Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

“The best audience for a poetry reading that I have ever experienced is the audience during the Dodge Poetry Festival’s High School Student Day. Busloads and busloads of students from surrounding towns, counties, and states came to Newark to listen to poets read and talk about poetry.”

–Oliver de la Paz

Since 1986, over 45,000 students and 10,000 teachers from as far away as Florida, Wisconsin, Maine and California have participated in High School Student Day, the largest poetry event for high school students in North America.

Pre-registered high school students and their pre-registered teachers are admitted at no charge to all High School Student Day events, described below:

·POETS ON POETRY: Festival Poets read and discuss some of the poems and poets that have mattered to them. Time is set aside for Q & A.

·CONVERSATIONS: Intimate groups of Festival Poets discuss the enduring themes evoked by poetry, including Going Public with Private Feelings, When Politics is Personal, and Saying the Unsayable.

·FESTIVAL POET READINGS feature a dynamic and diverse group of poets.

·POETS FOR TEACHERS (preferred seating for teachers): Festival Poets explore how to bring poetry to life inside and outside the classroom.

·STORYTELLING, poetry’s closest relative, is performed throughout the day.

·OPEN READING: Time and space is set aside for young writers to read their work to their peers.

·Pre-registered schools have the option of remaining for THE EVENING MAIN STAGE PROGRAM of readings and music at no charge.

High school teachers can CONTACT US at studentday@grdodge.org with questions, but more information will be available as the Festival approaches.

To read the rest of Oliver’s blog on his experience at the 2010 Festival, click here.

“I held a Poets on Poetry discussion with a group of fun-loving high school students at Peddie Baptist Church. I read a few poems, but mostly I talked about what it was like to be a writer and what it was like to do what I do. I treated the talk as if I were talking to my younger self.”

–Oliver de la Paz

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The best way to get up to the minute announcements as the Festival approaches is to join our mailing list. If you are a teacher, make sure to join the Teacher Mailing List to receive updates related to the 2012 High School Student Day.

For more information about the Dodge Poetry Festival and programs, visit www.dodgepoetry.org

Be our friend on Facebook,  and follow us on Twitter @DodgePoetryFest

“The Festival gave me a new outlook on poetry.  Poetry is an outlet for escape and it gives the world meaning.”

-Yasmine, 12^th Grade

“The highlight for me was being able to listen to and understand poems, because they were more current than poems I’ve read in the past. They were more relevant to me.”

-Mason, 11^th Grade

Isn’t that what we want for all High School students? To consider different perspectives?  To be inspired by their educational experiences?  To be curious and hungry learners?

The Dodge Poetry Program is committed to giving High School students these kinds of experiences—through our High School Mini Festivals and through High School Student Day at the Festival.  We’d like you to consider a donation to the Dodge Poetry Program, to support this important work.

“[The] poetry had a profound connection to my culture and myself.”

-Starkwan, 10^th Grade

“The highlight of the day for me was listening to a poem about the Jersey Shore….  It pleased me to see different races and ideas being portrayed in the poems.”

-Nicole, 10^th Grade

As you may know, we just announced that the Festival will return to Newark in Autumn 2012.  We’re already thinking about High School Student Day, which brings together thousands of students from schools in New Jersey and beyond.  (Schools from as far away as Florida and Wisconsin regularly attend.)  In order to make it easy for schools to participate, High School Student Day is free for students and their chaperones.

As one of the leaders in changing the way poetry is encountered, experienced and perceived, The Dodge Poetry Program is steadfast in its’ commitment to Students and Teachers. Since the first Festival in 1986:

• Over 45,000 students and 18,000 teachers have attended the Festival at no charge.
• More than 600 poets have read at the Festival or at a New Jersey High School as part of our Poetry in the Schools Program.
• Thousands of teachers have discussed poetry during our Clearing the Spring, Tending the Fountain sessions.
• Nearly 30,000 high school students encountered living poets at one of our Poetry in the Schools events.

At this critical time in our planning, we ask you to support the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Program as a Friend of the Festival. Friends of the Festival contributions are tax deductible and help us continue this extraordinary work. Click here to see all the ways your support makes a difference.

Photos courtesy of Lauren Rutten Photography

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For more information about the Dodge Poetry Festival and programs, visit www.dodgepoetry.org
Be our friend on Facebook,  and follow us on Twitter @DodgePoetryFest

We know you’re used to seeing us on Fridays, but we’ve got big news for you on Monday, we promise. You won’t want to miss it, so make sure to check back in with us here on the Dodge blog, or by becoming our friend on Facebook or following us on Twitter, @DodgePoetryFest!

See you next week…

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For more information on the Dodge Poetry Festival and Program, visit www.dodgepoetry.org

Support the Dodge Poetry Festival, Program and Archive.
Click here to become a Friend.

We’re spending this Friday packing up posters we sold during our pop-up shop last month. We’re really pleased by how many we sold.  A total of 177 posters sold, which amounts to about $1770 which will directly support the Dodge Poetry Program.  The top selling poster was from the 2008 Festival:

Here are a few shots from our training room, which is temporarily transformed into a little poster shipping station:

To everyone who placed an order, thank you again for your purchase and your patience.  Keep an eye on your mailbox, and make sure to make space on your wall!

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Support the Dodge Poetry Archive and Poetry Program. Click here.

Did you know that the Dodge Poetry Program has a YouTube channel? Take a look – view video clips from past biennial Festivals! You can also join the conversation on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter @dodgepoetryfest. See you there!

Rebecca Gambale, Program Associate, Poetry

In honor of the newly appointed United States Poet Laureate Philip Levine, we thought we’d feature an important part of every Dodge Poetry Festival – Poets Laureate both past and present.

Did you know that a total of 17 U.S. Poets Laureate have participated in the Dodge Poetry Festival, many of them multiple times? This includes Philip Levine, who has read at the 1990, 1994 and 2004 Festivals.

Poets Laureate Maxine Kumin, Robert Hass, Billy Collins and Ted Kooser
at the 2006 Dodge Poetry Festival

About 10 years ago the Poet Laureate panel became a part of the Festival programming. At the time poets like Rita Dove, Robert Pinsky and Robert Hass were making the position more visible by trying to use it to increase poetry awareness and improve poetry education nationally. The panels were an attempt to put a human face on what otherwise might seem a lofty post, and give the laureates a chance to talk about both the challenges and the opportunities presented by the position.

We would like to share with you, in alphabetical order, the list of all of the Poets Laureate who have graced our stage and participated in the U.S. Poets Laureate panel, a highlight of every Festival:

Gwendolyn Brooks
Billy Collins
Rita Dove
Donald Hall
Robert Hass
Ted Kooser
Maxine Kumin
Stanley Kunitz
Philip Levine
W.S. Merwin
Howard Nemerov
Robert Pinsky
Kay Ryan
Charles Simic
William Stafford
Mark Strand
Richard Wilbur

For more information on which poets participated in each Festival year, please check the Festival Background section of our website and click on “Past Festivals” to choose a year.

For a full listing of all U.S. Poets Laureate, check out the Library of Congress timeline.

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Support the Dodge Poetry Archive and Poetry Program. Click here.

Did you know that the Dodge Poetry Program has a YouTube channel? Take a look – view video clips from past biennial Festivals! You can also join the conversation on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter @dodgepoetryfest. See you there!