The Poetry Foundation is an American

literary society A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of writing or a specific author. Modern literary societies typically promote research, publish newsle ...

that seeks to promote

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

and

lyricism Lyricism is a quality that expresses deep feelings or emotions in an inspired work of art. Often used to describe the capability of a Lyricist. Description Lyricism is when art is expressed in a beautiful or imaginative way, or when it has an ...

in the wider culture. It was formed from ''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthropist

Ruth Lilly Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...

. According to the foundation's website, it is "committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture. It exists to discover and celebrate the best poetry and to place it before the largest possible audience." In partial furtherance of this objective, the foundation runs a blog called ''Harriet''. Poets who have blogged at ''Harriet'' on behalf of The Poetry Foundation include

Christian Bök Christian Bök, FRSC (; born August 10, 1966 in Toronto, Canada) is a Canadian poet known for unusual and experimental works. He is the author of '' Eunoia'', which won the Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize. Life and work He was born "Christian Bo ...

Stephanie Burt Stephanie Burt (born 1971) is a literary critic and poet who is Professor of English at Harvard University. '' The New York Times'' has called her "one of the most influential poetry critics of ergeneration". Burt grew up around Washington, D.C. ...

Wanda Coleman Wanda Coleman (November 13, 1946 – November 22, 2013) was an American poet. She was known as "the L.A. Blueswoman" and "the unofficial poet laureate of Los Angeles". Biography Wanda Evans was born in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, whe ...

Kwame Dawes Kwame Senu Neville Dawes (born 28 July 1962) is a Ghanaian poet, actor, editor, critic, musician, and former Louis Frye Scudder Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of South Carolina. He is now Professor of English at the University of N ...

Linh Dinh Linh Dinh (Vietnamese: , born 1963, Saigon, Vietnam) is a Vietnamese-American poet, fiction writer, translator, and photographer. He was a 1993 Pew Fellow. He writes a column for '' The Unz Review''. Biography Dinh came to the US in 1975, live ...

Camille Dungy Camille T. Dungy (born 1972) is an American poet and professor. Career Born in Denver, Colorado, Dungy graduated from Stanford University (BA) and the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, where she earned her MFA. She is the author of fou ...

Annie Finch Annie Finch (born October 31, 1956) is an American poet, critic, editor, translator, playwright, and performer and the editor of the first major anthology of literature about abortion. Her poetry is known for its often incantatory use of rhythm, ...

, Forrest Gander,

Rigoberto González Rigoberto González (born July 18, 1970) is an American writer and book critic. He is an editor and author of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and bilingual children's books, and self-identifies in his writing as a gay Chicano. His most recent projec ...

Cathy Park Hong Cathy Park Hong (born August 7, 1976) is an American poet, writer, and professor who has published three volumes of poetry. Much of her work includes mixed language and serialized narrative. She was named on the 2021 Time 100 list for her writing ...

Bhanu Kapil Bhanu Kapil is a poet, and author of books, including ''The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers'' (2001), ''Incubation: A Space for Monsters'' (2006), and ''Ban en Banlieue'' (2015). Career Kapil's first book, ''The Vertical Interrogation of ...

, Ange Mlinko,

Eileen Myles Eileen Myles (born December 9, 1949) is a LAMBDA Literary Award-winning American poet and writer who has produced more than twenty volumes of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, libretti, plays, and performance pieces over the last three decades. No ...

Craig Santos Perez Craig Santos Perez (born February 6, 1980) is a poet, essayist, university professor, American publisher (USA) from the Chamorro people, born in Mongmong-Toto-Maite, Guam Island. His poetry has received multiple awards, including a 2015 Americ ...

A.E. Stallings Alicia Elsbeth Stallings (born July 2, 1968) is an American New Formalist and Philhellene poet and translator. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, she was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow (the "Genius Grant"). Background Stallin ...

, Edwin Torres, and Patricia Smith. In addition, the foundation provides several awards for poets and poetry. It also hosts seminars, readings, exhibitions, and a poetry library. The Poetry Foundation is a non-profit, charitable,

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of ...

organization.

History

The foundation is the successor to the Modern Poetry Association (previous publisher of ''Poetry'' magazine), which was founded in 1941. The magazine, itself, was established in 1912 by

Harriet Monroe Harriet Monroe (December 23, 1860 – September 26, 1936) was an American editor, scholar, literary critic, poet, and patron of the arts. She was the founding publisher and long-time editor of ''Poetry'' magazine, first published in 1912. As a ...

