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JCPOFEST is a festival for The People,  
illuminating the tapestry of human connection that transcends the boundaries of individual studies and mediums. We celebrate the joy of literacy and literature! 

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Established in 2024, JCPOFEST is not just a festival—it is a homecoming of voices, a gathering of questions, a place where poetry shakes hands with science, where philosophy sits beside technology, and where all art forms exist like a harmonious ecosystem. It is a celebration of who we are, where we wander, what we wonder, and how we shape the world around us. 

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JCPOFEST is rooted in community, energized by innovation and inspires us to envision new ways of being together, of dreaming together. As part of the year round events leading to the festival weekend, multidisciplinary experiences invite us into a poem not just as readers, but as witnesses, as participants, as makers of sacred spaces that nurture collective imagination. 

 

JCPOFEST doesn’t just speak—it listens.

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At the heart of this vision is the festival's founder and creative director,

Melida Rodas, eco-poetry teacher and Jersey City’s Poet Laureate.

Her award wining, multimedia, body of work is equal parts elegy and call to action. 

 

JCPOFEST, in partnership with local writers, artists, organizations and local businesses, is a gift wrapped in hope, vision, and the urgent need to remind us about the mystery, fragility and majesty of our planet earth and those who inhabit it.

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