Mass Poetry Festival Returns To Salem For First Time Since 2018

SALEM, MA — A year after the biennial Massachusetts Poetry Festival was canceled because of the onset of the coronavirus health crisis, the festival is set to return to Salem next month.

The festival will be mostly virtual this year with limited in-person exhibitions. The festival runs May 13 through May 16 with some preview events earlier in the month.

All readings, performances and workshops can be found at festival.masspoetry.org with events open to the general public. Tickets are available with donations accepted. The events are free for students.

The 10th year anniversary of the festival, which last took place in 2018, will include more than 50 events featuring more than 100 poets.

Headline poets include: highly acclaimed Guggenheim Foundation Award recipient Naomi Shihab Nye, Pulitzer Prize winner Tyehimba Jess, international bestselling author Lang Leav, and American Book Award winner Martín Espada, as well as Victoria Chang, Jos Charles, Khadijah Queen, Patricia Spears Jones, Ariana Reines, Dara Wier and more.

Events featuring local poets include poetry readings, workshops, panels, and performances as well as unique events pairing poetry with dance, music and yoga.

"This gathering of poets is timely and necessary," Espada said. "Poets still have something to say in a world wracked by crisis."

The Festival Student Day of Poetry is returning "bigger and better than ever before" as a series of workshops in the weeks leading up to the festival.

These students will participate in creative workshops with headlining and local poets, with a record 500 students anticipated to attend.

"Teachers and students are hungry for poetry and eager for experiences that can expand the classroom beyond Zoom. The Festival SDOP is a way to respond to both of those longings in the midst of a really tough year," said Erica Charis-Molling, Education Director at Mass Poetry.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)