Friday, October 18, at 7:30 p.m. ET
More info and tickets at bit.ly/poets90th
New York, NY (September 10, 2024)—The Academy of American Poets, now celebrating its ninetieth year as a leading supporter of poets and poetry across the nation, will present a special anniversary reading with Chancellors Jericho Brown, Natalie Diaz, Nikky Finney, Carolyn Forché, Kimiko Hahn, Joy Harjo, Ed Roberson, Tracy K. Smith, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Afaa Michael Weaver, and Kevin Young, as well as the Academy of American Poets Fellowship and Wallace Stevens Award to this year’s winners, which will be announced in October.
Held at the Guggenheim Museum in NYC, this event honors the continuation of a sixty-year creative collaboration between the two storied institutions, which have brought art and poetry into deeper dialogue through readings and lectures by some of the nation’s most celebrated voices of the past, including W.H. Auden, Langston Hughes, Robert Lowell, and Marianne Moore, as well as luminaries of the present: Guggenheim Poets-in-Residence Taylor Johnson (2022), Ama Codjoe (2023), and Meg Day (2024), and former Academy Chancellors Terrance Hayes and Claudia Rankine, among others.
“The Academy of American Poets was founded ninety years ago with the aspiration to make poetry a living thing,” said Ricardo Maldonado, President and Executive Director. “Honoring the achievements of poets at all stages of their careers has been at the center of our mission for almost a century. We can’t wait to showcase our Chancellors’ vital work in bringing poetry to so many communities, while honoring the immeasurable contributions of the two remarkable poets receiving two of our major prizes at the Guggenheim Museum, a home for us for nearly six decades.”
“Throughout the years, our Chancellors have brought life-giving energy to every stage and virtual venue, advocating for a poetry that highlights our interconnectedness,” said Tess O’Dwyer, Board Chair. “We’re excited to gather at the Guggenheim to champion the immense agency of our collective imagination, as we reflect on our organization's history and look toward reimagining the ways in which we fulfill our mission of supporting poets, forging lasting poetry connections.”
About the Academy’s Board of Chancellors, the Academy of American Poets Fellowship, and the Wallace Stevens Award
The Academy’s Board of Chancellors is composed of esteemed poets who serve as artistic advisors to the organization and ambassadors of poetry to the nation at large. Distinguished poets reflecting a wide range of geographic and stylistic communities have been elected to this position, including Elizabeth Alexander, John Ashbery, Elizabeth Bishop, Lucille Clifton, Robert Creely, Rita Dove, Louise Glück, Yusef Komunyakaa, Mark Strand, and Arthur Sze.
Chancellors select the recipients of the organization’s two of the Academy’s major prizes: the Academy of American Poets Fellowship, a $25,000 prize awarded to one poet each year to recognize distinguished poetic achievement, and the Wallace Stevens Award, a $100,000 prize given annually to recognize outstanding artistic achievement in the art of poetry over a poet's career.
Established in 1936 and given in memory of poet James Ingram Merrill, with generous support from the T. S. Eliot Foundation, the Academy of American Poets Fellowship was the first award of its kind in the United States. Previous recipients include Gwendolyn Brooks, e.e. cummings, Robert Frost, Martín Espada, Marie Howe, Major Jackson, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Harryette Mullen, and William Carlos Williams.
The Wallace Stevens Award was created and endowed by poet, painter, sculptor, printmaker, novelist, and memoirist Dorothea Tanning in 1994. Previous Stevens Award recipients include Rita Dove, Louise Glück, Joy Harjo, Yusef Komunyakaa, W. S. Merwin, Adrienne Rich, and Afaa Michael Weaver.
EVENT INFO
Poetry in Community: Celebrating Ninety Years of the Academy of American Poets
Friday, October 18, 2024, 7:30 p.m. ET
Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10128
Tickets are $15 for general admission, or $12 for Academy and Guggenheim Members
Get tickets: bit.ly/poets90th
This program will be interpreted in American Sign Language (ASL).
Presented by the Guggenheim Poet-in-Residence in association with the Academy of American Poets.
The Guggenheim Poet-in-Residence is made possible by Van Cleef & Arpels.
About the Academy of American Poets
Celebrating its ninetieth anniversary in 2024, the Academy of American Poets is a leading publisher of contemporary poetry and a champion of poets across the country. The organization produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; organizes National Poetry Month; publishes the popular Poem-a-Day series and American Poets magazine; provides award-winning resources to K–12 educators, including the Teach This Poem series; hosts an annual series of poetry readings, literary seminars, and special events; and coordinates a national Poetry Coalition working together to promote the value poets bring to our culture.
About the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1937 and is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The international constellation of museums includes the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. An architectural icon and “temple of spirit” where radical art and architecture meet, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is now among a group of eight Frank Lloyd Wright structures in the United States recently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. To learn more about the museum and the Guggenheim’s activities around the world, visit guggenheim.org