Visit Poet's House, Battery Park: April-June Events

If poetry interests you, visit Poets House, the only poetry library in the U.S.: all the latest journals, chapbooks, audio and 50,000 volumes of poetry (to be read in library only).
10 River Terrace (Chambers St., walk west toward river New York, NY 10282 | (212) 431-7920 | info@poetshouse.org :


The House That Holds a Country


Poets House is a national poetry library and literary center that invites poets and the public to step into the living tradition of poetry. Our poetry resources and literary events document the wealth and diversity of modern poetry, and stimulate public dialogue on issues of poetry in culture.

Founded in 1985 by poet Stanley Kunitz and arts administrator Elizabeth Kray, Poets House has created a home for all who read and write poetry. From 1990 to 2007 that home was located in an intimate loft at 72 Spring Street in Soho. As rent increases began to make Soho an impractical location, Poets House was fortunate to be designated by the Battery Park City Authority as a rent-free tenant in a new building on the banks of the Hudson River. In the summer of 2009, Poets House moved to its permanent home at 10 River Terrace in Battery Park City and opened to the public on September 25, 2009.

Throughout its transformations, the heart of Poets House has remained its poetry collection. With over 50,000 volumes of poetry—including books, journals, chapbooks, audio and video tapes, and digital media—our collection is among the most comprehensive, open-access collections of poetry in the United States and is the foundation for all our programs and services.

Each year we present over 200 public programs, including panels, lectures, readings, writing workshops and walking tours in New York City and nationwide. Panel discussions and lectures link the voices of poets living today to a vast literary tradition. Poets House readings presented in public parks and libraries cultivate a wider audience for the art. Innovative seminars and workshops taught by emerging and established poets offer aficionados and first-timers an opportunity to explore the writing process in greater depth.

Through the annual Poets House Showcase, we gather and exhibit all of the years' new poetry books. Thousands of books are shown each year from publishers large and small across the country. The Showcase provides readers and writers an opportunity to view the whole range of the art. All of the books are documented in the Directory of American Poetry Books, the most comprehensive bibliographic resource available for poetry published since the 1990's.

Poetry in The Branches is a model for developing poetry audiences in local communities by providing multi-layered poetry services in public libraries. Poetry in The Branches makes this model available nationwide through our Poetry in The Branches National Institute, on-site trainings and consulting to diverse library systems, and full-service programs in local branches. Branching Out: Poetry for the 21st Century, a joint project with the Poetry Society of America, brought PSA's Poetry In Motion™ program and Poets House's Poetry in The Branches model to 7 cities nationwide.

At the turn of a new century, Poets House is working to create a future where everyone has entree into the ageless, borderless conversation that is poetry. We invite you to join us.
Readings and Workshops


Anne Carson


Thursday, April 29, 7:00pm
Nox: From Box to Book with Anne Carson & Currie

With artistic collaborator Currie, poet Anne Carson discusses and reads from Nox, her illustrated "book in a box" that elegizes the loss of her brother with photos, collages, sketches and poetry written through the lens of her translation of Catullus.

$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members



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may




Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis


Poetry for Children

Saturday, May 1, 11:00am
"How Does a Bird Imagine? What Does a Tree Know?" with Richard Lewis

This performance, art and writing workshop led by children's poet extraordinaire Richard Lewis features a parade in spring-time imagining hats.

Admission free

Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.








Saturday, May 1, 2:00pm
It's About Nature: Children's Learning & the Poetic Experience
with Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis converses with artists, teachers and parents about creating poetic spaces as a means of inspiring community and creative responsiveness to the environment.

Admission free

Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.





Monday, May 3 & Tuesday, May 4, 10:00am–8:00pm
Annual Chapbook Festival

Now in its second year, this two-day national festival of workshops and readings celebrates the microbook. Cosponsored by the MFA Programs in Creative Writing of the City University of New York; the Office of Academic Affairs and the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY; the Center for Book Arts; the Poetry Society of America; and Poets & Writers.

@ The CUNY Graduate Center
For more information, please visit www.centerforthehumanitiesgc.org/festival

Admission free





Diane Ackerman

kimiko hahn


Wednesday, May 5, 7:00pm
Close Observation: The Poetics of Flora & Fauna
A Reading & Conversation with Diane Ackerman & Kimiko Hahn

Diane Ackerman, acclaimed essayist and author of Dawn Light: Dancing with Cranes and Other Ways to Start the Day, talks with Kimiko Hahn, author of Toxic Flora and other poetry collections, about the role of environmental issues and science in their writing.

$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members

From top: Diane Ackerman & Kimiko Hahn





Raúl Zurita

Raúl Zurita


Thursday, May 6, 7:00pm
Chile’s Dante:
An Evening with Raúl Zurita & Anna Deeny

The uncompromising Chilean poet Raúl Zuritareads from his work and talks with Anna Deeny, the English-language translator of his volume Purgatory.

$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members





Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo

Angela Hernández Núñez


Tuesday, May 11, 7:00pm
Praises & Offenses: Women Poets from the Dominican Republic with Linda M. Rodriguez Guglielmoni, Judith Kerman, Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo & Angela Hernández Núñez

Dominican poets Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo and Angela Hernández Núñez are joined by their english-language translator, Judith Kerman, and scholar Linda M. Rodriguez Guglielmoni for a reading and conversation.

$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members

From top: Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo & Angela Hernández Núñez





jonathan skinner

Jonathan Skinner


Ecopoetics After Copenhagen with Jonathan Skinner

Poetry & Biodiversity: A Public Seminar with Jonathan Skinner
Wednesday, May 12, 7:00–9:00pm
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members; pre-registration is not required

In recognition of the International Year of Biodiversity, this seminar with poet and ecocritic Jonathan Skinner looks at current poetics and cultures of biodiversity, including forest languages and invasive activity in disturbed ecosystems.



