Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival

The biennial Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival is the largest poetry event in North America. These four-day celebrations of poetry have been called “poetry heaven” by the 1995-1997 U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass, “a new Woodstock” by the "Christian Science Monitor", and simply “Wordstock” by "The New York Times". The Festival has been sponsored by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation in even-numbered years since 1986.

The Festival immerses audiences and more than five dozen internationally acclaimed poets in discussions, readings, and conversations focusing on poetry. Events are held all day and evening in performance tents accommodating anywhere from 100 to over 2,000 people. Each day, ten or more separate stages simultaneously offer different activities. The most recent Festival, the 11th held from September 28 through October 1, 2006 at Waterloo Village in Stanhope, New Jersey, attracted nearly 17,000 people. The next festival will take place from September 25 to 28, 2008.

Among the world-renowned poets who have participated in past Festivals are Chinua Achebe, Taha Muhammad Ali, Claribel Alegría, Yehuda Amichai, Jimmy Santiago Baca, Amiri Baraka, Coleman Barks, Ekiwah Adler-Belendez, Robert Bly, Gwendolyn Brooks, Marilyn Chin, Lucille Clifton, Billy Collins, Bei Dao, Toi Derricotte, Mark Doty, Rita Dove, Stephen Dunn, Allen Ginsberg, Jorie Graham, Linda Gregg, Donald Hall, Robert Hass, Tony Hoagland, Linda Hogan, Edward Hirsch, Galway Kinnell, Carolyn Kizer, Yusef Komunyakaa, Stanley Kunitz, Kurtis Lamkin, Li-Young Lee, Linda McCarriston, W. S. Merwin, Andrew Motion, Taslima Nasreen, Naomi Shihab Nye, Joyce Carol Oates, Sharon Olds, Alicia Ostriker, Grace Paley, Linda Pastan, Octavio Paz, Marge Piercy, Robert Pinsky, Adrienne Rich, Sonia Sanchez, Gary Snyder, William Stafford, Gerald Stern, Ruth Stone, Sekou Sundiata, Brian Turner, Ko Un, Derek Walcott, Anne Waldman, Richard Wilbur, Adam Zagajewski, and Daisy Zamora.

An essential component of each Festival is a series of special programs for high school students and for teachers at all levels, elementary through college. More than 4,500 students and 2,000 teachers from throughout the country participate in conversations and readings designed specifically for them during the first two days of the Festival.

The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival has been extensively featured in four PBS television series with Bill Moyers. The acclaimed eight-part "The Language of Life" series was filmed at the 1994 Festival providing a look at the overall activities of the Festival and in-depth conversations with the featured poets. More recently, "Fooling With Words" offered television audiences a front row seat at the 1998 Festival.

The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival's website is http://www.dodgepoetryfestival.org.