Poems for Valentine's Day, Upcoming Contest Deadlines, and more

Resources for Black History Month

Check out archival materials, photographs, more poems, essays, lesson plans, and books to celebrate and honor Black voices every day. 

This Week: Blaney Lecture with Adrian Matejka 

The Blaney Lecture on contemporary poetry and poetics is offered annually by a prominent poet. Join us for a live broadcast of the 2020-2021 Blaney Lecture, which will be delivered by Adrian Matejka. He is author of the graphic novel Last On His Feet (Liveright, 2021) and the poetry collection Map to the Stars (Penguin Books, 2017), a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The lecture will take place this Thursday, February 11, 2021, at 7 p.m. EST, 4 p.m. PST. 

Get Your Free Copy of the 2021 National Poetry Month Poster!

This year’s poster was designed by Bao Lu, a twelfth grader from Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, New York and the winner of the 2021 National Poetry Month Poster Contest. Get your free copy of the poster!

Check Out the #PoetryNearYou Pick of the Week: An Afternoon with Jaki Shelton Green

2021 Poets Laureate Fellowships 

Submissions are being accepted for the 2021 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships. The $50,000 fellowships will honor Poets Laureate of states, cities, counties, U.S. territories, or Tribal nations, enabling them to undertake impactful and innovative projects that will engage their fellow residents and address important issues with poetry. The fellowship program, made possible by a generous gift from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is now in its third year. Applications will be accepted until February 23, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. EST, 8:59 p.m. PST. 

Upcoming Contest Deadlines 

The Academy of American Poets is accepting submissions for the Ambroggio Prize, given to a book-length poetry manuscript written in Spanish; the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award, recognizing a poetry collection translated from any language into English and published in the previous calendar year; and the Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship, given for the translation into English of a significant work of modern Italian poetry. Submissions are open through Monday, February 15, 2021. 

What Rachel Eliza Griffiths is Currently Reading 

“I’m returning to the complete stories of Clarice Lispector. This may be the umpteenth time that I’m also rereading Jack Whitten: Notes from the Woodshed, which is extraordinary.”

—Rachel Eliza Griffiths, author of Seeing the Body (W. W. Norton, 2020), and Poem-a-Day Guest Editor for the month of February.