Festival Background & History

The biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival is the largest poetry event in North America. These four-day celebrations of poetry have been called “poetry heaven” by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, “a new Woodstock” by the Christian Science Monitor, and simply “Wordstock” by The New York Times.

The Festival, held in even-numbered years since 1986, immerses audiences and nearly five dozen internationally acclaimed poets in readings, discussions, and conversations focusing on poetry. Events are held all day and evening in performance tents accommodating anywhere from 100 to over 2,000 people. During each day of the Festival, ten or more separate stages offer different activities simultaneously. The most recent Festival, in September of 2006, attracted a total audience of nearly 17,000.

Among the world-renowned poets who have participated in past Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festivals are Chinua Achebe, Taha Muhammad Ali, Claribel Alegría , Yehuda Amichai, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Amiri Baraka, Coleman Barks, Robert Bly, Gwendolyn Brooks, Marilyn Chin, Lucille Clifton, Billy Collins, Bei Dao, Mark Doty, Rita Dove, Stephen Dunn, Allen Ginsberg, Jorie Graham, Linda Gregg, Donald Hall, Joy Harjo, Robert Hass, Edward Hirsch, Tony Hoagland, Linda Hogan, Galway Kinnell, Carolyn Kizer, Yusef Komunyakaa, Ko Un, Stanley Kunitz, Li-Young Lee, Linda McCarriston, W. S. Merwin, Andrew Motion, Taslima Nasreen, Naomi Shihab Nye, Joyce Carol Oates, Sharon Olds, Alicia Ostriker, Linda Pastan, Octavio Paz, Marge Piercy, Robert Pinsky, Adrienne Rich, Sonia Sanchez, Gary Snyder, William Stafford, Gerald Stern, Ruth Stone, Brian Turner, Derek Walcott, Anne Waldman, Richard Wilbur, Adam Zagajewski, and Daisy Zamora.

An essential component of each Festival is a series of special programs for high school students and for teachers at all levels, elementary through college. More than 4,500 students and 2,000 teachers from throughout the country participate in conversations and readings designed specifically for them during the first two days of the Festival.

The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival has been extensively featured in four PBS television series with Bill Moyers. The acclaimed eight-part The Language of Life series was filmed at the 1994 Festival, providing a look at the overall activities of the Festival and in-depth conversations with the featured poets. More recently, Fooling With Words offered television audiences a front row seat at the 1998 Festival.