Our five stages—The Brinkley, The White Horse, The Algonquin, The Blackbird, and The Beckett—will feature continuous readings from 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday. the full schedule will be listed below soon, but here is 2025’s schedule in case you’re curious!
THE BRINKLEY STAGE
SATURDAY, JULY 18TH
Hosted by TBA.
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featuring poets TBA.
A collective of disabled queer and trans artists trying to make access-oriented events of all kinds (drag, poetry, music) for disabled queers who have been left out because of lack of access-centered events -
featuring poets TBA.
The dozen Thursday Morning Poets (TMP) members first met at a virtual workshop with Queens Poet Laureate Maria Lisella in January 2021. Writers in the group continue to meet weekly. They have varied styles and themes in their poetry, but there is a strong emphasis on social justice issues, the environment, and stories that spin out of their personal life histories. Members who are multilingual often include other languages in their writing. -
featuring poets TBA.
Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a 50 year old institution dedicated to providing artistic opportunities to poets of all nationalities and persuasions. It is widely acknowledged as New York’s birthplace for Slam Poetry, and many famous artists began their career performing with us.
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featuring poets TBA.
HVWC fosters a vibrant literary arts community that supports and empowers writers and readers of diverse ages, talents and backgrounds at every stage of their creative development. SHP is now one of the oldest chapbook presses in the United States and was founded to advance the national and international conversation of poetry and poetics, principally by publishing and supporting the work of new poets.
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featuring poets TBA.
IAWA was founded in 1991 to promote Italian American writing. Its members include writers, readers, editors, publishers, agents, translators, teachers, scholars, and all who are interested in the progress of Italian American writing. IAWA aims to promote Italian American literature by encouraging the writing, reading, publication, distribution, translation, and study of Italian American writing. To promote the production, publication, reception, and study of Italian American writing, IAWA has established three basic ground rules to effect change and raise the level of awareness in the Italian American writing and reading community: Write or be written – IAWA provides a forum to encourage and educate Italian Americans to write their own realities, rather than waiting for others to do it for them. Read one another – IAWA expands and promotes the visibility and reading of Italian American authors. We must begin with ourselves if we are to expect others to read the books of Italian American writers. Buy our books – IAWA works actively to create a market for the sale of books by Italian American authors, and to demonstrate to publishers that a market for those books exists.
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featuring poets TBA.
Queer creative arts collective - we are the parade.
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featuring poets TBA.
As a not-for-profit literary press serving art and community, CavanKerry is committed to expanding the reach of poetry and other fine literature to a general readership by publishing works that explore the emotional and psychological landscapes of everyday life, and to bring that art to the underserved where they live, work and receive services.
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featuring poets TBA.
Scientists and Poets is a micro press located in Brooklyn, NY. Our mission is to support creative writers whose talents have yet to be recognized. We are looking for work that explores the edges of the imagination, where we believe the wonders of science and art are likely to meet.
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features poets TBA.
Poets of Queens celebrates poetry in Queens and beyond by hosting readings and publishing collections.
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featuring poets TBA.
Poetry in Poetry (in Brief) is a poetry community focused on conversations and short readings with some of the most fabulous poets of our time! The live online readings are open to the public.
SUNDAY, JULY 19TH
Hosted by TBA.
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Readers TBA.
VONA provides community, programming, and support for writers of the global majority.
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featuring poets TBA.
Poets Network & Exchange, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization and Bronx-based community hub founded in 2012 by Lorraine Currelley, serving as a supportive, intergenerational space for poets and writers. It fosters literary and social engagement through workshops, spoken word events, the Bronx Book Fair aka The People’s Book Fair. Poets Network & Exchange advocacy centers on literacy, social, environmental, and health justice and equity.
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featuring poets TBA.
RA OPEN MIC is a fundraiser for Arts & Agriculture. We travel the five boroughs to spread the arts.
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featuring poets TBA.
The Adroit Journal (ISSN 2577-9427) is a registered literary and arts nonprofit organization that was founded in 2010 by poet Peter LaBerge. At its foundation, the journal has its eyes focused ahead, seeking to showcase what its global staff of emerging writers sees as the future of poetry, prose, and art.
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featuring poets TBA.
Founded as a feminist press, Alice James Books is committed to collaborating with literary artists of excellence whose voices have been historically marginalized. Since 1973, AJB has been publishing books that matter by poets who inspire. You can learn more at alicejamesbooks.org.
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featuring poets TBA.
Brooklyn Poets honors the literary heritage of Brooklyn by celebrating and cultivating community and craft through a wide range of educational programs and events accessible to all—especially those marginalized by traditional literary and academic structures. We offer workshops, readings, open mics and other programs that foster a more homegrown, close-knit, diverse community of poets and readers than what is traditionally offered by graduate writing programs and the American literary community at large.
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featuring poets TBA.
The Brooklyn Writers Foundry is an intimate program that specializes in fiction, nonfiction and poetry out of St. Joseph's University on the border of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill.
https://www.sjny.edu/brooklyn/academics/graduate/graduate-degrees/creative-writing
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featuring poets TBA.
Tech forward poetry publisher and promoter with a leaning towards spoken word and forward thinking work.
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featuring poets TBA.
'The Written Word is Dead' is a monthly reading series in Brooklyn, prioritising poetry but inclusive of fiction, nonfiction, and spoken-word performers as well. This reading hosts both established poets in the New York poetry scene while also giving opportunities to new voices in the community. Having an eclectic mix of both professional poets and first-time readers is an intentional structure of this reading, which is meant to exemplify that everyone can be a poet, everyone can write poetry, and poetry is everywhere if we allow ourselves to see it. This reading has always been free to attend, and always will be. 'The Written Word is Dead' is the titular cry for keeping written artforms alive that have warped and shifted in relevance and availability as technology and media have transformed how our society consumes art and culture. This monthly gathering also provides a place for writers to gather, network, and be inspired, and has served to also introduce people in the community to literary readings, which are less and less prevalent in the digital age.
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featuring poets TBA.
Season Reflections is a quarterly poetry and music group which pays tribute to the dawning of each season.
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featuring poets TBA.
Hot People Read Poetry is a poetry show and open mic experience dedicated to celebrating the voices of our community.
THE ALGONQUIN STAGE
SATURDAY, JULY 12TH
Hosted by Cierra Martin & Allison Hagen
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Readers TBA.
Searching for Home Collective is a literary community founded by poet Elizabeth Mateer. The collective explores themes of belonging, identity, displacement, resilience, and the interior landscapes that shape how we move through the world. Bridging art and psychology, Searching for Home features writers whose work interrogates memory, migration, heartbreak, reinvention, and the evolving self. The collective centers voices that are both intimate and expansive, grounded in lived experience yet reaching toward universal meaning. Through readings, collaborative events, and published works, Searching for Home cultivates spaces where vulnerability, intellectual rigor, and emotional depth coexist.
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featuring poets TBA.
A literary journal and poetry press dedicated to the poetry & spirit of the northeast coast.
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featuring poets TBA.
An open mic and livestream reading series.
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featuring poets TBA.
Stanchion is an award-winning quarterly literary magazine and book press established in 2020 in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Founder Jeff Bogle is also the author of the cat lover's travel book, Street Cats & Where to Find Them.
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featuring poets TBA.
Troublemakers is an art collective created by three multitalented friends who wanted to provide a voice for artists who do not feel heard.
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featuring poets TBA.
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.
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featuring poets TBA.
A beautiful zine published by award winning poet Dorothy Friedman. I have been working with her for a few years now hosting readings in NYC and Brooklyn
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featuring poets TBA.
The {Poetry} Unfold is one of Hudson County’s oldest running weekly / twice-weekly poetry series. We offer a signature Open Mic + Open Forum model, with regular feature poets, and program of collaboration to empower local poets onto diverse stages, and foster broader poetic community. The Unfold promotes the healing power of poetry intersected with informed, safe-space facilitation. Inspired by NYC PoFest, Unfold members also spearheaded the Hudson County Poetry Festival in 2025, which we hope to keep annual! :)
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featuring poets TBA.
Mictastic! holds open mics and showcases for the artist, by the artist.
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featuring poets TBA.
We're a dandy, queer poetry and art collective that platforms artists brings them work and community puts on events in NYC
SUNDAY, JULY 13TH
Hosted by Jose Rios
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featuring Jodi Lin, Birch Wiley, and Brooklyn Baggett
new words {press} is a non-profit, poetry press dedicated to elevating the voices of emerging and established trans* and gender-expansive poets, building community, and sharing knowledge.
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring
Linda Kleinbub is the Founding Editor of Pink Trees Press, curator of Fahrenheit Open Mic, co-founder of Pen Pal Poets & contributing editor at Girls Write Now. She’s the author of Cover Charge (Autonomedia, 2022) & co-editor of the Silver Tongued Devil Anthology (Pink Trees Press, 2020.) Some of the places she’s published are Best American Poetry, Brooklyn Rail, LiveMag!, Yahoo! Beauty, The Observer, Sensitive Skin Magazine, and many anthologies. She is a native New Yorker.
Madelline Artenberg was a photojournalist and street theatre performer before falling for poetry. Her work appears in publications, such as Rattle, The Poet and MacQueens Quinterly. She was semi-finalist in Margie, The American Journal of Poetry contest, and finalist in Mudfish 2020 contest. One of her poems was nominated as Best of the Net 2020 by Poets Wear Prada.