Poetry & Watersheds: A Public Seminar with Jonathan Skinner
Friday, May 14, 7:00–9:00pm
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members; pre-registration is not required

Poet and ecocritic Jonathan Skinner examines how poets are responding to our relationship to water, taking into account emerging science, politics, and social and ecological inequities.



Urban Field Poetics: A Writing Workshop with Jonathan Skinner
Saturday, May 15, 1:00–5:00pm
$140, pre-registration required; call (212) 431-7920 or email classes@poetshouse.org

Building on the concerns uncovered in Skinner's two previous seminars, this workshop is an ecopoetics field audit that focuses on Poets House's location along the Hudson River and introduces site-based writing.

Jonathan Skinner's poetry collections include With Naked Foot and Political Cactus Poems. He edits the journal ecopoetics and writes ecocriticism on contemporary poetry and poetics. He also teaches in the Environmental Studies Program at Bates College.

Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.





Maurice Manning

Norman Minnick


Thursday, May 13, 7:00pm
Back Home: A Conversation & Reading
with Maurice Manning & Norman Minnick

Poets Maurice Manning and Norman Minnick share poems, tall tales and conversation about the nature of Kentucky poetry, from the lyric to the comic.

$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members

From top: Maurice Manning & Norman Minnick





calef brown

Calef Brown


Poetry for Children

Saturday, May 15, 11:00am
My Life as a Blue Elephant with Calef Brown

Author and illustrator of prize-winning children's books, Calef Brown reads from his most popular works and reveals how he creates his illustrations and madcap poems.

Admission Free





Arthur Sze

Arthur Sze


Tuesday, May 18, 7:00pm
Language of the Neighborhood: Chinese Poetry Today
with Arthur Sze & Lucas Klein

Poet, translator and editor of the new volume Chinese Writers on Writing, Arthur Sze reads and discusses modern and contemporary Chinese poetry with scholar and translator Lucas Klein.

$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members





Marilyn Nelson

Marilyn Nelson


Thursday, May 20, 7:00pm
Sweethearts of Rhythm:
An Evening with Marilyn Nelson & Jerry Pinkney

Acclaimed poet Marilyn Nelson and artist Jerry Pinkney, winner of the 2010 Caldecott Medal, discuss their collaborative book, Sweethearts of Rhythm, which profiles the all-female, interracial band of the 1940s.

$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members





Marcella Durand

Brenda Iijima

Ted Mathys

Tyrone Williams


Tuesday, May 25, 7:00pm
Ecopoetical Futures: A Panel with Marcella Durand, Brenda Iijima, Ted Mathys & Tyrone Williams

Four emerging poets investigate how poetry might marshal diverse languages, ethnicities and identities to engage with a global ecosystem under duress.

Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.

$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members

From top: Marcella Durand, Brenda Iijima, Ted Mathys & Tyrone Williams





Robert Hass

Brenda Hillman


Thursday, May 27, 7:00pm
Elements & Energies:
Robert Hass & Brenda Hillman on Poetry, Ecology & Environmental Action

Robert Hass, former U.S. Poet Laureate, and Brenda Hillman, author of eight lauded collections, share their experiences of activism and writing in response to the natural world.

Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.

$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members





Poetry for Children

Saturday, May 29, 11:00am
River of Words with Robert Hass

Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Robert Hass shares his own poems of the natural world as well as those by children across the country. A discussion about connecting watersheds and imaginations through poetry and art will follow.

Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.

Admission Free



Saturday, May 29, 1:00-3:00pm
An Ethics Occurs at the Edge of What We Know: A Seminar with Brenda Hillman

Author of Practical Water, among other poetry books, Brenda Hillman discusses poetry and activism, writing about the elements and ecopoetics, and the writing process in relation to political commitment and spiritual ideas.

Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.

$25, $20 for students and seniors, $15 for Poets House Members



Saturday, May 29, 4:00pm
Robert Hass & Brenda Hillman in the Great Outdoors: A Reading

This reading inaugurates Poets House's outdoor courtyard in the new South Teardrop Park.

Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.

$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members



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june




Ruth Stone

Ruth Stone


Tuesday, June 8, 7:00pm
What Love Comes To: A Celebration of Ruth Stone
with Chard deNiord, Toi Derricotte, Marie Howe, Galway Kinnell, Maxine Kumin, Dorianne Laux, Sharon Olds, Gerald Stern, Bianca Stone, & Hillery Stone

In honor of Ruth Stone's 95th birthday, friends and fellow poets read from the acclaimed poet's volume What Loves Comes To: New and Selected Poems.

$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members








Monday, June 14, 6:30pm
The 15th Annual Poetry Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge: A Benefit for Poets House

Join performance artist Laurie Anderson, Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang, and award-winning poets Galway Kinnell and Thomas Lux for this annual pilgrimage across one of New York City's great architectural gems. This beloved Poets House event features readings of the poetry of Walt Whitman, Marianne Moore, Langston Hughes and other greats beneath Roebling's famous arches. The journey from Manhattan to Brooklyn closes with a celebratory dinner and the presentation of the Elizabeth Kray Award, or "The Betty" for service to the field of poetry.

This year, The Betty will be awarded to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, "one of our ageless radicals and true bards" (Booklist) who has authored such ground-breathing works as A Coney Island of the Mind, Americus, and Poetry As Insurgent Art; founded the legendary City Lights Bookstore; and launched the City Lights publishing house, which first published Allen Ginsberg's Howl & Other Poems, among other seminal works.

Tickets begin at $250 ($225 for Poets House Members). Reservations are required. For details or to make reservations, contact Krista Manrique at (212) 431-7920, ext. 2830 or krista@poetshouse.org.