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Steamboat Springs — Off the Beaten Path Book­store is expanding its monthly poetry slam to a three-day poetry festival in May, offering a chance for writers to be heard by a larger community in a late celebration of April’s National Poetry Month.

Three competitions in three days at Bud Werner Memorial Library will offer developing or established writers a chance to compete with their peers, Off the Beaten Path owner Ron Krall and events coordinator Kyle Paolantonio said.

“We wanted to do something to celebrate poetry in Steamboat, and we wanted to do something that would cater to people of all ages,” Krall said.

The festival starts with a competition for poets in kindergarten through seventh grade from 4 to 6 p.m. May 12. A competition for students in eighth through 12th grades is from 6 to 8 p.m. May 13. All are free to enter.

On May 14, community members will have a chance to hear poetry from all age groups. Selected poets from the K-7 category will read at 6 p.m., with top poets from the teen category reading at 6:30 p.m. A poetry slam for adults is from 7 to 9 p.m. Registration for all ages is due by May 8. Participants can register at Off the Beaten Path.

The idea for a poetry festival has been in the works since the end of 2009, Krall and Paolantonio said. Event organizers hope to work with teachers to increase interest from students.

“The whole idea is to create an environment, a place and a stimulus for people to create, especially for kids, but not only for kids,” Krall said.

There will be five judges at each event, with local literary gurus Sarah Kostin, Paulie Anderson and Susan de Wardt taking turns as masters of ceremonies. De Wardt will present a free poetry workshop at noon and 6 p.m. April 27 in Library Hall at Bud Werner Memorial Library.

Regular poetry slam participant David Bowman said the monthly events — which are organized into two all-age rounds of reading followed by a final poetry slam for the top three poets — offer a venue for local writers to share their work. Bowman said he often submits poems for print to various publications and tends to bring poems that need editing to the bookstore slams.

Krall and Paolantonio said they hope the three-day poetry event will offer more exposure to local writers like Bowman.