New York State of Poetry – Photos
Thank you to everyone who celebrated a New York State of Poetry (NYSP) with us and other organizations across the state! Inspired by NYS Poet Laureate (2021-23) Willie Perdomo and funded by the Academy of American Poets’ Poet Laureate Fellowship program, the goal of the NYSP project was to celebrate the diverse and powerful voices across our state and the transformative power of poetry. Literary organizations and poets throughout the Empire State offered poetry activities and events during and around the week of April 14-20, 2024. Nearly 400 people across the state shared their passion for poetry through NYSP programming. Thank you!
As a highlight of the week, T&W named the 2024-25 New York State Youth Poet Laureate at a special reception on April 18th in New York City. Huge congratulations to NYS Youth Poet Laureate 2024-2025, OlaRose Ndubuisi!
A New York State of Poetry was made possible by the Academy of American Poets with funds from the Mellon Foundation, and Teachers & Writers Collaborative, Inc.
2024 New York State of Poetry Photo Gallery
(April 6-May 15) The Adirondack Center for Writing brought poetry to unexpected places with the Poetry Machine (Saratoga Springs) and Poem Village: poems by local New Yorkers were displayed publicly in Saranac Lake, Malone and Canton/Potsdam areas.
A passerby retrieves a poem from the Adirondack Center for Writing’s Poetry Machine, Saratoga Springs, NY.
A poetry lover stops to read poems written by New Yorkers on posters displayed around Saranac Lake, NY, part of the Poem Village project by Adirondack Center for Writing
(April 6) Poet Doug Curry led a master class on the blues at Writers & Books in Rochester. Participants discussed the messages in this time-honored tradition, and enjoyed contributing original lines to an impromptu group blues poem.
Poet Doug Curry leading a master class on the Blues at Writers & Books, Rochester, NY.
Participants in Doug Curry’s workshop at Writers & Books, Rochester, NY
(April 6) National Youth Poet Laureate Stephanie Pacheco led a poetry workshop with the theme of Poetry & Liberation at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute in New York City. 
National Youth Poet Laureate Stephanie Pacheco led a poetry workshop at the Center for Caribbean Culture and African Diaspora Institute in NYC.
(April 13) Saratoga Springs Poet Laureate Joseph Bruchac led a “Random Acts of Poetry” writing workshop at Ballston Spa Public Library, Ballston Spa, NY.
Saratoga Springs Poet Laureate Dr. Joseph Bruchac with participants in a writing workshop at Ballston Spa Library, Ballston Spa, NY.
(April 14) Paula Curci, Nassau County Poet Laureate led a free verse writing activity as a kick-off to the It’s a Shore Thing! Poetry Festival at Long Beach Public Library, Long Beach, NY.
(April 14) NYS Poet Laureate Patricia Spears Jones, Peter Covino, and E.J. Antonio shared their poetry at the Hudson Valley Writers Center in Sleepy Hollow, NY.
Poets E.J. Antonio, Patricia Spears Jones, and Peter Covino at the Hudson Valley Writers Center.
(April 16) NYS Youth Poet Laureate 2023-2024 Stephanie Pacheco at M.S. 108 After School Program
Stephanie Pacheco shared her poetry with students at an afterschool workshop in East Harlem led by writer Daemond Arrindell.
(April 17) Common Ground Workshop & Reading at Binghamton Center for Writers (Binghamton, NY)
(April 170 National Youth Poet Laureate Stephanie Pacheco returned to East Harlem to lead a poetry writing workshop at El Barrio’s Artspace PS 109. Among the visitors to the workshop: Jesús “Papoleto” Meléndez, one of the founding poets of the Nuyorican Poets movement, and Poet Laureate Willie Perdomo.
Stephanie Pacheco and Papoleto at El Barrio’s Artspace PS 109
Poets and friends at El Barrio’s Artspace PS 109
(April 18) We celebrated the New York State of Poetry Project with a special reading, hosted by Girls Write Now in New York City. Readers and speakers included Poet Laureate Willie Perdomo, National Youth Poet Laureate Stephanie Pacheco, the 2024-25 NY State Youth Poet Laureate OlaRose Ndubuisi, poet and president of the Academy of American Poets Ricardo Maldonado, Urban Word NYC’s Interim Executive Director Marissa Lewis, and Azia Armstead of Girls Write Now.
2024-25 NY State Youth Poet Laureate OlaRose Ndubuisi and National Youth Poet Laureate Stephanie Pacheco
(April 19) Todavía deseando / Still Wishin’, a celebration & reading of the East Harlem Poets Collective, took place at El Barrio’s Artspace PS 109, featuring Alba Delia Hernández, Poet Laureate Willie Perdomo, and student poets from the Esperanza Preparatory Academy.
Young poets of the East Harlem Poets Collective read their work
The East Harlem Poets Collective – young poets and their families gathered for a reading at El Barrio’s Artspace PS 109
(April 20) Teens wrote poetry on their own and collectively in an online workshop called “The Poetics of Well-Being” led by poet Elle Bader-Gregory through the Just Buffalo Literary Center (Buffalo, NY). Below is their group poem!
(April 20) Poets in the Syracuse area joined Onondaga County Poet Laureate Georgia Popoff for a poetry reading and writing workshop at the Marcellus Public Library, Marcellus, NY.
New Yorkers in Marcellus NY joined poet Georgia Popoff for a poetry reading and writing activity.