Massachusetts Poetry Festival Returns to Salem

Salem, MA - The first weekend of May, Salem becomes the epicenter of contemporary American poetry, offering rare opportunities to hear the nation's best poets read and discuss their work in intimate and engaging forums.

Throughout the weekend, the Eighth Annual Massachusetts Poetry Festival spotlights the following highly acclaimed poets: former N.Y. Poet Laureate Marie Howe, 2015 Pulitzer-prize recipient Gregory Pardlo, Mark Doty, Sandra Beasley, Martha Collins, Edward Hirsch, Ada Limón, David Rivard, Charles Simic, and Ocean Vuong.

Festival highlights include:

• Friday evening, three of the finest poets writing today: the award-winning Sandra Beasley, Ocean Vuong, and Martha Collins, 7:30 -9 p.m. in the Atrium of the Peabody Essex Museum.
• Saturday afternoon, we feature Gregory Pardlo, the 2015 winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. He will read alongside Ada Limón, whose book, Bright Dead Things, was a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award in Poetry.
• Saturday evening we feature former U.S. New York Poet Laureate Marie Howe and National Book Award winner Mark Doty. These two writers demonstrate the extraordinary possibilities of poetry to reveal the personal and political experiences of American life. 7:30-9 p.m. at the First Universalist Church of Salem.

The Mass Poetry Festival offers nearly 100 poetry readings and workshops, a small press and literary fair, panels, poetry slams, and open-air readings. Panel topics range broadly from The State of Poetry, poetry and gender, book publishing, poetry and Asian art, to the Common ThreadsReading, where contemporary poets with Massachusetts ties discuss their literary heirs. More than 150 poets will engage with thousands of New Englanders.

Admission is $20, and $7 for students and seniors; an additional $10 service fee for all workshops. Visit masspoetry.org for more information.