On April 27, 2016, the Academy of American Poets presented its fourteenth annual Poetry & the Creative Mind reading at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, commemorating the 20th anniversary of National Poetry Month. 

The evening began with a reading from award-winning poet and memoirist Elizabeth Alexander, who served as the event's master of ceremonies, and Eileen Huang, a participant in the National Student Poets program, and featured musical performances by Paul Simon and musicians David Krakauer and Carla Dirlikov, who performed a piece by the composer Mohammed Fairouz.

Special guest readers included: