Soda City Poetry Festival

06/08/2026

Soda City Poetry Festival
Monthly Workshop Series
Teaching Poet: Alyssa Stewart
Saturday, June 20, 2026

*HURRY! Only 9 spots left for this workshop!*

Workshop description: "Write Back to You": The body has been philosophized, politicized, criticized, and policed. We've been taught to ignore how we feel and where we feel it. "Write Back To You" is a workshop for people who want to trust their feelings, to be experts on themselves, and use language to share their embodied experiences.

Alyssa Stewart was born in Virginia and grew up in Columbia, SC. She's a poet, singer, songwriter, and musician who believes in the power of storytelling and the universal language of music! When she's not reading or teaching private music lessons, you might find her near a body of water.

This workshop is FREE and in person only. Space is limited. Fill out the form to register: https://bit.ly/Juneworkshop26.

Sponsors for this workshop series are Richland Library, The City of Columbia, and One Columbia for Arts & Culture.

05/03/2026

Rian Jenkins will teach the May workshop for the 2026 Soda City Poetry Festival Workshop Series.

Join us on May 9, 2026 from 2-4 p.m. at Richland Library Main, Meeting Room N. This month’s workshop is for young people ages 8-18. In her workshop “Unlocking the Verses,” students will be able to create poetry through various prompts and exercises.

This workshop is FREE and in person only. Space is limited. Email [email protected] to register and reserve your spot today.

For over 30 years, Rian N. Jenkins inspired, entertained, and educated many through poetry, novellas, journalism, and performances. In 2021, she added author to her resume. As of 2025, she has self published three poetry books, her first two children’s books, A Blessing for The World and Heaven’s Jewel and first middle grades novel, Reverse. She is a mother of a brilliant young king who is in college, teacher and a spoken word artist, podcaster, mentor and program director of CROWN HER. She also calls herself a LIT specialist who does book talks online while sponsoring All Black Author Book Drive and Giveaway in the Columbia area. She is a native of Sumter, SC but graduated from Ridge View in ‘98 and Winthrop University in ‘03. She also has roots in Edisto Island, Hollywood and St Helena Island. Learn more about her and where to find her on social media on her website, WWW.RIANNJENKINS.COM

Richland Library Main is in downtown Columbia at 1431 Assembly Street.

Sponsors for this workshop series are The City of Columbia and One Columbia.

04/14/2026

Soda City Poetry Festival’s first workshop of 2026 was a success! Thank you to all who came who wrote, read, discussed, shared, and breathed poetry with us.

Workshop: Foodways in Poetry

We will be announcing the facilitator of the May workshop soon.

04/11/2026

Step out and come vibe with More Than Words.Flo Open Mic Night on SUNDAY APR 12TH | 8PM | Oasis | Sunday Nights are fun again in … Grown Folks Style |

04/06/2026

Come celebrate with us!

Jennifer Bartell Boykin, the Poet Laureate of the City of Columbia, will teach the first workshop in the 2026 Soda City Poetry Festival Workshop Series on April 11, 2026 from 2-4 p.m. at Richland Library Main, Meeting Room N. Her workshop is “Foodways in Poetry.”

Here’s a description:
Collard greens, okra, fried chicken, company chicken, pileau (pronounced perlo), sweet tea, pound cake and more appear throughout my poetry. Each dish is important to my experiences with my family and my community. Think of the dishes that are staples for you. What are the memories you have with that food? How do you feel while eating it? Who are you with? The tastes, textures, and smells are the menu for memory, emotion, and therefore poetry. In this workshop, we will explore the connections between food, memory, and poetry. Come with memories of 1-2 dishes, and if you have a family recipe you’d like to explore, bring that too.

These workshops are FREE and are in person only. Space is limited. Email [email protected] to register and reserve your spot today.

Richland Library Main is in downtown Columbia at 1431 Assembly Street.

Upcoming dates for the other workshops are:

May 9
June 20
July 11
August 8
September 12
October 10
November 7

The who are teaching these sessions will be announced by the end of April.

09/28/2025

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a harvest festival celebrated across Asia honoring the Moon and time with family and friends. Join us as we come together with lanterns, stories, tea, and music to share in the traditions and beauty of the season.

More info: https://bit.ly/3VtdJ4L

09/22/2025

Over 300 folks came to the Soda City Poetry Festival in June.

The theme of the 2025 Soda City Poetry Festival is One River, One Boat: Celebrating South Carolina's Poets. This title gets its inspiration from Marjory Wentworth’s poem"One River, One Boat."

We welcomed poets from every region of South Carolina.

We wrote, we read, we performed, we laughed, we cried, we listened, we hugged, we loved on another. Words matter. Poetry matters. How we wield our words make a difference in our world. Choose wisely.

Thank you to Marlanda Dekine for allowing us to use the words you will hear in this video. Marlanda is the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Georgetown Public Libraries.

As always, thanks to our sponsors: One Columbia for Arts & Culture, SC Humanities, SouthArts, City of Columbia Government, and Richland Library.

Video by New Sky Film Production

06/30/2025

Rian N. Jenkins was one of our vendors last weekend! Book her now before it’s too late!

Closer to the mark!

Grateful for those who allowed me to vend, hired me or bought my books!

Book me for your next event!

WWW.RIANNJENKINS.COM

06/29/2025

Thank you for attending, volunteering, writing, reading, learning, and loving with us at the second Soda City Poetry Festival!

If you attended the festival and have not completed a survey yet, please visit https://bit.ly/scpf25survey to complete a survey.

Pictures and videos coming soon!