Ptr Kozlowski has been a taxi driver, deliveryman, poet and printer, singer songwriter, and guitarist. He's been published in the Hobo Jungle, South Florida Poetry Journal, and anthologies by Great Weather for Media, the Unbearables, Silver-Tongued Devils and Performance Poets Association. He performed at CBGB's, ABC NoRio, Bowery Poetry Club, Cornelia Street Cafe, Boog City festival and many open mics
Jada Fitzpatrick (she/they) is a writer, rebel, and free spirit. Jada’s life has always revolved around creating social change, advocating for others, and speaking out against injustice. Through her passion for both writing and learning about Black history, Jada's life mission is to explore how Black livelihoods and Black joy have been preserved through creative outlets. Jada's poetic musings are reflective of being a Black/Boricua Zillennial in these crazy, unprecedented times.
C. O. Moed grew up on the Lower East Side when it was still a tough neighborhood. A recipient of the Elizabeth George Grant for Fiction and an alum of the infamous WOW Cafe, her debut book, It Was Her New York (Rootstock Publishing) received a Kirkus “Get It” Review, was a Firebird Book Award Judges' Pick, Booklife Editor's Pick and a quarterfinalist in the 2024 BookLife Prize in Memoir / Autobiography, receiving the highest score of a ten rating. Her collection of short pieces, Consequences of Penises and Other Unexpected Moments will be coming out soon. She lives "uptown" in the East Village with fellow writer, Ted Krever. They are both Mets fans.
Pen Pal Poets is a group of diverse poets, artists, storytellers, and musicians that curates poetry readings throughout the city. Readings have been held at the Playhouse Theater, 6BC Community Garden and the NYC Poetry Festival.
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featuring
Pauline Findlay is a poet and filmmaker for Poetry in Motion! Her book Dysfunction: A Play on Words in the Familiar, released by Pink Tress Press, is a poetic circus filled with winding roads that asks one question: “Which road will you take?” She’s performed at Fahrenheit reading series, book stores, Women of Color, and outdoor festivals! You can find her films on YouTube! Follow her on Facebook and @ringmastersideshow on Instagram.
Phillip Giambri left home at eighteen and never looked back. He’s seen and done what others dream of or fear. That’s how he lives and that’s what he writes. He was the 2022 winner of the Nassau County Poet Laureate Society poetry contest and a 2020 Acker Award recipient for Storytelling. Phillip’s 2022 memoir Good Boy, Bad Boy, A Better Man covers his early life in the 40s in South Philadelphia up to his life in the East Village in the 70s. Phillip’s 2020 novelette The Amorous Adventures of Blondie and Boho is a story of love, survival, and gentrification in NYC’s East Village, and the chapbook Poems from an Unending Pandemic offers his perspective on NYC life during the COVID-19 pandemic. His 2017 chapbook Love Borne in Retrograde is a collection of love poems and erotica, and the 2016 memoir Confessions of a Repeat Offender is a compilation of his performance stories and poems.
Jennifer Juneau is a 2025 Acker Award recipient for her poetry. Her newest book is Night of the Manhattans, published Summer 2025 by Pink Trees Press. Her short fiction collection Maze was published in September 2024 by Roadside Press. She is the author of the full-length poetry collection More Than Moon, which was a finalist in the National Poetry Series (Is a Rose Press, 2020), and the novel ÜberChef USA (Spork Press, 2019). After living and traveling through Europe for eighteen years, she lives and writes in New York City.
Ron Kolm is a contributing editor of Sensitive Skin. Ron is the author of Divine Comedy, Suburban Ambush, Night Shift, A Change in the Weather, Welcome to the Barbecue and Swimming in the Shallow End. He's had work in And Then, The Café Review, Gathering of the Tribes, Great Weather for Media, Maintenant, Live Mag!, Local Knowledge, NYC From the Inside, The Opiate, the Poets of Queens anthology, Public Illumination Magazine, The Red Wheelbarrow, the Riverside Poets Anthology, The Silver Tongued Devil anthology, Sparring With Beatnik Ghosts Omnibus and the Brownstone Poets anthologies. Ron’s papers were purchased by the New York University Library.
Jane LeCroy is a mother, a teaching-artist, and fronts the lyrically driven bands: The Icebergs (cello/voice/drums), hear the records “Eldorado” and “Add Vice”, also, the spontaneous music project, Ω▽ (Ohmslice), with Bradford Reed’s modular synth, hear “Conduit” on vinyl, both from Imaginator Records, available streaming everywhere. Jane has toured with the women’s poetry troupe, Sister Spit, and is a character at The Poetry Brothel. Pink Trees Press published Spellbook of Ordinary Mistakes, Three Rooms Press published Signature Play, a multimedia book of her lyrical poems, including a nomination for a Pushcart Prize. Her poetry book, Names was published by Booklyn and is archived in the Library of Congress along with her braid.
Pink Trees Press is a non-profit press publishing the work of diverse writing.
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featuring poets TBD
Open mic, showcase, workshop & creative social series.
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featuring SJ Willett, Theta Pavis, Erato, Pande, Ignacio Manzanero, and Cyn Grace Sylvie
Jersey City Writers (JCW) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization in Hudson County, NJ. We are dedicated to building a community for writers to develop and explore their craft by interacting with other writers. We inspire and support each other through dozens of monthly events, including workshops, writing prompts, marathons, and special events. All genres are welcome. Our diverse meetings cater to writers of novels, plays, poems, memoirs, short stories, and more. Stop by and bond with other people who understand the complicated yet satisfying process of creating something from nothing.
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featuring
Jamie Lazan (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based expressive artist, poet, and holistic arts facilitator devoted to unearthing the stories that shape us. As the Founder of The Human Arts Collective, she creates spaces for reflection, healing, and connection. With a background in trauma-informed creativity, somatics, sand play therapy, human services, storytelling, and embodied leadership, Jamie blends inner child wonder, ritual, and the power of creative process. Rooted in nature’s rhythms and the wisdom of mind-body-spirit connection, her work explores where shadow meets light—and where we remember how to be fully alive. In mentorship and experience curation, she invites others to explore the awe and wonder of being human. She welcomes you into the tender terrain of tides and waves of human experience—as multiple modalities bridge together to invite you into this set and vending table experience. IG: @jamie.jalynne | https://linktr.ee/JamieLynne
Originating in Washington D.C and raised across every letter of the DMV, but primarily between Laurel, Maryland and Jhelum, Pakistan, MALIKAH is the alter-ego of writer, musician, and community builder Neha Malik (نیہا ملک). Bending guitar strings, genres, and words to her will, MALIKAH uses her self-taught music skills to serve the stories and communities at the heart of her art. She has been featured in the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the 2024 New York City Poetry Festival with the Human Arts Collective, and D.C’s grassroots music community, Incubator on the Web. You can contact and find her at itsmemalikah.blog
Jessica Harding is a holistic therapist, peace activist, and poet devoted to the work of personal healing and meaningful connection across differences. She is the founder of Inner Child Sleepover Party, a playful and transformative space for reconnecting to joy, belonging, and radical self-love. Her debut poetry collection, Wear Flowers in Your Hair: Power to the Peaceful, is a love letter to the dreamers, the seekers, and the rebels at heart — a call to return to nature, remember our innate wholeness, and reclaim the beauty of being fully alive. Instagram: @jess_harding316 | www.innerchildsleepoverparty.com
Emily Cordes is a Brooklyn, NY-based actress, writer, theatre-maker, and arts marketer/fundraiser. She hails from Pittsburgh, PA and is a graduate of Smith College and Columbia University. She has performed in various plays, films, and web productions throughout the tri-state area, and co-created devised theatre with such groups as No Dominion Theatre Company and The Laboratory of Soul. As a founding member of the feminist theatre group Tapestry Collective, she develops, produces, and performs in original devised plays, most recently 2022's "#SoSadSoSexy," about the fetishization of mentally ill women. Her poetry collections "Queen of Swords" (2023) and "Armful of Poppies" (2021) were published by Read or Green Books, and she performs spoken word live in NYC and on Zoom screens across the country and globe. IG: @postmodern.psyche; http://bit.ly/EmilyCordes
The Human Arts Collective is a community-focused organization that fosters creativity, connection, and personal growth through artistic and expressive practices.
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring David Groff, Gia Anansi-Shakur, Kristine Esser Slentz, and Brad Vogel
NYC Poets Afloat is an annual residency and reading series aboard ships around New York Harbor since 2019.
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featuring poets
Cierra Martin (she/her) is a Brooklyn based poet and producer. She is the founder of the poetry interview series There's A Lot to Unpack Here where she facilitates live, honest and educational discussion of all things poetry and writing practice. She has worked with the Poetry Society of New York for eight years, leading workshops, performing with the Poetry Brothel, working as a typewriter poet, hosting open mics and both performing and working on the annual Poetry Festival. Her work can be found in Oroboro Lit Journal and Little Somethings Press. Her writing is rooted in what it means to hold and let go, how to leave things better than you found them. She loves tattoos and thinks that everyone should spend a day on Staten Island.
Kindall Gant is a Black femme interdisciplinary poet and New Orleans native based in Brooklyn. She experiments with visual storytelling as liberation bringing poems into conversation with expressive forms like film, visual art, music and photography. They have received support from Cave Canem, the Poetry Foundation, MASS MoCA, the Saltonstall Foundation, the Watering Hole, Studio Museum in Harlem and Ma's House among other arts institutions. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net and appears or is forthcoming in TORCH, 1619 Speaks, Brooklyn Poets, The Poetry Society of New York's Milk Press, and Obsidian.
