best Collection that year. He is a Professor of Creative Writing and Literary Studies at the University of Birmingham. His work is influenced by absurdism, theology, recursive thoughts, and fake-confessional poetry. He lectures at the University of Birmingham. He is currently working on a novel called Black Bag, about a disastrous social psychology experiment from the late 60s; and a collection of poetry about the prophet Jonah, researching prophecy, pressured speech and the strange relationship between poem and audience.

Jennifer L. Knox is the author of five books of poetry in English, most recently Crushing It (Copper Canyon Press, 2020). She is currently at work on MYCYOWA, a traveling public art installation dedicated to increasing awareness of mycoremediation, supported by the the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs and the NEA. She has taught poetry writing at Hunter College, New York University, Iowa State University, and in her own series of private online classes. She lives in central Iowa and is the proprietor of Saltlickers, a small spice blend company.