Announcing Fall 2019: Ballads, Poetry & Science, Halpern & Howe Celebrations, and More!

A new harvest of poetry arrives at Poets House this September! Join us as we roll out our fall 2019 season of programming and celebrate the 10th anniversary of our space at 10 River Terrace in Lower Manhattan. As we look back on our journey over the last three decades—from a space in a high school home economics room to a small SoHo loft to our current location, with a 70,000-volume library and reading room, program hall, exhibition space, and children’s room—Poets House is proud to be able to offer to the public so many different possibilities for encountering poetry.

This fall, our season highlights include the following talks, readings, conversations, performances, and exhibitions:

• In a series of conversations between scientists and poets about the enduring connection between poetry and the scientific world, poet Mei-mei Berssenbrugge talks with astrophysicist Mordecai-Mark Mac Low about poetry, deep time, and stars (October 5), and canopy ecologist Nalini Nadkarni joins Pulitzer Prize winner Forrest Gander for a discussion about our connection to trees (October 22).

• Among our readings and talks that honor poets whose legacies have expanded the field, we celebrate the work of Daniel Halpern, writer and founding editor of Antaeus and Ecco, with former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass as a special guest (October 25), and we pay tribute to the prolific author and activist Fanny Howe, with readings by Jennifer Tseng, Kazim Ali, Maureen N. McLane, Rae Armantrout, Peter Gizzi, Carolyn Forché, and Howe herself, among others (December 14).

• In back-to-back programs spotlighting the lyrical and cultural complexity of the ballad, R. Zamora Linmark discusses Hawaiian English-Creole poetry and Sarah Arvio presents Poet in Spain, her new translations of the poetry of Federico García Lorca, examining his various forms of poetic music. Arvio will be joined by flamenco guitarist Sergio Sánchez-Monge Escardó in performance (November 2).

• A family book festival, curated and presented by Mahogany L. Browne—poet and author of Woke Baby—celebrating justice-oriented children’s books, accompanied by story times (November 9).

• The exhibition Gay New York: Walt Whitman to the Present showcases over 30 historic and contemporary sites of significance to gay history by the sculptor and painter Nicholas Buffon (on view through November 30), with Gallery Walks hosted by the artist (October 30 & November 6).

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We also welcome you to deepen your connection to poetry by taking a writing workshop at Poets House. Our popular one-day workshops can jump-start a writing practice in an afternoon.

• Re-Cognition, Re-Vision, & Revelation: Pushing the Boundaries of Your Poems with Nickole Brown & Jessica Jacobs (September 21 – sold out!)

• You Are Here: Poems of Place with KC Trommer (October 5)

• Dreams & Diaspora: Exploring Speculative Poetics with Bryan Thao Worra (October 27)

• I Remember the First Time I Sat Down and Ordered My Feelings: The List Poem with R. Zamora Linmark (November 1)

Our six-week workshops provide an immersive look into poetic form and practice. They include:

• Finding Your Voice and Your Duende: Writing Poems of Love and Death with Sarah Arvio (starting October 12)

• Alter | Altar II: Sigil, Soma, Score, Salve, a radical examination of genre-defying poetics with ELÆ (Lynne DeSilva-Johnson) (starting October 15)

• Witness: A Poetry Writing and Performance Workshop with Rosamond S. King (starting October 16)

• Direct Address: Writing New Poems with Emily Hunt (starting October 17)

• Ear to the Canvas: Lessons from the Visual Arts with Eléna Rivera (starting October 19)

Our weekend Master Classes offer concentrated study with acclaimed poets: Jericho Brown (November 2 & 3), Fanny Howe (December 7 & 8), and Gregory Orr (December 14 & 15).

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You’re also invited to these other wide-ranging programs in our fall lineup:

• Favorite Poem Reading: Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and other esteemed guests read their favorite poems, testifying to the vital role of poetry in our daily lives (October 12).

• North of Invention: The Shaking Tent: Winner of the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2016, Liz Howard will discuss this sacred Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) rite and examine the use of ritual practice as a means to guide one’s work (October 17).

• A Tribute to W. S. Merwin: Poets and friends of the late Poet Laureate, including Sonnet Coggins, Robert Hass, Edward Hirsch, Howard Norman, Naomi Shihab Nye, Michael Ondaatje, John Burnham Schwartz, Tracy K. Smith, Michael Wiegers, and Terry Tempest Williams, celebrate his contribution to the canon of American poetics through readings and remarks (October 21). Location: 92Y’s Kaufmann Concert Hall.

• Academy of American Poets Chancellor Conversations: Chancellors of the Academy of American discuss issues in contemporary life and poetic practice. Poets include Elizabeth Alexander, Alicia Ostriker, Marie Howe, Alberto Ríos, Natasha Trethewey, Forrest Gander, Brenda Hillman, Khaled Mattawa, Marilyn Chin, Kwame Dawes, Linda Gregerson, Terrance Hayes, and David St. John (October 26).

• Poetry of the Supernatural: The Weird: Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association president Bryan Thao Worra joins Linda Addison, the first poet and black woman to win the Horrow Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award, to explore supernatural poetics from H. P. Lovecraft to Edgar Allan Poe (October 29).

• North of Invention: A berthDay Celebration: On the occasion of polymath bill bissett’s 80th birthday, join us in welcoming the poet, painter, musician, and editor to Poets House. Introduced by Adeena Karasick (November 21).

Unless otherwise indicated, all programs take place at Poets House at 10 River Terrace in Lower Manhattan and are $10 general admission, $7 for students and seniors, and free for Poets House members.