Enjoy highlights from our 10-minute reading series, featuring poets and writers, from U. S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo to emerging voices.
A Message to Our Community
Poets House joins with all people of conscience to express outrage and pain as crisis grips our nation.
The murders of Rashard Brooks, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery are among the tragic examples of systematic racism in our nation. Simultaneously, we acknowledge the dreadful threshold of 120,000 deaths from Covid-19 which, because of systemic inequity, inordinately impacts communities of color.
Over and over again racism expresses itself in lethal violence. Over and over again the survivors are told to wait for justice. Now is the time for all voices to be raised to demand our justice system be remade to be just.
What can poetry do in the face of these calamities—calamities not equally shared among us? Poets House acts on the belief that poetry bears witness, incites a language of mutuality and care, and by so doing insists on individual and collective action to bring about change. Poetry helps us find ways to stand in solidarity against brutality.
As the great Caribbean poet Édouard Glissant wrote, We cry our cry of poetry. Our boats are open and we sail them for everyone.
With love and solidarity,
Nicholas Potter, President
Linda Earle, Vice President
Lee Briccetti, Executive Director
The library is closed but we have many digital initiatives for our community.
Upcoming Events
Aug10
Nadia Owusu, Photo by Beowulf Sheehan
Literary Partners Program: Kweli International Literary Festival
Aug 10, 2020 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pmNadia Owusu reads from “Aftershocks: A Memoir”. Owusu then has a conversation with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.
Literary Partners Program: Kweli International Literary Festival
Aug 11, 2020 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pmRajia Hassib reads from “A Pure Heart”. Hassib then has a conversation with Susan Muaddi Darraj.
Literary Partners Program: Kweli International Literary Festival
Aug 17, 2020 | 7:00 pm - 8:00 pmChristina Chiu reads from “Beauty”. Chiu then has a conversation with Marie Myung-Ok Lee.
From the Blog
Bernadette Mayer’s Memory & A Chorus of 31 Voices
Bernadette Mayer’s Memory, a 1971 month-long multidisciplinary project, returns as a book and readings by 31 poets, including Mayer herself
Resources & Opportunities for BIPOC Poets
From COVID-19 relief funds and print activism to internships and writing workshops for BIPOC poets and writers.
Poets House Presents: Highlights from our Ten-Minute Readings
Enjoy highlights from our 10-minute reading series, featuring poets and writers, from U. S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo to emerging voices.
Bernadette Mayer’s Memory & A Chorus of 31 Voices
Bernadette Mayer’s Memory, a 1971 month-long multidisciplinary project, returns as a book and readings by 31 poets, including Mayer herself
Resources & Opportunities for BIPOC Poets
From COVID-19 relief funds and print activism to internships and writing workshops for BIPOC poets and writers.