Poetry Festivals

 

These are just a few of the other poetry festivals in other parts of the country. Visit their individual websites for related information regarding tickets, dates and performers. 

Jax Poetry Fest

jaxpoetryfest.org

Jax Poetry Fest is an annual event produced by the North Florida nonprofit Hope at Hand. Every April, in celebration of National Poetry Month, Jax Poetry Fest works to inspire community-based poetry projects and spark a love for language in North Florida. Spoken word performances, poetry slams, youth poetry contests, and workshops are offered throughout the month of April at no cost to the public. 

 

Mass Poetry

masspoetry.org

The Massachusetts Poetry Festival is a three-day event bringing more than 1,500 poets and poetry lovers together. The festival showcases a variety of extraordinary local and regional poets and engages the public with nearly 100 readings, workshops, panels, music, and visual arts and a small press fair. 

 

O, Miami Poetry Festival 

omiami.org

O, Miami (formerly “University of Wynwood”) is a Knight Foundation-funded organization that expands and advances literary culture in Greater Miami, FL. They produce a month-long poetry festival that aims to bring poetry and literature to every Miami resident during the month of April. Since its founding in 2011, the festival has hosted performances by Anne Carson, Raúl Zurita, W.S. Merwin, Patti Smith, Richard Blanco, Tracy K. Smith, Thurston Moore, Kevin Young, Kay Ryan and many more. For general information, visit the O, Miami festival page, or check out Knight Foundation's report on the inaugural festival.

 

Palm Spring Poetry Festival

palmbeachpoetryfestival.org

Held annually in Delray Beach, FL, this festival features six days of reading events, craft lectures, and poetry workshops with a variety of contemporary poets. There is a focus on workshops, and there is an application process. 

 

Sarah Lawrence Poetry Festival

slc.edu/news-events/events/poetry-festival

Since 2003, the Sarah Lawrence College Poetry Festival has presented emerging and established poets from across the country alongside current Sarah Lawrence undergraduate and graduate student readers. Their mission is to bring a wide array of contemporary poetic voices to campus, and to celebrate the vibrancy and essentiality of the art form. The weekend is centered on creating community with visiting poets, students, and residents of the greater New York City area, and facilitating access to educational resources for writers of all ages and backgrounds. The event offers readings, craft talks, generative workshops, multimedia programming, and shared meals.

This event is free and open to the public. All community members are welcome to join in celebration. For updates, schedule announcements, and fundraising event information, follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

Split This Rock

splitthisrock.org

A four day biennial festival held in Washington, DC with readings, workshops, discussions, parties, youth voices & activism. Split This Rock explores and celebrates the many ways that poetry can act as an agent for change. 

 

Sunken Garden Poetry Festival

hillstead.org/sunken-garden-poetry-festival/

For over 25 years, Hill-Stead’s Sunken Garden Poetry Festival has presented renowned poets in the picturesque setting of the museum’s historic garden on the 152-acre estate. Readings run over three Wednesdays and two Sundays throughout the summer and include Prelude Interviews, writing workshops and live music. Hill-Stead Museum is a National Historic Landmark in Farmignton, Connecticut. 

 

 

Poetry Organizations


These poetry organizations are invaluable to the field and offer resources, events, workshops, and fellowships to poetry communities around the U.S. 

The Academy of American Poets

poets.org

Poets.org is produced by the Academy of American Poets. The site was launched in 1996, becoming the original online resource for poems, poets' biographies, essays about poetry, and resources for K-12 teachers. Founded in 1934 in New York City, the Academy of American Poets is the nation's leading champion of American poets and poetry, with members in all fifty states. Its mission is to support American poets at all stages of their careers and to foster the appreciation of contemporary poetry.

Lambda Literary

lambdaliterary.org

For over 30 years, Lambda Literary has championed LGBTQ books and authors. No other organization in the world serves LGBTQ writers and readers more comprehensively than Lambda Literary. Lambda Literary believes that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer literature is fundamental to the preservation of our culture, and that LGBTQ lives are affirmed when their stories are written, published, and read.

Poets House

poetshouse.org

Poets House is a comfortable, accessible place for poetry—a library and meeting place which invites poets and the public to step into the living tradition of poetry. Poets House seeks to document the wealth and diversity of modern poetry, to stimulate dialogue on issues of poetry in culture, and to cultivate a wider audience for the art.

CantoMundo

cantomundo.org/

Founded around a kitchen table in 2009 by Norma E. Cantú, Celeste Guzmán Mendoza, Pablo Miguel Martínez, Deborah Paredez, and Carmen Tafolla, CantoMundo is a national poetry organization that cultivates community for Latinx poets. Through its wo­rkshops, symposia, and public readings, CantoMundo is a celebration of the worlds of song within the community, from its elders to its youth.

