We are excited to announce the following activities and initiatives for this coming April’s 20th anniversary celebration of poets and poetry. 

Follow the thousands of National Poetry Month Celebrations taking place using #npm16. We also invite schools, libraries, publishers, booksellers, reading coordinators, and poets to tweet their events to the Academy of American Poets at @POETSorg.

We encourage the use of the National Poetry Month logo, which can be downloaded from Poets.org.

Official National Poetry Month Poster Designed by Debbie Millman

Debbie Millman has created this year’s official National Poetry Month poster, which features lines of poetry by some of our greatest poets. The poster is available for free through Poets.org while supplies last.

Dear Poet Project

Dear Poet, our multimedia education project, invites students in grades 5-12 to write letters in response to poems shared by award-winning poets serving on our Board of Chancellors. The Chancellors will recite their poems in a series of exclusive videos presented on Poets.org. Teachers interested in offering Dear Poet as a classroom activity can visit Poets.org to access a free Common Core-aligned lesson plan that accompanies the videos.

Poetry & the Creative Mind on April 27, 2016, in New York City

On April 27, we will hold its annual Poetry & the Creative Mind celebration at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. The event celebrates poetry’s important place in our culture, and its impact on the lives of readers, and features leading and legendary actors, dancers, artists, musicians, and public figures on one stage sharing their favorite poems.

National Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 21, 2016

On National Poem in Your Pocket Day, people throughout the United States select a poem, carry it with them, and share it with others throughout the day. We provide free resources for celebrating National Poem in Your Pocket Day, including a downloadable a PDF of pocket poems on Poets.org.

Poets.org

Poets.org, our own website, has many resources for celebrating National Poetry Month, including poetry listings throughout the United States and lesson plans for teachers who want to bring poetry into their classroom. Visit Poets.org for more about National Poetry Month initiatives across the United States.