Brooklyn Poets Poetry Festival

Join us for the third annual Brooklyn Poets Poetry Festival from May 23 to 25 at 144 Montague Street or via Zoom, where we'll gather for workshops, craft talks, panels and readings! In the mornings, Noah Arhm Choi, Edgar Kunz, Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, Anastacia-Reneé, Brittany Rogers and Elisabet Velasquez will lead generative workshops devoted to exploring the creative process and writing new material. In the afternoons, we'll have panels including "A Language That Could Produce This” (Lara Atallah, DeeSoul Carson, Noah Arhm Choi, Ricardo Alberto Maldonado); “What We Create for Each Other” (Sara Deniz Akant, Brooklyn Baggett, Em [Marie] Kohl, Courtney Long); and “Construction Manual: Poetics as an Interdisciplinary Tool” (S. Erin Batiste, Melanie Hoff, Modesto “Flako” Jimenez, Pamela Sneed). We'll end the day with craft talks from Mahogany L. Browne, Cathy Linh Che, and Chen Chen and readings featuring Hala Alyan, Cornelius Eady, Isabella DeSendi, Vanessa Jimenez Gabb, Joan Kwon Glass, Tara Skurtu and Nour Al Ghraowi in addition to the day's teachers and panelists.

You can register for a single-day or three-day pass for in-person or virtual attendance. Members save $75 on 3-day passes and $25 on single day passes. All participants will have access to livestream recordings of festival sessions upon request. View an abbreviated schedule below, view the full schedule and details on our website.

Friday, May 23

• 9:30 AM Workshop: Ricardo Alberto Maldonado, "Talk as a Form of Love: Writing with Others”
• 11:15 AM Workshop: Noah Arhm Choi, “The Truth Will Out: The Power of the Banned Word”
• 1:45 PM Panel: “A Language That Could Produce This” with Lara Atallah, DeeSoul Carson, Noah Arhm Choi and Ricardo Alberto Maldonado
• 3:30 PM Craft talk: Chen Chen, “Reinventing the Family (Poem)”
• 5:30 PM Evening reading: Hala Alyan, Lara Atallah, DeeSoul Carson, Chen Chen, Noah Arhm Choi, Isabella DeSendi, Cornelius Eady, Ricardo Alberto Maldonado & Tara Skurtu

Saturday, May 24

• 9:30 AM Workshop: Elisabet Velasquez, “Writing The Novel In Verse”
• 11:15 AM Workshop: Brittany Rogers, “Never Too Much: Audacity and Adornment in the Lyric Poem”
• 1:45 PM Panel: “What We Create for Each Other” with Sara Deniz Akant, Brooklyn Baggett, Em Marie Kohl and Courtney Long
• 3:30 PM Craft talk: Cathy Linh Che, “The Intersection of the Personal and Political: Poetic Interventions in Found Text”
• 5:30 PM Evening reading: Sara Deniz Akant, Brooklyn Baggett, Cathy Linh Che, Vanessa Jimenez Gabb, Em Marie Kohl, Courtney Long, Brittany Rogers & Elisabet Velasquez

Sunday, May 25

• 9:30 AM Workshop: Anastacia-Renee, “Constructing New Forms with The Bones of Current Forms”
• 11:15 AM Workshop: Edgar Kunz, “All The Cameras Have Left For Another War”
• 1:45 PM Panel: “Construction Manual: Poetics as an Interdisciplinary Tool” with S. Erin Batiste, Melanie Hoff, Modesto “Flako” Jimenez and Pamela Sneed
• 3:30 PM Craft talk: Mahogany L. Browne, “‘And who will join this standing up’: A Poetic Plenary”
• 5:30 PM Evening reading: Nour Al Ghraowi, S. Erin Batiste, Mahogany L. Browne, Joan Kwon Glass, Melanie Hoff, Modesto “Flako” Jimenez, Edgar Kunz, Anastacia-Reneé & Pamela Sneed

Closed captions will be available for the event through the Zoom livestream. For more information and to request additional accommodations, contact us.

Note that by participating in, you agree to abide by our code of conduct and COVID-19 policy. All in-person attendees are required to wear masks (regardless of vaccination status) except readers at a safe distance on stage, and we will have masks available. Brooklyn Poets reserves the right to dismiss from our programs any participant found to be in violation of these policies. Thank you for respecting our community.

COVID-19 Policy

All event attendees are required to wear masks due to the current prevalence in cases in NYC. Masks will be available at the door.

The current metrics available, including NYC wastewater data and the CDC’s Respiratory Virus Activity Levels, both indicate high levels of COVID and other illnesses. While your personal risk tolerance may vary, the unmitigated spread of COVID disproportionately affects the most vulnerable in our community—including those who are immunocompromised or don’t have the privilege of paid sick days to heal and recover. We hope you’ll join us in taking the actions we can to make our space welcoming to all and to keep each other safe. Please stay home if you are experiencing symptoms, have a positive COVID test or someone close to you has recently tested positive.

We strongly encourage daytime visitors and workshop attendees to wear masks. Workshop instructors may choose to enforce a more stringent policy at their own discretion. Additionally, workshop participants may be required to wear masks as an accessibility accommodation for other participants.

While we do our best, Brooklyn Poets cannot guarantee zero risk. A risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in all public settings. By entering the building, students, teachers and other attendees accept the risk of exposure and knowingly waive and release Brooklyn Poets from any liability related to COVID-19.

Brooklyn Poets Code of Conduct

Brooklyn Poets will not tolerate any instances of discrimination, harassment or abuse in conjunction with any of our programs. Respect and consideration for others, both within and outside our programs, are core values to be upheld by all participants. Discrimination against and/or harassment of community members on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, religion, age, marital status, veteran status or any other factor is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. Program participants are expected to adhere to all federal, state and local laws and regulations. Should a board or staff member, independent contractor, volunteer or program participant be found to violate any aspect of the organization’s code of conduct, Brooklyn Poets reserves the right to dismiss them from the program. Consequences may include, but not be limited to, dismissal from the current activity, suspension, ineligibility for all future activities, and/or loss of payment or fees. If you have any issues to report, please do not hesitate to email feedback@brooklynpoets.org, which will send your message to everyone on the Conduct Committee, or if you’d prefer you can contact anyone listed individually in our code of conduct and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Accessibility

Our space at 144 Montague requires the ability to go up a single flight of stairs. Due to the landmark status of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, fire code restrictions and our position as renters, we are unfortunately unable to make structural changes to the building at this time to eliminate this barrier, though we have explored every option. Virtual tickets are available and closed captions will be available for the event through the Zoom livestream. For more information and to request additional accommodations, contact us.