. Monroe was its first publisher until her death in 1936. Today, the Poetry Foundation is one of the largest literary foundations in the world. Poetry Center 3

In 2003, ''

'' magazine received a grant from the estate of

originally said to be worth over $100 million, but which grew to be about $200 million when it was given out. The grant added to her already substantial prior contributions. The magazine learned in 2001 that it would be getting the grant. Before announcing the gift, the magazine waited a year and reconfigured its governing board, which had been concerned with fund-raising. The foundation was created, and Joseph Parisi, who had been editor of the magazine for two decades, volunteered to head the new organization. Christian Wiman, a young critic and poet, succeeded to the editorship in 2003. Parisi resigned from the foundation after a few months. The new board used a recruiting agency to find John Barr, a former executive and published poet, to head the foundation.

Robert Polito Robert Polito is a poet, biographer, essayist, critic, educator, curator, and arts administrator. He received the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography in 1995 for ''Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson.'' The founding director of th ...

, the poet and critic who founded and directed the graduate writing program at the

New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

, succeeded Barr in 2013 and served until 2015. In December, 2015,

Henry S. Bienen Henry Samuel Bienen (born 1939) is an American academic and administrator. He was named President of the Poetry Foundation in 2015, and is President Emeritus of Northwestern University, where he served from 1995 to 2009. Life and career Bienen re ...

, President Emeritus of

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

was named president. Bienen served as the president of The Poetry Foundation from December 2015 until his resignation on June 10, 2020, following criticism of the foundation's support for marginalized artists. In April 2021, the foundation named former city of Chicago cultural commissioner Michelle T. Boone as its new president.

Poetry Foundation building

Part of the Lilly grant was used to build the Poetry Center in

Near North Side, Chicago The Near North Side is the eighth of Chicago's 77 community areas. It is the northernmost of the three areas that constitute central Chicago, the others being the Loop and the Near South Side. The community area is located north and east of the ...

. The center, designed by

John Ronan John Ronan is an American architect, designer and educator based in Chicago, in the United States. John Ronan FAIA is founding principal of John Ronan Architects in Chicago, founded in 1999. Education Ronan holds a Master of Architecture degree ...

, opened in 2011. The center holds a library open to the public, houses reading spaces, hosts school and tour groups, and provides office and editorial space for the Poetry Foundation and magazine.

Programs

Events

The Poetry Foundation hosts a schedule of events. These include poetry readings, staged plays, artist collaborations, and exhibitions.

Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute

The ''Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute'' provides an independent forum to convene discussions about poetry. Poets, scholars, educators and others are invited to share ideas about the intellectual and practical needs of the poetry form, and to generate solutions to benefit the art.

Poetry Out Loud contest

The

Poetry Out Loud The Poetry Out Loud Recitation Contest was created in 2006 by the National Endowment for the Arts under chairman Dana Gioia and The Poetry Foundation. The contest seeks to promote the art of performing poetry, by awarding cash prizes to participa ...

recitation contest was created in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

by the Poetry Foundation and the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

to increase awareness of poetry through performance and competition. It engages high school students in public speaking and the literature and performance of poetry. The contest gives out a $20,000 award to the first-place winner, $10,000 for second place and $5,000 for third place. Participating schools also receive cash prizes.

Awards

The foundation's awards seek to promote and bring recognition to poets and poetry. The ''Pegasus Awards'' are a series of awards to "under-recognized" poets and poetic forms (the winged horse, ''

Pegasus Pegasus ( grc-gre, Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; la, Pegasus, Pegasos) is one of the best known creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine stallion usually depicted as pure white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as hor ...

,'' was used to illustrate the early magazine covers). They are generally given annually but may be given less often. The

Young People's Poet Laureate Young People's Poet Laureate is a position and award that was established by the Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is an American literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry ...

(formerly the Children's Poet Laureate) is a two-year appointment to an author of children's poetry. The Ruth Lilly Prize is an annual award given for lifetime achievement in poetry to U.S. poets. The ''Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship'' is awarded to aspiring U.S. poets to support study and writing. The ''Emily Dickinson First Book Award'' is an occasional award that recognizes an American poet, not under the age of 40, who has not yet published a poetry collection in book form; Kristen Tracy won the 2017 award, consisting of $10,000 and publication and promotion of her collection ''Half-Hazard'' by

Graywolf Press Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mello ...

Library

The 30,000-volume library presents a wide selection of modern and contemporary poetry in English or translation. It includes original author works and rare volumes. It also includes representative samples of earlier eras, and includes a 3000-volume children's section. In addition to the reading room, there are listening booths for poet audio recordings and broadcasts related to poetry and interactive displays. It is open to the public Tuesday through Friday with a children's day on Wednesday.

Notes

External links

* * First Foundation president (2003—2013
John Barr's
annual letters to the poetry community * {{Authority control American poetry Arts foundations based in the United States Organizations based in Chicago Libraries in Chicago Poetry organizations Library buildings completed in 2011 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award winners