Poets from all over the world will trek to the city for the third annual San Francisco International Poetry Festival, commemorating an ongoing international dialogue extolling the beauty of language.

Hosted by the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, the Mayor’s Office of Protocol, poet Jack Hirschman and the San Francisco Public Library the festival is designed to build cross-cultural cooperation through the literary arts.

Celebration starts at 7 pm on Thursday, July 26 in the Kerouc Alley in the North Beach neighborhood; Jack Hirschman, Beat Poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti and City Librarian Luis Herrera will be hosting an official kick-off party with jazz performances and appearances by Neeli Cherkovski, Matt Gonzalez and front man Jonathan Richman of seminal rock band the Modern Lovers.

On Friday, July 27 there will be poetry readings in the Civic Center Plaza including a reading by San Francisco Poet Laureate Alejandro Murguía.

The San Francisco International Poetry Festival runs from Thursday, July 26 to Sunday, July 29 and will include free poetry and music events, book signings, translation workshops and book signings.

For more information on scheduled events visit sfipf.org

• Tag: jack hirschman, Jonathan Richman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, literary arts, literary events, Modern Lovers, Poetry, sf literary arts, sf literary events