Letras Latinas

latinostudies.nd.edu

Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at the Institute for Latino Studies (ILS), strives to enhance the visibility, appreciation and study of Latinx literature both on and off the campus of the University of Notre Dame. Letras Latinas puts an emphasis on programs that support newer voices, foster a sense of community among writers, and place Latinx writers in community spaces.

Poets & Writers

pw.org

Founded in 1970, Poets & Writers is the nation’s largest nonprofit organization serving creative writers with a mission to foster the professional development of poets and writers, to promote communication throughout the literary community, and to help create an environment in which literature can be appreciated by the widest possible public. P&W's programs include its eponymous magazine; a dynamic, information-rich website; financial support for readings and other literary events; and sponsorship of several notable writing prizes and awards.

Cave Canem

cavecanempoets.org

Cave Canem Foundation is a home for the many voices of African American poetry and is committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets. A 501-c-3 non-profit literary service organization with administrative and programming headquarters in Brooklyn, NY, Cave Canem has grown from a gathering of 26 poets to become an influential movement with a renowned faculty, high-achieving national fellowship of over 400 and a workshop community of 900.

Mizna

mizna.org

Mizna is a critical platform for contemporary literature, film, art, and cultural production centering the work of Arab and Southwest Asian and North African artists. For more than twenty years, Mizna has been creating a decolonized cultural space to reflect the expansiveness of its community and to foster exchange, examine ideas, and engage audiences in meaningful art.

University of Arizona Poetry Center

poetry.arizona.edu

The Poetry Center is a leading literary institution and a living archive of poetry, connecting the University of Arizona with the greater literary community in Tucson and beyond, amassing one of the finest and largest print/digital collections of contemporary poetry in America and welcoming over one thousand poets to Tucson to read. Their education programs annually serve Arizona school children, college students, and adults with poetry experiences. 

In-Na-Po

sites.uwm.edu/in-na-po/

Founded in 2020, In-Na-Po—Indigenous Nations Poets—is a national Indigenous poetry community committed to mentoring emerging writers, nurturing the growth of Indigenous poetic practices, and raising the visibility of all Native Writers past, present, and future. In-Na-Po recognizes the role of poetry in sustaining tribal sovereign nations and Native languages.

The Poetry Foundation

poetryfoundation.org

The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience. The Poetry Foundation works to raise poetry to a more visible and influential position in our culture and shape a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry.

The Wick Poetry Center

kent.edu/wick | travelingstanzas.com

In 1984 Robert Wick, a sculptor and former art department faculty member at Kent State University, and his brother, Walter Wick, established the Wick Poetry Center in memory of their sons Stan (1962–1980) and Tom (1956–1973). Today the Wick Poetry Center encourages new voices by promoting opportunities for individuals and communities locally, regionally and nationally. Wick engages emerging and established poets and poetry audiences through readings, publications, workshops and scholarship opportunities.

Kundiman

kundiman.org

Kundiman is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to nurturing generations of writers and readers of Asian American literature. Kundiman creates a space where Asian Americans can explore, through art, the unique challenges that face the new and ever changing diaspora. Kundiman sees the arts as a tool of empowerment, of education and liberation, of addressing proactively the legacy they will leave.

Poetry Society of America

poetrysociety.org

The Poetry Society of America places poetry at the crossroads of American life. The PSA transforms public spaces into sites for imaginative encounters with poems, engages diverse and often underserved communities, amplifies the voices of poets around issues of common concern, and honors their aesthetic contributions to our lives.

Zoeglossia

zoeglossia.org

Zoeglossia is a new literary organization seeking to pioneer a new, inclusive space for poets with disabilities. Zoeglossia strives to create an open and supportive community that welcomes and fosters creativity. Through the creation of an annual retreat, poets from all backgrounds will have the opportunity to learn and develop from prominent, established writers, who also have disabilities.

Find Great Poems

 

Alongside several of the websites above (such as poets.org and poetryfoundation.org), the following websites offer poetry collections and archives you can peruse to find your next favorite poem.

From the Fishouse: An Audio Archive of Emerging Poets 

fishousepoems.org 

PBS Newshour Poetry 

pbs.org/newshour/poetry 

Favorite Poem Project 

favoritepoem.org

WGBH Poetry Everywhere 

www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere 

The Library of Congress 

www.loc.gov/poetry

Verse Daily 

Versedaily.com 

Poetry 180 

loc.gov/poetry/180/  

Your Daily Poem 

yourdailypoem.com