Leilani is an award-winning, internationally ranked spoken word poet and multi-disciplinary theater artist hailing from Honolulu and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. In just a year and a half of poetry, Leilani has performed extensively across New York City and Honolulu including having opened for Rupi Kaur along with featuring at over 25+ events at prominent venues such as the Bowery Poetry Club and has led workshops for organizations like the New York Poetry Society. In the slam poetry circuit, she has garnered multiple awards, including winning the Brooklyn Poetry Slam at BRIC, the Honolulu Poetry Slam, multiple slams at the renowned Nuyorican Poetry Cafe and being ranked in the top 30 at the Womxn of the World Poetry Slam. Leilani holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Studies from Chapman University and is the founder and host of the Sakura Series (@sakura.series), where she has produced, hosted, and curated over 20 events
Sophia Noulas, she/hers/yours, is a poet in Brooklyn who needs a new career. If you see her in the Trader Joe's checkout line and she isn't holding the soft Licorice Twists, please just remind her and that situation will eventually sort itself out. Her debut chapbook, Pip Culture, was released by Bottlecap Press in 2024.
Allison (she/they) is a poet and journalist. Born in Brooklyn and raised on Staten Island, she's now back in her home city after eight transformative years of living elsewhere, most recently Los Angeles. Her work explores cosmic connections, karmic healing, the magic of existing in the middle between two worlds and eternal love, among other invisible things.
Gabby Mancuso (she/her) is a Brooklyn based poet & publishing professional who started writing poetry at age 8 when her crush ran away from her on the playground.Since then her work delves into the numerous heartbreaks that have followed, as well as exploring her identity as a Puerto Rican and overall sensitive ass bitch.
Meghan (May-Gan) on the Mic is a Canadian-born, Indian-American-identifying poet and storyteller who currently resides in New Jersey. Her poetry tackles themes of dismantling social & systemic hierarchies, childhood innocence, love, lust, and what it means to be an Indian who doesn’t fit the average “tropes” in today’s society. Meghan’s storytelling experience involves being an avid participant in the NJ Montclair StorySLAM competitions, the NYC Storytell series founded by Rachel Saslaw, and Queer to Tell: A traveling storytelling series. Meghan is also passionate about scriptwriting and reading, singing cabaret or at open mic events, and exhibiting her paintings at various local art shows. Meghan is deeply honored to be sharing her latest poem with TALTUH at PoFest this year and with all of you!
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featuring Temlah Sauft, DK Grey, and Blessen
Spotlight Poetry is a dynamic poetry organization and brand dedicated to amplifying diverse voices and cultivating a thriving literary arts community. Spotlight Poetry has become a cornerstone of Las Vegas's creative scene, hosting impactful events, workshops, and performances that bridge poetry with culture, activism, and education. Spotlight Poetry’s programming includes competitive slams, themed showcases, and collaborative community projects that inspire creativity and foster connection. Spotlight Poetry is committed to making poetry accessible, transformative, and reflective of the communities it serves.
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featuring poets TBD
THE BECKETT STAGE
SATURDAY, JULY 12TH
Hosted by Lars Montanaro
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featuring Shamsun Tiba, Zee Rosado, Tenesaca, Triniti Gamble, Pharaoh Gonder, J’miah Baird, Amanda Dettmann, and Maura Lee Bee
826NYC is a nonprofit whose mission is to encourage the exploration of endless possibilities through the power of writing. Undefined by circumstance, 826NYC's students build the skills to boldly write their own paths forward. 826NYC supports new and exciting approaches to writing and inspires student engagement. And 826NYC fosters generations of creative writers and thinkers, who together will define a better future.
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featuring Megha Sood, Maria Lisella, Judy Trupin, Beth Evans, Isabella Calisi-Wagner, Luvon Roberson, and Melva C. Lewis
The dozen Thursday Morning Poets (TMP) members first met at a virtual workshop with Queens Poet Laureate Maria Lisella in January 2021. Writers in the group continue to meet weekly. They have varied styles and themes in their poetry, but there is a strong emphasis on social justice issues, the environment, and stories that spin out of their personal life histories. Members who are multilingual often include other languages in their writing.
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featuring Molly Zhu, Xochi Quetzali Cartland, Kaylee Young-Eun Jeong, Micaela Camacho-Tenreiro, and Maria Gray
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featuring
Danielle Bero was born in Queens to hippie parents, given a dose of Shel Silverstein, Tupac, Jazz and classic rock. Danielle is a Posse and Fulbright scholar, teacher and co-founded a school for students in foster-care. She received a master’s in English Education, Educational Leadership and completed her MFA at the University of San Francisco. She’s a Jack Straw Cultural Center Fellow and is published in New American Writing, Sinister Wisdom, Lavender Review, Quiet Lightning, Mad Woman in the Attic, Juked, and Divine Feminist and Aunt Flo Anthologies. Fruit Loops is Danielle’s debut as a screenwriter and director. Bero is a lifelong creative, traveler and educator, previously the principal of a public high school in Brooklyn now working in School Improvement for the state, looking to bring short films, open mics and music/poetry to the forefront of everyday life. You can find her @BeroQueensPoet on IG and at www.DanielleBero.com for more info.
Betsy Guttmacher's poems have appeared in The Black River: Death Poems, Bullshit Lit, Curlew New York, Dreamers, Bowery Gothic, the Brooklyn Poets Anthology, and the Bridge. She has been a member of the poetry collective Sweet Action since 2015 and is a contributor to three of its chapbooks. She is a Brooklyn-based Reiki Master working in hospitals, community organizations, and with individuals in private sessions.
Cienna Wills is a preschool teacher and grad student by day and a tired but enthusiastic poet by night. She has been in New York City for 30 years with pit stops in South Korea, Germany, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maryland. When she is not chasing, I mean teaching little rabble-rousers, you can find her galavanting around Brooklyn reading and writing poetry for the masses and drinking fancy beers, sometimes both simultaneously. She wrote her first poem when she was 9 years old and has been smitten with poetry ever since.
Sarah Lyn Rogers is an NYC-based writer and editor from the San Francisco Bay Area. Her editing credits include books for Soft Skull Press, short stories and personal essays for Catapult magazine, fiction for The Rumpus, and serving as series co-editor for the annual anthology Best Debut Short Stories: The PEN America Dau Prize. She is the author of the chapbooks Inevitable What (Sad Spell Press, 2016) and Autocorrect Suggests “Tithe” (Ghost City Press, 2021) and she wrote a column for Catapult called Internet as Intimacy. She was the 2014 winner of the Academy of American Poets' Virginia de Araujo Prize, as well as a finalist for the 2019 St. Lawrence Book Award. Her debut full-length collection, Cosmic Tantrum, is available now from Northwestern University Press.
Kayla Schwab (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based poet, yoga teacher, and creative director. She is a programming associate at Brooklyn Poets, where she is helping to develop youth-based workshops and other programs. Kayla has also taught workshops for the Poetry Society of New York and New York Public Library. Her work has been published in Stone Pacific Zine, Intangible and Oyedrum, which nominated her poem “Great Expectations" for a Pushcart Prize in 2021. You can connect with her on Instagram @80smomchic, where she often posts videos from her beloved dance classes.
Sweet Action is a collective of poets who use our writing as a means to connect to each other and the broader community. The group was founded in 2014 by Mirielle Clifford and Julie Hart and is based in Brooklyn. Through our workshops, readings, and public actions, we aim to create a welcoming, respectful, feminist and gender-inclusive space for poets of different identities, backgrounds and experiences working in all styles and forms.
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featuring
Judy C. Andrews, the NWU MC for the 2025 NYC PoFest, received a Master of Arts degree in English/Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences from The City College of New York. She has worked as an educator, freelance writer, and editor. She has written two suspense thrillers: An Ocean of Jewels, and A Gift to Treasure. Her most recent work is The Gathering of Gemstones: A Poetry Collection. Ms. Andrews frequently writes about social issues and characters who seek ways to rectify dangerous experiences. Her favorite issues to explore in her writing are foster care, education, history, and Gullah/Geechee culture. She enjoys cooking, taking long walks in warm rain, and sightseeing. Her books can be purchased at your favorite bookstore as well as on Amazon.com. Website: https://www.Blessedbrown.com
Américo Casiano, Jr. is the author of On the Stand, published in 2007 through iUniverse, Lincoln, NE. His works are published in: The Next World: Poems by Third World Americans, edited by Joseph Bruchac, Crossing Press; New Rains: Our Fathers Our Sons, edited by Gary Johnston Et Tal, Blind Beggar Press; Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café, edited by Miguel Algarin Et Tal, Henry Holt Company; and Bum Rush the Page, A Def Petry Jam, edited by Tony Medina and the late Louis Reyes Rivera, Three Rivers Press. He is a recipient of the 2017 Bronx Recognizes Its Own Award for Excellence in Poetry (BRIO) and the 2003 New York Foundation for the Arts’ Poetry Fellow.
Jim Story is the author of the eight-part poem: “Notes of Forty-Year Old Country Boy”, which appeared as the centerfold of Poets Magazine some time ago. He is also a novelist and, as such, the author of Problems of Translation, The Condor’s Shadow, and Professor Fairweather Hits the Skids. He’ll be reading 3 poems from the “Country Boy Poems.”
Betty Pierre is a Haitian American, Social Worker, Poet and Activist, a multilingual speaker and the winner of a Choice Award from the International Library of Poetry, as well as a recipient of a Writer’s Digest book award for her poetry collection Babel (2007).
Diane Murray Ward is a proud New Yorker of West Indian descent. Diane’s teaching experience, modern jazz dance performance/choreographer/blog talk radio show hosting were creative precursors to her spoken word poetry contributions within local, national, and international venues. Diane has authored book reviews for both fiction and non-fiction books. She has served on several committees for the National Writer Union over these last ten years. She is also TESORO. https://firesingers.com.
