Journalist, poet, activist and grandfather, Bill Nevins lives in Northern New Mexico and regularly attends Telluride music festivals. Talking Gourds has teamed up with Telluride Arts to offer Spoken Word Blues, a pop-up poetry show, Saturday Sept. 13th at 1 pm. The afternoon will feature Nevins along with a street musician and some local wordslingers.
“Bill and his partner Jeannette Allen have been my friends for years,” said Talking Gourds Director Art Goodtimes. “They are two of the most creative and dedicated people I know. There is even a movie made about Bill’s termination years ago at the Rio Rancho High School for trying to teach poetry of the moment and giving kids a voice. Honestly, you don’t have to know Nevins long before you realize his championing of poetry and the arts comes from his strong Irish heritage.”
Bill wanted folks to know he is a Gold Star parent. His son served overseas beginning in 2001. US Army Special Forces SFC Liam J. Nevins was killed in combat in Paktia Province, Afghanistan on Sept. 21, 2013, during an attack on Gardez Forward Operating Base (later renamed Fort Nevins).
Bill himself was born in 1947. He grew up in the NYC vicinity and attended Iona University, a small private Catholic university. He also studied at UConn and UC Berkeley, eventually landing a teaching job at the University of New Mexico.
Bill has organized poetry readings in Albuquerque, Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Taos and Angel Fire. A collection of his poems, Light Bending, appeared in 2024 from Sligo Creek Publishing of Washington DC. Involved in film, Bill starred in Justin R. Romine’s short film based on one of his own poems – “Silence of the Messengers” which was shown at the Santa Fe Film Festival also in 2024.
Professionally a journalist, Bill has reported as a correspondent from Ireland and Mexico. His articles have been written for New Mexico media — including The Enchanted Circle News and TREND of Santa Fe — as well as pieces for national and international publications.
Travis Hill, the busker who played the Sheridan for the MMM Mushroom Poetry show, will bring his virtuoso street guitar to Telluride Arts. He’s the one been fine-tuning his axe by the old Free Box site the last couple weeks.
Local poets to take us into the blues & brews mood include the Electric Angel of Lawson Hill, Scot Rasor of Placerville, Karen Bellerose of Lawson Hill, Mary Hearding of Rico, and Art Goodtimes of Wrights Mesa.
If there’s time, we’ll pass around the gourd and let audience members share a song or poem.
A collaboration of Telluride Arts and the Telluride Institute’s Talking Gourds poetry program, Spoken Word Blues is free and open to all ages, thanks to a Town of Telluride CCAASE grant and private donors.
Other Talking Gourds projects include the Bardic Trails virtual zoom reading in collaboration with the Wilkinson Library on the first Tuesday of every month; Stories & Poems Norwood live reading series in collaboration with the Lone Cone Library on the third Wednesday of every month; the West End Stories & Poems series in collaboration with the Naturita Community Library on the second Thursday of every month; the national Fischer Poetry Prize contest and the state Cantor Poetry Prize contest (both currently closed for submissions), the Western Slope Poet Laureate award in collaboration with Grand Junction’s Center of the Arts (given every two years), the San Miguel County Poet Laureate collaboration (given every two years), the annual Karen Chamberlain lifetime achievement award given in collaboration with the Mountain Words Festival of Crested Butte (just awarded to George Sibley of Gunnison), and the MycoLicious MycoLuscious MycoLogical Poetry Show in conjunction with the annual Telluride Mushroom Festival.
For more information on poetry contests and the many Talking Gourds programs, visit the website www.tellurideinstitute.org/talking-gourds. For questions about the event, text 970-729-0220 or email Goodtimes at art@tellurideinstitute.org
