The Academy of American Poets is pleased to announce the schedule for its ninth annual Poets Forum in New York City, to be held on the New York University and The New School campuses October 8 to 10, 2015.  A celebration of poets for poetry lovers, this year’s events kick off Thursday night with a reading and book signing by the fifteen Academy of American Poets Chancellors, who include U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, National Book Critics Circle Award winner and Citizen author Claudia Rankine, Inaugural Poet Elizabeth Alexander, and National Book Award winner Mark Doty. The reading is a unique opportunity to hear leading poets from across the United States sharing work on one stage.

On Friday evening, recent New York State Poet Laureate Marie Howe will give a reading and award-winning poet Joy Harjo will deliver the Academy’s annual Blaney Lecture, entitled Ancestors: a Mapping of Indigenous Poetry and Poets—an overview of the current field of young indigenous poets, and their ancestral strands of relatives.

Other highlights include Saturday’s conversations with the Chancellors. The topics range from Poet’s Respond, where Elizabeth Alexander, Juan Felipe Herrera, and Claudia Rankine will speak to how poets and the poetry community respond to tragic events and challenges facing our country and the world today, to In Search of Poetry Today, where Academy Chancellors Toi Derricotte, Anne Waldman, and C. D. Wright will explore the shifting definition of the art form of poetry.

The weekend will close with the American Poets Magazine Publication Party, a reading and reception featuring 2015 Walt Whitman Award winner Sjohnna McCray in celebration of the new fall/winter issue of American Poets, the Academy’s biannual magazine.

Poets Forum is organized by the Academy of American Poets, the nation’s largest member-supported organization advocating for poets and poetry, which produces Poets.org and the popular Poem-a-Day series and founded National Poetry Month. For the full lineup of Poets Forum events, please visit Poets.org/poetsforum.             

Poets Forum is cosponsored by The New School Creative Writing Program and The New York University Creative Writing Program. It is also made possible, in part, by support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the New York State Council on the Arts. 

For more information about the Academy of American Poets, visit Poets.org.