T. CHARLES ERICKSON
Rita Dove will be among the readers at this year’s Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Poetry Festival in Newark
The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival will offer the most expansive lineup in its history when it takes place Oct. 23-26 in Newark. Seventy poets will perform at the 15th edition of this festival, which takes place biennially, and is the largest poetry event in North America.
Participants will include former U.S. Poet Laureates Rita Dove and Robert Pinsky; Pulitzer Prize winners Sharon Olds, Claudia Emerson, Yusef Komunyakaa, Tracy K. Smith and Gary Snyder; Richard Blanco, the official poet of President Obama’s second inauguration; New York State Poet Laureate Marie Howe; and Aja Monet, who, at 19, became the youngest person ever to win the Nuyorican Poets Café grand slam champion title, in 2007.
The festival takes place in partnership with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the city of Newark, and takes place at NJPAC and other Newark venues.
Traditionally, the festival offers a poetry sampler, featuring short readings, on its opening day. This year there will be two, one during the day and one in the evening, on Oct. 23.
Other participants will include Alice Oswald, Eavan Boland, Jan Beatty, Alberto Ríos, Mark Doty, Kevin Young, Cathy Park Hong, Rachel McKibbins, Sophie Cabot Black, Dave Caserio, Brendan Constantine, David Daniel, Natalie Diaz, Sean Thomas Dougherty, Saeed Jones, Alex Lemon, Shara McCallum, Benjamin Alire Sáenz and Rachel Wiley.
An Oct. 25 program, “Another Kind of Courage,” will focus on war veterans and their families.
In addition to NJPAC, venues hosting festival events include the Aljira, a Center for Contemporary Art, First Peddie Baptist Memorial Church, the New Jersey Historical Society, the Newark Museum, North Star Academy, and Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral.
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