2024 poet laureate

fellows

Poems bridge distances between people.

Join us in congratulating our 2024 Poet Laureate Fellows—twenty-two poets who serve as bridges in their communities, connecting and enriching the lives of individuals of all ages through impactful public poetry projects.  

“Dear ghosts, because you are dead and restless”
Julia Bouwsma

“accessory”
Angelika Brewer

“Aubade on a Ghost Hunt”
Traci Brimhall

“Spell for Safety”
Ching-In Chen

“Only the Infinitesimal”
Kai Coggin

“Anarcha Appears Again And Again”
Nandi Comer

“Faceless”
Tongo Eisen-Martin

“How”
Heid E. Erdrich

“Instead of Depression”
Andrea Gibson

“Bowing in the Church of Beauty”
Amanda Johnston

“Saturnine”
Patricia Spears Jones

from the archive

Less jargon and more joy in the high schools, please!

A postcard from former Chancellor and U.S. Consultant in Poetry Louise Bogan. Read a full transcript of the postcard.

2023 poet laureate fellows

In my experience, poetry, at its best, breathes life into communities because poetry is, in essence, a deeply communal act. —Nicholas Gulig

Read essays and interviews by the 2023 Poet Laureate Fellows.

new and forthcoming

I will get back in my car and drive back
to Columbia, crossing streams,
creeks, and rivers.

Congratulations to 2023 Poet Laureate Fellow Jennifer Bartell Boykin on her latest book, Only Believe (Word Works Books, 2024). Read a selection of the poems.

pick of the week

On Thursday, August 22, visit the Guggenheim for Late Shift, where you’ll explore current exhibitions and the collection galleries after hours, participate in thoughtfully curated, interactive experiences, and enjoy refreshments with friends at a cash bar in Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic rotunda. Come by between 5:30–8 p.m., 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10128. (Sponsored)

the glimpse

It’s important to subvert tropes. And it’s really interesting during this time of social media, body positivity, fat liberation—I feel that times couldn’t really be more polarizing.

Camille Rankine and Omotara James on pleasure, cruelty, and subversion in the latest episode of The Glimpse, produced by the Adrian Brinkerhoff Poetry Foundation.

literary seminars

Why did I make brooding my vocation
when awe was an option? 

Missed a session? There’s still time to explore Rumi’s views on divine love, heartache, ecstasy, and liberation with Haleh Liza Gafori.

Three sessions: August 6, 13, & 20
2:30–3:45 p.m. EDT 
Live over Zoom with recordings available

Submit proposals for the International Multilingual Creative Writing Conference, co-sponsored by the Academy of American Poets, November 13–15, in New York, New York. Learn more.

2025 Academy of American Poets First Book Award: Winner receives $5,000, publication by Graywolf Press, and a six-week residency at the Civitella Ranieri Center. Former Chancellor Alberto Ríos will judge. Apply here by September 1.