Videos

Videos in this series were recorded at our awards ceremonies honoring the recipents of the annual American Poets Prizes, such as the Walt Whitman Award and the James Laughlin Award. Recent winners include Tracy K. Smith, Robert Hass, Brian Blanchfield, Philip Levine, and Carolyn Forché.

watch more awards ceremony readings

The Blaney Lecture is an annual lecture series created in memory of former Academy of American Poets Board member Dorothy Gulbenkian Blaney by a gift from her estate. Past lectures have included talks from award-winning poets Elizabeth Alexander, Richard Blanco, Anne Carson, Carolyn Forché, Joy Harjo, and Susan Howe. 

watch more blaney lectures

Each year during National Poetry Month we produce an education project designed to help teachers engage their students in the art of poetry through interactive activities and lesson plans that are Common Core aligned. In recent years, through projects such as Poet-to-Poet and Dear Poet, we invited young people in grades five through twelve to write poems and letters in response to poems read by some of the award-winning poets, such as Arthur Sze, Juan Felipe Herrera, Marilyn Hacker, C. D. Wright, and Toi Derricotte, who serve on the Academy of American Poets Board of Chancellors. 

watch more education project videos

Each fall the Academy of American Poets presents a series of events in New York City that explore the ever-changing landscape of contemporary poetry in America. Poets Forum features discussions of craft and process as well as readings and talks given by the award-winning poets, such as Edward Hirsch, Naomi Shihab Nye, Mark Doty, Claudia Rankine, and Khaled Mattawa, who serve on the Academy of Amercain Poets Board of Chancellors.

watch more videos from poets forum

The Poet's View is a documentary series directed by acclaimed filmmaker Mel Stuart and features great American poets, such as John Ashbery, Louise Glück, W. S. Merwin, and Kay Ryan.

watch more videos from the poet's view

Poetry Breaks is a series of poetry shorts featuring celebrated poets reading their poems. Shot in informal and personal settings, each piece welcomes you into an intimate world where the poet reades you one of their poems. This video series was produced and directed by Leita Luchetti.

watch more poetry breaks videos