about the celebration
about the celebration
National Poetry Month was inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world with schools, publishers, libraries, booksellers, and poets celebrating poetry’s vital place in our culture.
Thank you for joining in the celebration by listing your events and attending other events in your community, displaying this year's poster, participating in Poem in Your Pocket Day, recommending the Dear Poet project to a young person, signing up to read a Poem-a-Day, and checking out 30 more ways to celebrate.
We hope National Poetry Month's events and activities will inspire you to keep celebrating poetry all year long!
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Dear Poet A multimedia educational project that invites young people to write letters in response to poems shared by our Chancellors. | ![]() | Poem in Your Pocket Day Join thousands of individuals across the U.S. who will carry a poem in their pocket on April 26, 2018. | ![]() | Poetry & the Creative Mind The 2018 annual gala will be held at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City on April 25. | ![]() |
upcoming events
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Apr 28 2018
#PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: The Universe in Verse 2018: Livestream (April 28, live from Brooklyn)Don't miss The Universe in Verse 2018, brought to you by Maria Popova of Brain Pickings and astrophysicist Janna Levin of Pioneer Works. This celebration of the Earth—from the oceans and trees and volcanos to bees and kale and the armadillo—will feature poems by Maya Angelou, Adrienne Rich, Emily Dickinson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Lucille Clifton, Elizabeth Bishop, Denise Levertov, Walt Whitman, and more, read by musicians Amanda Palmer, Zoe Keating, and Sean Ono Lennon, astrophysicists Janna Levin and Natalie Batalha, authors A.M. Homes and James Gleick, artist Maira Kalman, bryologist Robin Wall Kimmerer, and actors, writers, and directors America Ferrera, Anna Deavere Smith, and John Cameron Mitchell. Diane Ackerman, Academy Chancellor Emeritus Jane Hishfield, and Academy Chancellor Marie Howe will read their own work. Gracing the evening will be an original poem by Neil Gaiman, composed for the occasion, and a special musical surprise. Contact: [email protected]
7:00pm
Pioneer Works
159 Pioneer St
11231
Brooklyn, New York
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Apr 26 2018
Poetry Reading: Philadelphia Poet Laureate Raquel Salas RiveraRaquel Salas Rivera is the 2018-19 Poet Laureate of Philadelphia and a 2018 CantoMundo Fellow. Their work has appeared in journals such as the Revista del Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, Apogee, and the Boston Review. They are the author of Caneca de anhelos turbios (Editora Educación Emergente), oropel/tinsel (Lark Books), tierra intermitente (Ediciones Alayubia), and lo terciario/the tertiary (Timeless, Infinite Light). Currently, they are co-editor of The Wanderer and co-editor of Puerto Rico en mi corazón, a collection of bilingual broadsides of contemporary Puerto Rican poets. Contact: [email protected]
6:00pm
Penn Book Center
130 S. 34th St
19104
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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Apr 26 2018
The Tenth Muse with Eileen MylesEileen Myles — “a kick-ass, counter-cultural icon,” wrote The New Yorker — takes on a longstanding Poetry Center tradition, curating and introducing readings by three of their favorite poets: Laura Henriksen, Tommy Pico, and Christopher Soto. Admission fee: $15.00
Contact: [email protected]
8:00pm
92nd Street Y (between 91st & 92nd street)
1395 Lexington Avenue
10128
New York, New York
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