The National Writers Union is the only labor organization representing freelance writers in every genre. With 13 chapters across the U.S., the NWU works to advance economic and working conditions of writers -- lobbying for legislation, initiating lawsuits, educating writers on their rights, networking, organizing picket lines, publicizing viable alternatives to unfair practices by both the traditional and Internet publishers, and by mobilizing members to fight for their collective self-interest. We're eager to help members and fellow writers' organizations. Reach out so we can collaborate!
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featuring Marcel Hidalgo, Nicollette Barsamian, and Victoria Lau
The BMCC Writing Center poets group consists of Igwe Williams, the director of the writing center and a faculty member for the English department, Nicollette Barsamian, the supervisor, Marcel Hidalgo, the former coordinator of the writing center, and Victoria Lau, a tutor for the Writing Center and an English adjunct lecturer at Queens College and John Jay College. As educators, we work with students throughout each step of the writing process. We also offer various workshops during term related to English composition and poetry. As poets we write in both free verse and formal poetry. We believe in using poetry to voice underrepresented narratives.
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featuring poets TBD
Bloodletter is a biannual feminist horror magazine publishing personal and analytical perspectives on the horrific by women, trans, and non-binary writers. Bloodletter offers an exploratory space for writers to share their lived experiences of horror and the theoretical implications of the genre through fiction, non-fiction, film critique, interviews, and poetry. A featured artist is selected to illustrate each issue, resulting in an unconventional multidisciplinary digital platform that offers new and vital perspectives on the horror genre.
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featuring Nicollette Barsamian, Hannah Page, and Jeffrey Cherubin
Weekly Writing circle that meets Tuesday nights at Caffeine Underground in Bushwick. Come one, come all! Share your writing and get feedback. Get inspired by hearing other peoples' work, relax in a comfortable space, and warm up your creativity. Bring your work or see where our writing prompts take you! The focus of the group will be on women and non-binary-identified folks (of any gender presentation!), but everyone is welcome and all genres are appreciated! Dust off your poetry and short fiction or bring parts of longer works. Bonus points for referencing Octavia Butler. Stick around after the circle.
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring poets TBD
A mashup of poets to music
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featuring
Jared Knowles is a spoken word artist and writer from New Jersey. In the field of economics, he researches labor market outcomes and the gender wage gap, being featured in the 2021 book “Inequalities in America: Causes and Consequences”. In his storytelling, he relays insights on human connection, absurdism, and mortality. Jared is now working on his debut novel currently titled ‘A Father’s Plan’. You can find his hip hop music under the moniker The Babyfaced Poet.
Aly is a New Jersey writer and artist studying to be a high school English teacher. She enjoys finding inspiration in personal experiences, the ever-changing natural world, and her local community of talented creators.
Iri Gonzalez is an NJ-based writer and educator. When not writing, they are often looking at pictures of animals or ghosts for inspiration. They are the recipient of William Paterson’s 2020 award for Fiction, and have been published in the journals Map Literary and Edge City. @iri_on_a_dogstar
Miriam Heddy is a lifelong poet and lexiphile, drawing inspiration from motherhood, Judaism, the female grotesque, and science-as-metaphor. She has an MA in Literature, teaching literature and composition within collaborative writing communities.
Sam Bass is born of stardust, evolved to raw guts and spoken word. Likes: finding the divine in the mundane; Dislikes: people who lack whimsy.
Johan Reyes is a latin child in the shape of an adult. And will rep New Jersey until he dies.
The Sanctuary is a 501c3 nonprofit based in northern New Jersey. Our organization started in April 2023 and became a nonprofit in February 2024. We are a group of professional helpers, artists, and business folk who have come together with a shared mission. Our MISSION The Sanctuary is a community hub offering a home for social connection and creative expression. The Sanctuary is a volunteer run-dynamic space where all walks of life can connect through holistic wellness, education workshops, and artistic classes and events.
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featuring Dena Igusti, Kristian Macaron , and Kat Anderson
Game Over Books was founded in 2017 by a group of poets who wanted to level up the publishing world by placing an emphasis on underrepresented voices. Since then, Game Over Books has grown its following across the nation and has a strong local presence in the Greater Boston Area, showing up for events throughout the northeast and connecting with fans, friends, and authors alike to emphasize that poetry is for everyone.
Find them on Instagram @gameoverbooks or online at gameoverbooks.com to explore their recent releases and upcoming events.
SUNDAY, JULY 13TH
Hosted by Emi Bergquist
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featuring poets TBD
Non-profit Artistic Company that empowers girls and gender expansive individuals to express themselves and their advocacy of social justice issues through the many elements of the arts.
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featuring Owen Lewis, Adam Grabowski, Katie Ebbitt, and Ayelet Amittay
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Ren Glaser is a Reformed Theatre Kid (TM) turned writer whose lust for life comes from a lifetime of battles. From coming of age as a child of adoption to a 15 + year long struggle with anorexia, Ren knows what it is like to have to pull yourself out of a (sometimes very real and not at all imaginary) dumpster. Using humor, heart and authenticity, Ren strives to reach a wide audience of people with their writing. While they mostly write from their own personal experiences with mental health and abuse, they also occasionally use their knowledge to write fiction. Ren is, as always, incredibly grateful for all the people, trials, puppies, friends and the more-than-occasional enemies from getting them to where they are today.
Katie Hébert (she/they) is a poet and writer born and raised in New York. She is currently an MFA in Creative Writing student and Teaching Fellow at Manhattanville University, and she holds a BA in English and Women’s & Gender Studies from SUNY Oneonta. They are an alum of The Heart of It and the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational (CUPSI). Their work has been published in Gnashing Teeth Publishing, Ink and Marrow Lit, and Turnpike Magazine, among others.
Steph Kleid is a poet and writer from New Jersey. Steph works as a lecturer of academic writing at Manhattanville University, where she received both her BA in English and her MFA in Creative Writing. Steph's work can be found in Creation Magazine; MiamiU's literary journal, Sinking City; and forthcoming in Sunflowers at Midnight and Pork Belly Press' online magazine, Sugared Water. Recently, Steph's poem Weekday Duplex was nominated by Creation Magazine for a Pushcart Prize. When she's not teaching, you can find Steph working on the next great American poetry collection, "down the shore" in New Jersey, reading through her mile-long TBR pile, and trying iced coffee from every locally owned cafe she can find.
The Manhattanville MFA Program brings together a close-knit community of writers dedicated to learning the craft of writing across genres.
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Turrialba Literaria is a literary community founded on August 9, 2015, in Turrialba, Costa Rica. Its primary goal is to promote and disseminate local literature, providing a platform for both emerging and established writers in the region. The organization comprises various literary collectives, facilitating an evolving understanding of the canton's literary landscape. Additionally, Turrialba Literaria annually organizes notable events such as the International Poetry Festival of Turrialba in August, the International Presagio de Fuego Festival in January, and the Youth Poetry Festival in April, fostering cultural exchange and appreciation of poetry within the community.
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featuring poets TBD
Water over Seawalls Poetry is a Brooklyn based collective poetry organization asking the question “what is art in the face of apocalypse?” In a world seemingly at the brink politically, economically, and most pressingly ecologically, what is the point of art? Can the poems we craft be defiant, trendsetting or transformative? Or are we just dancing on the slumbering Volcano? We seek to display beauty in the chaos and give a life preserver to cling to in these times of crisis. Our bywords are Doom, Truth, Hope.
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring Prometheus Brer, Bleu Zephra Santiago, Nas, Jairo Mata, and Sophia Valera Heinecke
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featuring B., Anjoli Santiago, and RyAnn V Bryant
Founded in 2017, Souletri was born from a vision of fostering community connections and providing a safe haven for artists to express themselves freely. With support from Power Street Theatre, we curate a range of events, from Open Mics to artist showcases to digital series, all spanning from Philadelphia to New York and beyond.
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring Monica Sarmiento Castillo Archer, Xiang Huang, Shirley Fennessey, and Victoria Zhang
bi/Coa: Base Intercultural / Community of the Americas Was founded in 2012. Is a organization that was created and run to promotes Hispano-American culture and interrelation with other cultures through art: exhibitions, cinema, theater and literature. The series of programs that will be presented, express concepts of justice, social service, and freedom of expression. This exciting program will include workshops, conferences and panel discussions with the artists plus the exhibition of large collections that normally reside in museums and private collections around the world.
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featuring poets TBD
Poetry for All is a cultural, artistic project strongly engaged in social activism. Its mission is to spread poetry among citizens and to create social change through verse, spoken word and performance. Poetry for All has been involved in poetic action. Its members have organized bilingual monthly readings in New York -La Nacional, D´ Antigua, Barco de Papel- poetry festivals and fairs, and have participated in round-tables, workshops, talks and creative gatherings.
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featuring poets TBD
Intersections Mag is a creative community of artists in NYC especially involved in the promotion of the arts through 1) participating in city and neighbourhood initiatives; and 2) organizing events and activities (readings, cultural conferences, gallery openings). Intersections Mag members are multicultural, both men and women, highly engaged in human(ism) and social values.
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featuring poets TBD
THE WHITE HORSE STAGE
SATURDAY, JULY 12TH
Hosted by Matt Proctor
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featuring JP Howard, Caitlin Grace McDonnell, KC Trommer, and Pichchenda Bao
Braving the Body is a collection, a conversation, a community, an ongoing connection to our bodies, our lives, our intersections, our imaginations, and our selves. Three contributors featured in the anthology will share their work and expand the space for all bodies, all work, all of us.
