Engage directly with award-winning poets as part of National Poetry Month.
Every National Poetry Month we present Dear Poet, a multimedia education project that invites young people in grades five through twelve to write letters in response to poems written and read by award-winning poets, including poets who serve on the Academy of American Poets Board of Chancellors and who have received our Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowships.
The submission period for Dear Poet 2022 is closed.
In a letter addressed to a student, Chancellor Ellen Bass writes,“What you say is so true: “everything matters, no matter how small any act of kindness is.” I believe this too. And I’m trying to practice it in my life, though I fall short often. But I think the intention is key. Remembering that that’s what I want to do.”
Marcus Amaker is a Poets Laureate Fellow and the Poet Laureate of Charleston, South Carolina.
Ellen Bass is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Semaj Brown is a Poets Laureate Fellow and the Poet Laureate of Flint, Michigan.
Aileen Cassinetto is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of San Mateo County.
Marilyn Chin is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Leslie Contreras Schwartz is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Houston, Texas.
Kwame Dawes is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Forrest Gander is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Magdalena Gómez is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Springfield, Massachusetts.
Georgina Marie Guardado is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Lake County, California.
Chasity Gunn is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Elgin, Illinois.
Kari Gunter-Seymour is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Ohio.
Marie Howe is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Luisa A. Igloria is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Dasha Kelly Hamilton is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the state of Wisconsin.
Melissa Kwasny is a Poets Laureate Fellow and the Poet Laureate of Montana.
Dorianne Laux is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
Debra Marquart is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Iowa.
Trapeta Mayson is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Anis Mojgani is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Oregon.
Chelsea Rathburn is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Georgia.
Lloyd Schwartz is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Somerville, Massachusetts.
M. Bartley Seigel is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
M.L. Smoker is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of Montana.
Brian Sonia-Wallace is a Poets Laureate Fellow, and the Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, California.
David St. John is a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.