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featuring
David Mills has published four poetry collections: The Sudden Country, The Dream Detective, After Mistic and Boneyarn—the one book of poems about New York slavery and winner of the North American Book Award. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Colorado Review and Crab Orchard Review.
Kay Poema is a visionary poet, educator, and community leader, currently serving as the 2023-2025 Bronx Poet Laureate. Author of two poetry collections, "Cry Sweat Bleed Write" and "Diary of an Intercessor” Kay believes writing works as a birthing floor for healing, invention, and re-imagination where the poetic voice is responsible for both blessing and bruising the inquiring reader. She earned an MFA from The City College of New York, where she also works as an Adjunct Professor and Academic Advisor. When Kay isn’t teaching or writing, she can be found nurturing her plants and her two sons, in the heart of the South Bronx.
Michael Steigman is a native New Yorker born and raised in The Bronx. They started performing at Open Mic nights with Art in The Basin in 2018. Michael was a featured reader with Kingsbridge Riverdale Van Cortlandt's Development Corp LGBT series for Valentine's Day in 2023 and 2024 and their work is published in the Bronx Memoir Project Volume IV. Most recently they moderated a discussion for Suri Chan's debut collection of poetry, 'But I Don't Feel Empowered'. with Astoria Bookshop. Michael's work can be found at www.steigmanm.substack.com
Miss Fly Vida is a poet, spoken word artist, and educator based in The Boogie Down Bronx, NYC. What began as a hobby transformed into a mission to raise awareness of turmoil and celebrate the sacred. Fly Vida's poetry captures her sentiments regarding the current state of society ("Dear Donald Trump"), the need for education equity ("No Unnecessary Testing"), and reveres the power of the Feminine ("Womanness"). Fly Vida has been featured at open mic series such as Art in the Basin and La Esquina. Through her performances on stage and two published collections of poetry- "Napkin Notes" and "The Fly Life: Uncaged"- she aims to invigorate the mind and inspire the soul. Visit @itsMissFlyVida on Instagram for her latest musings and future appearances.
With a community-based aesthetic, Art In The Basin (AITB) draws a diverse collection of voices in a thriving public conversation that features emergent local, national, and international talent. As of late summer 2021, AITB VOM is now AITB Hybrid Open Mic (HOM), streaming live via YouTube from Mon Amour Coffee and Wine in the Bronx. AITB’s 8th season will feature performances from published and unpublished writers, musicians, comedians, plus AITB HOM. AITB also offers free periodic, generative, and how-to workshops to the writing community. In 2024, AITB has brought board game opportunities to the New York Public Library for adults of all ages.
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featuring Paola Assad Barbarino, Steven Licardi, and Monica Trixel
Poetry Fighters is a grassroots literary movement that reclaims public space through the power of spoken word and performance. Born at the intersection of activism, community, and contemporary poetry, it brings together diverse voices to challenge norms, amplify marginalized stories, and celebrate language as resistance. From street corners to cultural festivals, Poetry Fighters ignites dialogue, emotion, and transformation—one verse at a time.
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featuring Ryan Buynak, Ryan Drag, Time Dinosaur, Jacob R. Moses, and Brian VanRemmen
The founders of Coyote Blood Press and DenimSkin Literary Review bring friends and return to NYC Poetry fest after a long hiatus to triumph once again!
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featuring Zoey Rose, Carla M. Cherry, Joanne Grumet, Dhooleka Sarhadi Raj, Susanna Horng, and Y Kendall
The Marbled Sigh is a poetry journal by emerging writers for emerging writers.
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featuring Millicent Ansah, Yetvart Majian, Robert Rosa III, and Vera Sirota
Hobo(ken) Poets is a group loosely associated with the Hoboken Historical Museum which hosts poetry events throughout the year
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featuring poets TBD
LA BRUJAS CLUB WAS CREATED TO BE A SANCTUARY FOR SELF-CARE AND STORYTELLING. OUR PLATFORM IS A BEACON OF HOPE AND HEALING, OFFERING RESOURCES THAT FOSTER SPIRITUAL WELLNESS AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT.
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featuring
Kris Janvier is a poet, actor and author from Baldwin, NY. He self-published his first ever book titled "Drift" in March 2024. "Drift 1.5" was released in December 2024. He's a member of the Multicultural Council of NY and The Scene. He has performed in local open mics for 7 years. His poems are published "Nassau County Voices in Verse 2023", "Nassau County Voices in Verse 2024" and other anthologies.
Linda Lerner’s Taking the F Train (NYQ Books, 2021)was a finalist in the 2022 Paterson Poetry Prize. Her poems recently appeared in Maintenant, Gargoyle, Big City Lit, One Art, Shot Glass Journal, Pinyon Review, Main Street Rag, Raven’s Perch, NYC from the Inside (poetry anthology, 2022) & Great Weather of Media (anthology) Arriving at a Shoreline, Verse Daily,(featured “A Bad Weather Time” from Taking The F Train (NYQ Books); her latest collection How It Was (2020—2021) and Is ,a chapbook of pandemic related poems, published by Iniquity Press/vendetta Books, 2023.
Nancy Mercado is the recipient of the 2017 American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement, and was named one of 200 living individuals who best embody the work and spirit of Frederick Douglass. She has presented her work throughout the US and abroad. More info @ nancy-mercado.com
Deanna Outten is a writer and poet who has been extremely dedicated to rediscovering her calling in life. Outten has experienced a series of events, trials, and life lessons that she has made into stories, myths, poems, and allegories. On her free time Outten frequently attends open mic nights all over her home state of New Jersey, and the tri-state area, including shows of the NJ Poetry Renaissance created by Damian Rucci.
Michael Antonio Pagano has been performing as a comedian since 16 and two years ago at 30. He started writing poetry which has been inspired by his work with plant medicine, love and spirituality.
Mas Walker is a generational Poet in Residence of The East Fourth Street Cultural District "Fourth Arts Block" Recipient of The B.M.C.C. Borough Of Manhattan Community College Poet Laureate Award (2013). East Village Eye contributor, Poetry Event creator.
George Wallace (b.1949 NY, USA), Writer in residence, Walt Whitman Birthplace. Author of 42 chapbooks and 5 spoken word albums in US, UK, Italy, Greece, Macedonia, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, India, Spain. Major international poetry festival prizes and appearances, etc. Honorary Doctorate, CiESART/Royal Academy 2024 (SP).
Weekly Open Mic Series in the East Village for Poets and Musicians
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring PaulA Neves, Jen DeGregorio, and Bakar Wilson
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring Gena Gruz, Andrey Gritsman, Jeb Burt, Anna Halberstadt, Carmen Firan, and Andrei Codrescu
SUNDAY, JULY 13TH
Hosted by Kyle Studstill
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featuring Ayelet Amittay, Daniel Kraft, and Cindy Savett
Yetzirah is a nonprofit literary organization dedicated to fostering and supporting a community space for Jewish poets, nourishing writers and readers of Jewish poetry now and for generations to come.
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featuring Ryan Buynak, Ryan Drag, Time Dinosaur, and Brian VanRemmen
The bomb death of bourgeois art.
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featuring poets TBD
A group of poets who meet weekly on ZOOM to share poems (our own and by other poets) and to write new poems.
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featuring
Carla M. Cherry is a veteran high school English teacher. Her work has appeared in Random Sample Review, Anti-Heroin Chic, La Libreta, ISLE, and Raising Mothers. A Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee, she has authored six books of poetry, Gnat Feathers and Butterfly Wings, Thirty Dollars and a Bowl of Soup, Honeysuckle Me, These Pearls Are Real, Stardust and Skin, and May He Bless My Name (iiPublishing), and three chapbooks: Clap Your Hands, Stomp Your Feet (Grandma Moses Press) Sundays and Hot Buttered Rolls: A Granddaughter of Harlem Speaks (Finishing Line Press), and Warmed By The Sun, Chilled By The Breeze (iiPublishing). She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the City College of New York.
R.Sen is a New Jersey based spoken word artist, writer, musician and poet who found love for writing and music at the age of 16. She has since used this passion in many readings/performances, both online and in-person, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. It was during this time of uncertainty, that she found the power in her voice to speak her words. Her belief in poetry being therapy and the feedback from peers motivated her to begin composing her first collection, Introspectrum, (which is available for purchase now) so that she can not only empower her own life, but the lives of others around the world. With love and empowerment as a focus topic, her work is tailored to resonate with those who have struggled in life with heartbreak, loss, self-empowerment and self worth. R.Sen writes for her readers to find healing, strength, hope, and ultimately, self love by guiding them with poetry through her own personal journey and views. To stay in touch with her and her work, you can follow her on Instagram at @R.sen_thevibe
Douglas G. Cala is a spoken word performance poet, multimedia/IT specialist from NYC. His third time featuring at the NYC Poetry Festival, Douglas's animated, Beat poetry-like theatrical showcases captivate crowds where he goes. When not writing and reciting, Douglas is an actively freelancing multimedia professional and occasional production crew member for theater & film.
Dara Kalima, also known as The Community Poet, resides in Bronx, NY. She explores love, equity, and healing through the lens of lived experiences and personal observations. Kalima has performed internationally and Off-Broadway. Kalima facilitates workshops on a myriad of topics from Poetry 101 to specific written and performance techniques. She can often be found wandering through the streets of New York City, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells while seeking that spark that will inspire her next poem. Kalima has authored five books, including Still Laughin’ and her newly released book It Is Abnormal: To Ban Poetry. She has also had her words published by Great Weather For Media, Rigorous, The Amistad, African Voices Magazine and others. Connect with her at www.darakalima.com or on BluSky or IG @DaraKalima.
A publishing organization with many local poets
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featuring poets TBD
A poets circle that formed after attending a workshop at the New York Public Library in Soho. We meet monthly to read our work and give each other feedback.
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featuring poets TBD
Haus of Expression is a vibrant sanctuary for artistic souls founded by Gabriella Stella with the intention to create a home where all expression is welcomed. Haus of Expression aims to bring abstract and innovative workshop experiences to the community to inspire expression and healing through art.
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featuring Diana Gitesha Hernandez, Jerry T. Johnson, Ngoma, Mindy Matijasevic, Austin Alexis, Jennifer Blowdryer, Jacqueline Annette, Sarah James, and Rich Loeb
Poets collective: features and open mic
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featuring Jessie Jones, Sol, Aaliyah Baez, Vega, and Riki
Founded in 2022, Karma Comes Before creates safe and transformative spaces for underrepresented voices (BIPOC, senior citizens, and folks with disorders and disabilities) online and in NYC. We help contributors publish their work, perform on- stage for the first time, and audition to perform at our Off-Broadway showcase.
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring Stuart Fishman has been steadily writing since the early 2000's. His work has appeared in the Dinner with the Muse series, Nomads Choir, Stars In Our Hearts, the Riverside Poets Anthology, etc. He’s also done several features at Nomads Choir and the Green Pavilion Poetry Event, and other venues. His poetry is based mostly on political and social commentary.
Thaddeus Rutkowski is the author of eight books of prose and poetry, most recently Safe Colors: A Novel in Short Fictions. His novel Haywire won the members’ choice award from the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. He teaches at Medgar Evers College and YMCA, and received a fiction writing fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts.
Noel D. Cohen is a writer, editor and proofreader living in Brooklyn, N.Y. His hobbies include photography, traveling and long-distance walking. Besides contributing work to numerous publications, Mr. Cohen has published three chapbooks: Signs of Life; Signs of Life II; and My Niagara Falls Rainbow Book of Colors
Marianne Sciberras is a first generation New Yorker of Maltese descent. She discovered she could write when she won a song-writing contest. As life got harder, writing helped her to cope. She began sharing her work at open mics after a difficult marriage. A recently retired Registered Dietitian, she now focuses on entertaining through poetry and storytelling. She’s a lover of non-duality.
Joshua Meander is a long-time member of the NYC poetry circuit. He ran Nomad's Choir, an in-person
reading and a poetry publication for many years.
The Green Pavilion is one of the oldest running poetry events in the New York area. It has always been held at the Green Pavilion Restaurant in Brooklyn.
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featuring David Elsasser, Arthur Gatti, Susan Weiman, Natalie Lardner, and DeeAnne P. Gorman
A group of visual and performing artists who display and perform their work
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featuring
Tom d’Egidio, poet & translator, is Director-At-Large of the NY Browning Society. His talk on contemporary Roman poet Valerio Magrelli (described by Magrelli himself as “bella, attenta, vivace e pepata” (“beautiful, attentive, lively & peppery”), given in conjunction with National Translation Month on 2021, is viewable on YouTube as part of “Four Poets And Their Translations”. He is at work on a novel set in the downtown Manhattan bohemian scene (Jean- Michel Basquiat et al.) of circa 1980. His chapbook “The Enigma of Arrival” is available from UndergroundBooks.com
Hassanal Abdullah is the author of more than 50 books in various genres including 20 collections of poetry, and the editor of Shabdaguchha, an international bilingual poetry magazine. His Collected Poems (in Bengali) was published by Ananya in two volumes. His poetry has been translated into eleven languages and he has attended international poetry festivals in China, Poland, Greece, Mexico, Canada, Kenya, and India. Apart from writing poetry, Hassanal also teaches high school math.
Art Gatti graduated Queens College with a minor in poetry and a few honors,—notably the 1965 CUNY-(City University of New York)-wide Dwight Durling Award for a manuscript of poetry. In 2015 he published a book of poetry with a half-century of poems he wrote about our sister nation, called Mexico—Dust in My Blood. His second book, Songs of Mute Eagles brings together his poetic work of the last decades. He currently collaborates with Darklight translating and editing books for American and Latin American poets.
Terry Edmonds is a New York poet who developed a love for language and poetry as a young boy growing up in the projects of Baltimore. Since the 1980s, he has been an active member of the poetry community in both cities. His first two chapbooks, Thank God for the Lowlife and To Hear This Message Again Press Ten, were published in 1989 and 1990, respectively. His writing passion led to a more than 45-year career as a public relations specialist and as chief speechwriter for President Bill Clinton. Question Marks is the title of his latest poetry collection, published by Darklight.
Linda Morales Caballero (Peru) is a writer, journalist and professor graduated Cum Laude from Hunter College with a BA in Hispanic Literature, Media Communications and a Master’s in Hispanic Literature. Her poetry titles are: From the Threshold, Living Poems, Enchantment, Collage, Poems of Cruel Love and The Murmur of Things. She also wrote a book of fiction: The Book of Enigmas. Some of her short stories-enigmas became monologues, a play, and a short film. Her poetry collection The Murmur of Things was awarded by the “International Latino Book Awards” in 2020.
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featuring
Diane is a proud New Yorker of West Indian descent. Diane’s teaching experience, modern jazz dance performance/choreographer/blog talk radio show hosting were creative precursors to her spoken word poetry contributions within local, national, and international venues. Diane has authored book reviews for both fiction and non-fiction books. She has served on several committees for the National Writer Union over these last ten years. She is also TESORO. https://firesingers.com.
Tim Cusack is an actor/dancer/writer based in Brooklyn. His solo performance piece, I Ping the Body Electric, a syllable by syllable reworking of the iconic Whitman poem, premiered in 2021 as part of Art in Odd Places and subsequently performed at Le Petit Versailles, the Tane Poetry Library, and here on Governor’s Island. His latest solo piece, I’m Not Mike White, has been presented at Green Room 42 and Brooklyn Art Haus.
Yetvart S. Majian (he/him) is a first-generation Armenian-American poet, current Poet in Residence for Washington Park Association of Hudson County, and founder of a poetry series and safe-space open forum — The {Poetry} Unfold — in Union City, where he focuses on empowering local poets. His poetry has appeared in SOUP CAN Magazine, The Jersey Journal, By the WAYE Magazine, and his collection, "Survival Witness," was a 2025 Finalist for Wandering Aengus Press.
Pawan Mehta is a playwright, author, and poet from New Jersey. They have been a regular member of The {Poetry} Unfold since 2022 where they are investigating how to write ‘poems’. They hope you find their discoveries worthwhile!
Mike Selsky, a recent Brooklyn transplant, never anticipated finding himself in the company of so many talented poets and feeling like their peer. However, he stumbled upon The {Poetry} Unfold last year and has embraced it wholeheartedly. Some see him as a poet and storyteller, his boss thinks he's a software engineer, but ultimately, Mike is just a guy living in Brooklyn.
The {Poetry} Unfold is a weekly poetry series that features a signature open mic + open forum model to cultivate a trauma-informed safe space meant to foster discourse and empower poets.
THE BLACKBIRD STAGE
SATURDAY, JULY 12TH
Hosted by Danielle Bero
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featuring poets TBD
An organization dedicated to the development of Harlem artists, as well as poets that speak from today's perspective of it's inhabitants
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featuring poets
Zoë Bodzas is the author of the chapbook "Burning Thing" (No, Dear 2025). She studied creative writing at Hamilton College and won the Glascock Poetry Prize in 2016. Her work has previously appeared in Gigantic Sequins, Big Lucks, The Poetry Project Newsletter, Great Ocean Quarterly, and elsewhere. She currently lives in Brooklyn.
Ahmed Zaid is the author of the chapbook "Ripe Feathers" (No, Dear 2025). He was born in Philadelphia to an Egyptian father and Yemeni mother. Growing up, he oscillated between Egypt & the United States. His work rustles with the double-consciousness of Arab Americans and the blurs of undefined/warful home.
Emily Brandt is the author of the poetry collection Falsehood, as well as three chapbooks. She's a co-founding editor of No, Dear, curator of the LINEAGE reading series at Wendy’s Subway, and member of the video art collaborative Temp.Files. She’s of Sicilian, Polish & Ukrainian descent, and lives in Brooklyn.
No, Dear aims to bring together the voices of New York City poets who might not otherwise be in dialogue: both emerging and established poets from diverse backgrounds who are living and writing in New York City’s five boroughs. We aspire to disrupt a field that has historically privileged white patriarchal perspectives by building a publication and communal/critical dialogue that strives to be largely representative of women-identified poets, and poets of color and of all gender expressions.
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featuring Jessica Femiani, Jacob R. Moses, and Katerina Canyon
Monthly Poetry Group
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featuring
Dara Kalima, also known as The Community Poet, resides in Bronx, NY. She explores love, equity, and healing through the lens of lived experiences and personal observations. Kalima has performed internationally and Off-Broadway and hosts the On Behalf Of podcast. Kalima facilitates workshops on a myriad of topics from Poetry 101 to specific written and performance techniques. She can often be found wandering through the streets of New York City, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells while seeking that spark that will inspire her next poem. Kalima has authored four books, including Casualty of Love (2017) and Still Laughin’ (2021). She has also had her words published by Great Weather For Media, Rigorous, The Amistad, African Voices Magazine and others. Connect with her at www.darakalima.com or on BluSky or IG @DaraKalima.
Sean Sharkey Diaz has always had a passion for writing, going on to minor in Creative Writing during his time at Western Kentucky University. Outside of writing, Sharkey enjoys reading a wide variety of novels, particularly sci-fi and horror, on a moody autumn evening. Sharkey is the editor of two short novels by author A.H. Zamparelli, “The Darkness Within” and “Three Deadly Shorts & A Poem.” He also wrote poems to be choreographed for the New England Ballet Theater’s show “Poetry in Motion.” His poem "Words Are Weapons" can be found in the August issue of Anti-Heroin Chic on their online journal. He resides in Connecticut with his loving partner and cuddly cat.
Katherine E. Schneider is a poet living in Norwalk, CT and is the founder and editor of the new online literary journal The Northeast Coast. She holds an MFA from Fairfield University’s MFA in Creative Writing program and is a co-founder and co-host of FUMFA Poets & Writers Live which runs monthly open mics at Eco Evolution in South Norwalk. Her first chapbook, I Used to Remember the Story of How, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2019. Her publication credits for individual poems include Ruminate, Blue Line, The Poetry Porch, The Paddock Review, Collateral, and the 2023 and 2024 Connecticut Literary Anthology. Her poem “Breath” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and her manuscript Breaking the Fever was a finalist for the Fairfield Book Prize. She is very honored and proud to have been named the 2025 to 2027 Norwalk Poet Laureate.
Tyler Margid is a narrative-based life form who lives in the drive-thru state. Writing about music, culture, and mental health, Tyler explores the darker aspects of existing in the world today. He has an MFA from Stonecoast University of Southern Maine and has served on the editorial board of Helix Magazine, Elephant Rock Books, and Stonecoast Review. His writing can be found in various recycling bins throughout the east coast. He likes drinking black coffee and playing guitar, and is blood type O negative.
An open-mic and livestream founded and hosted by poet Katherine E. Schneider and novelist Chris Belden
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featuring Douglas G. Cala, Jenny Pisani, Kyoko Heshiimu, Matt Germoso, Rhoda K. Pierce, Thomas Fucaloro, Maya Da Poet, and M.A. Dennis
SHAOLIN ISLAND FLOCK: “Shaolin,” the nickname given to Staten Island, NY by the Wu-Tang Clan, is home to a large population of wild turkeys. Interestingly enough, a group of wild turkeys is a flock as opposed to domesticated turkeys that gather as a gang. The wild turkey is a protected creature. SIF seeks to protect the poets, the artists, and all who desire to express themselves creatively. Collaboration is our secret recipe sauce. When we join forces in art and activism, especially in these dark knight of the soul times, like a Wu-Tang song title we can “Triumph.”
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featuring Fin Rose Aborizk, Kyle Bastin, John Queor, Susan Justiniano, Crystal Davis, Yetvart S. Majian, Isabella Calisi-Wagner, and Patricia Carragon
Dreams In Hiding seeks to brings dreams out of hiding by collaborating and bringing writers together.
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring Poetic Brey, Kai Giovanni, Raad Syed, and Sophia Thakur
The Rose Garden Events is a NYC based creative arts platform that curates various community events. With monthly open mic nights, spoken word showcases, art exhibitions, creative writing and performance workshops. There's something for every lover of creative arts at the Rose Garden Events, where creatives go to #KeepGrowing
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring
Annie Finch is an American poet, writer, translator, cultural critic and performance artist. Her work is centred on feminism and earth-based spirituality. She has published seven books of poetry and has received the Sarasvati Award and the Robert Fitzgerald Award for lifetime contribution to the art and craft of Versification.
Paola Fiterre is a Cuban artist based in New York, whose practice focuses on the representation of the female body as shaped by the migratory experience. She studied at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana and graduated from the International Center of Photography in 2019, where she received the ICP Director’s Scholarship and the ICP New Media Grant. Fiterre uses performance, photography, video, among other media, as tools of perception to inhabit the domestic, the social, and the biological, subverting their gendered meanings. She has received fellowships such as the Reed Foundation Fellowship for Cuban artists and, in 2023, the Cintas Foundation Fellowship in Photography. The work of Paola Fiterre offers an intimate reckoning with the body, identity, and the immigrant experience. Using her own body as both subject and medium; as a space of confrontation and contemplation. Her work is a reflection on the tension between personal and cultural identity, exploring themes such as migration, the female figure in a globalized society, and humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Fiterre’s work evokes a visceral response, drawing attention to the shared experience of “otherness” that transcends borders, cultures, and bodies.
Bird Piccininni is a photographer and curator, holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA) & Tufts University and a Masters in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts. They have studied photography for the past decade through commercial, corporate, and fine art opportunities. Their photographs have been exhibited at the Nave Gallery, Somerville; in Genetic Material, SMFA; Altered, William Morris Hunt Library, Boston; and Blurred, Checkpoint Cafe, Edinburgh. Bird travels extensively for her photographic series, each of which examines the facade, internal struggles, decisions, and lifestyles of her subjects. From their experiences Bird pushes their work and efforts towards equity, accessibility, and change in and outside the arts community. Bird is currently the Gallery Manager at Pen + Brush in New York.
Zefyr Lisowski is the author of the forthcoming Uncanny Valley Girls, an essay collection about horror movies, exes, and intimacy (Harper Perennial 2025). A 2023 NYFA/NYSCA Fellow in Nonfiction and 2023 Queer|Art Fellow, she’s also the author of two poetry collections, Girl Work (Noemi Press 2024) and Blood Box (Black Lawrence 2019).
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featuring Didi Champagne, Veda Carmine-Ritchie, Hunter Hodkinson, Natalie Saliba, Harper Galvin, Dana Frayne, and Kristin Stainton
Poets and pioneers on the NYC circuit
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featuring poets TBD
A writing club based in the Hudson Valley with writers from Kingston, Beacon, and NYC. With an inclusive mindset and focus on inclusion and community involvement, we are a small group trying to connect with other writers (and readers too).
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featuring Khaotic, Cameron Keon Sykes, Lyn Patterson, and Jenn Cisneros
House of Khaos is a New York City based creative platform dedicated to nurturing and empowering artists at every stage of their journey. By providing a rich array of community resources and innovative opportunities through personalized services and dynamic communal events, House of Khaos fosters a supportive environment where artists from all walks of life can explore their creative passions and reach their fullest potential. Our commitment to diversity and inclusivity drives us to create an alchemizing space that advocates for artistic expression and furthers cultural enrichment.
SUNDAY, JULY 13TH
Hosted by Natalie Gilda
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featuring
Bailey Caras is a Californian surfer turned scientist and poet, and an alumna of Columbia.
Karen Ng is a poet and editor from Hong Kong, and an alumna of Columbia.
Khushi Mittal is a poet and current master’s student at Columbia.
Maha Hashwi is a Lebanese-American writer and spoken word poet.
Nayab Khan is a DC-based poet and alumna of Columbia.
Srujanee Mishra is an Indian poet and playwright pursuing an MFA in Playwriting at Columbia.
A society of Columbia University students and alumni who write and love poetry.
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featuring poets TBD
coolkyds is an accessible and affordable creative community for writers, artists, musicians, and everyone in between. Our goal is to foster connection and collaboration among like-minded creatives.
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featuring Amelia Blair-Smith, Hunter Hodkinson, Natasha Sharpe, MARE, and Madeline Phillips
Freeform is a monthly open mic held at Third Space, a nonprofit event space in East Williamsburg. Freeform furthers Third Space’s values of intentionality, community, and offline connections. The mic has ample time built in for socializing and encourages performers to try out new things in a safe and welcoming environment. Poets love Freeform because of its ethos—to listen and connect with others, not to monopolize the spotlight or merely “be heard”.
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featuring Matthew Hupert, David Lawton, Mercy Tullis-Bukhari, Bonafide Rojas, and Jerry Johnson
NeuroNautic Institute began in 1987 as an off-the-cuff international art and performance collective. Based in New York City, the Institute was initially formed in Kathmandu producing live digital video performance, as well as psychedelic art. It included artists from New York, Tel Aviv, San Francisco, and London. . Today, NeuroNautic Institute’s focus is hosting both writing workshops and reading series. In 2012 our annual Night in the Naked City Series began, showcasing the voices of those rarest of birds, Native New Yorkers. In 2018, we expanded to our on-going monthly readings both in-person and via Zoom. . Having taken a hiatus from running our weekly writer’s workshop, future engagements are currently being planned and scheduled. . NeuroNautic Press is our newest endeavor. We aim to produce, promote, and distribute innovative work from a variety of voices. Turn the personal into the universal. Our first Anthology highlights the artists from the Night in the Naked City, including Steve Dalachinsky, Thomas Fucaloro, Puma Perl, Mercy Tullis-Buchari, and George Wallace, et al. Our next Anthology, still in its infancy stages, will be featuring the voices of the children of genocide and displaced persons. . We are are currently producing collections from individual authors as we continue to grow, which we will announce soon.
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring Em [Marie] Kohl, danilo machado, Aishvarya Arora, and Chae(lee) Dalton
Exquisites is a Brooklyn-based queer and trans poetry reading, publication, and workshop series. Collectively-curating monthly readings at various community spaces throughout Brooklyn since 2022.
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featuring poets TBD
Queer arts collective
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring poets Maria Rubio, Zury Lowell, Valium Housewife, Iridescence, and Kitty Bailey
Hot People Read Poetry is an open mic experience and small zine press that strives to uplift vulnerability and authenticity. Read a poem=be hot!
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featuring ReylaAngela, Beatriz “Bibi” Rosa, and Ten Smith
RA OPEN MIC, Fundraiser for Arts & Agriculture fundraises for urban farming, community gardens and local farmers through the Open Mic Arts.
THE YOUTH FESTIVAL STAGE
SATURDAY, JULY 12TH
Hosted by Claudia Alvarez-Plaud
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featuring poets TBD
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featuring
Miriam Berman is a youth poet and high school student at Townsend Harris High School in Queens, New York.
Sabrina Epstein is a youth poet and high school student at Townsend Harris High School in Queens, New York.
Ryan Mooney is a youth poet and high school student at Townsend Harris High School in Queens, New York.
Bradley Bachoco is a youth poet and high school student at Townsend Harris High School in Queens, New York.
Shahnaj Mahjabin is a youth poet and high school student at Townsend Harris High School in Queens, New York.
Asia Newman is a youth poet and high school student at Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey.
Isabella “Bella” Mayer is a youth poet and high school student at Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey.
Jason Lee is a youth poet and high school student at Dwight-Englewood School in Englewood, New Jersey.
A youth initiative led by the Poetry Society of New York meant to engage high schoolers in the field of poetry.
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featuring
Aarna Tyagi was the runner-up for the 2024-2025 NY State Youth Poet Laureate program. Tyagi is a junior at Jericho High School in Jericho, NY.
Ella Blair was a state finalist for the 2024-2025 NY State Poetry Out Loud competition. Blair is a rising senior at Cazenovia High School in Cazenovia, NY.
Zoey Marcus was the runner-up for the 2023-2024 NY State Poetry Out Loud competition. Marcus is a Stuyvesant High School graduate.
Teachers & Writers Collaborative (T&W) celebrates the imagination through transformative writing and arts education for youth and lifelong learners. Our programs and publications inspire classroom innovation and create greater equity in and through the literary arts.
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featuring
Cora Anderson
Cora Anderson is a young queer poet and lover of living things from Brooklyn, New York. This fall, they will be attending Smith College, studying Environmental Science & Policy with a Poetry concentration. Their work can be found in Rust & Moth and Passengers Journal. They are a big fan of novels, lemonade, folk music, and sunrises.
Izzy Ardizzoni
Isadora Ardizzoni is a writer from Manhattan, New York, and a rising freshman at the University of Vermont, where she will be studying English. She often can be found reading music magazines and writing poetry on the floor of the Union Square Barnes & Noble (with a cherry chai in hand). She has won multiple Scholastic Awards in poetry throughout high school. Her current greatest artistic inspirations in order of importance are: live music, girlhood, Liam Gallagher, and love.
Maxanne Wallace-Segall
Maxanne, a rising junior at Stuyvesant High School, has been building stories and worlds since she was four years old. She was selected to perform poetry at the Bryant Park Celebrating Teen Poets event in 2024 and co-hosts teen open mics at P&T Knitwear with the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. She now writes regularly for her high-school newspaper, the Stuyvesant Spectator, about finding connection and empathy amidst global division and war, such as the Israel-Palestine conflict. She’s also been writing for Writopia’s camp newspaper, The Yearly Wricampian since she was ten, and will be an editor this summer and has won multiple Scholastic Writing Awards for her poetry, fiction, and journalism. She loves iced coffee. Really loves it.
Max Lally
Max is a rising junior at Columbia Secondary School High School. He has been writing anything and everything since about when he learned how to type. He especially loves writing poetry, memoir, and screenplays. He participated in Writopia’s selective Creative Portfolio Program and spends most of his time making and watching movies with his girlfriend and showing his dog the best parks NYC has to offer.
Teddy Lykouretzos
Teddy Lykouretzos (don't bother trying to pronounce that), is a certified liability from Westchester New York who loves the Mad-Max franchise and David Foster-Wallace. Although He will be attending Yale University as an English Major, Teddy is also deeply passionate about theater— both onstage and in the wings. When not hunched over his laptop or notebook, he's usually hunched over a bandsaw, working on some useless contraption made from 2x4. Teddy specializes in encyclopedic novels about statebuilding, culture, and industry in the American-Post-Apocalypse. He is currently working on a wiki-style website for his painfully niche worldbuilding.
Writopia Lab is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to foster joy, literacy, and critical thinking in children and teens from all backgrounds through creative writing.
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featuring poets TBD
Nonprofit youth literary program
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Item descriNanous (NZN) Gallery is a vibrant platform dedicated to amplifying the voices of poets from all backgrounds. We provide a space for creative expression, where every poem is a unique creation and every voice matters. As we like to say, “You never know which pallets you’re going to get, but all auras of color bring masterpieces to the ears.” Embrace the unpredictability and creativity of poetry, and join a community that celebrates diversity in every form of expression.ption
SUNDAY, JULY 13TH
Hosted by Hyacinth Scheinfeld
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featuring poets TBD
The International Poets Academy (IPA), as presented on syedameeruddin.com, is a globally-minded literary institution rooted in India, founded by Dr. Prof. Syed Ameeruddin, a distinguished poet, author, and literary personality.
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featuring poets TBD
OCA is a non-profit organization that works in a collaborative effort with other youth organizations to combat hate. With a team of teen interns, our project explores the root causes of hate, takes proactive steps to combat hate, and builds public speaking and organizing skills.
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featuring
Lourdes Leiner is a Tucson-based poet, performer, and educator whose work blends gothic imagery, confessional poetics, and the stark beauty of the Sonoran Desert. She is the author of Spit It Out (2023), a 200-poem collection praised for its emotional intensity and lyrical precision. Her work has been featured at the University of Arizona Poetry Center, BICAS, and Club Congress. A dedicated mentor and literary voice in the Southwest, Lourdes is committed to creating poetry that is both transformative and accessible.
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featuring
Matt Berkery is a student poet from New Jersey and a proud alum of the 2024 Adroit Journal Summer Mentorship Program. When he's not writing, Matt can be found trying his hand at pickleball, dissecting the latest Love Island episode, or scouring the internet for tips on composing an author bio. An incoming freshman at Stanford University, Matt can't wait to indulge his fascination with fantasy by enrolling in yet another magical realism course.
Nora Gupta was a student poet at the Bronx High School of Science and will continue her journey at Barnard College at Columbia University. Her poems have appeared in Cleaver Magazine, Cream City Review, Girls Right the World, Glassworks, Normal School, Notre Dame Review, Shō Poetry Journal, The Spotlong Review, Zone 3, and elsewhere. Her poetry and prose have received additional recognition by the National Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the National YoungArts Foundation, Princeton University, Gannon University, and Smith College, among others. Nora is also the editor-in-chief of Double Yolk, a publication featuring poets of color that shines a light on their creative processes. She has also published her debut poetry chapbook, Decipher the Smoke. She lives in Queens, New York.
Kyla Guimaraes (she/her) is a student and writer from New York City. Her work can be found in The Penn Review, The Shore, HAD, and elsewhere. She is a co-managing editor at Eucalyptus Lit and a poetry reader at Okay Donkey.
Ela Kini is a student based in New York. Her work has been recognized by the Poetry Society of America, the New York Times, and YoungArts. She reads for Palette Poetry.
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featuring
Iago Macknik-Conde is a rising freshman at Macaulay Honors College. He is a two-time Bill of Rights Institute Student Fellow and an Intern with the John Locke Institute. He received First Prize in the 2019 National Essay Contest hosted by the National World War II Museum, the 2020 Ned Vizzini Teen Writing Prize for Poetry, the 2023 Carl Sandburg Student Poetry Prize, and the 2023 George Watt Essay Prize. Iago’s historical plays for National History Day won First Place in New York State in 2023 and 2024, and the Captain Ken Coskey Naval History Prize in 2024. Iago is also a recipient of The Congressional Award’s Gold Medal and the President’s Volunteer Service Award.
Nova Macknik-Conde is a rising 9th grader in Brooklyn, NY. She is a Carson Scholar and a Caroline D. Bradley Scholar. Nova’s writing has been recognized by The Betty Award, the Sarah Mook Poetry Contest, the Engineer Girl Writing Contest, The National World War II Museum’s Student Writing Contest, the Inklings Book Contest, the Carl Sandburg Student Poetry Contest, and Writopia’s Worldwide Plays Festival. Her poetry has appeared in print in Stone Soup magazine, Stepping Stones magazine, and Cricket magazine.
Kassidy Khuu is a rising junior attending high school in NYC. Her work has been previously recognized by The New York Times, The Poetry Society of New York, The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, and more. Most recently, she was a New York State Poet Laureate Finalist.
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featuring
Jayden Antwine is a 19 year old poet, student, and teaching artist born and raised in queens. He began performing in August 2024, and has since won multiple poetry slams, featured for open mics and co-curated his own, new age open mic. He began writing to express his own personal emotions but has over time grown to use it to observe and critique the world around him. He’s used poetry to teach students how to assess their emotions and express all the things they’re feeling in schools across Brooklyn, the Bronx, and BIG QUEENS!! If nothing else, he hopes hearing him makes you feel heard.
Mariam Dembélé, 19, is a rising sophomore at Howard University. A Bronx native, her unique poetry and storytelling telling ability is just getting started, but she's already won teen poetry slams and most recently won a Howard University poetry slam.
Marquis is an emerging poet whose work delves into themes of love, trauma and everything in between bringing raw emotion and vivid imagery to the forefront. Inspired by personal experiences and literary influences Marquis writes poetry that leaves readers with reflection and connection. His writing is characterized by the use of figurative language and conversational tone, capturing the beauty and complexity of everyday life.
Parlé Endeavors is a nonprofit with a mission to empower young adults and support youth development through mentorship, scholarships, grants, exposure, and experience. We provide opportunities for supporting youth in the arts, media, journalism, entrepreneurship, and related fields.
