The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, is an independent literary organization 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.
The Poetry Foundation works to raise poetry to a more visible and influential position in American culture. Rather than celebrating the status quo, the Foundation seeks to be a leader in shaping a receptive climate for poetry by developing new audiences, creating new avenues for delivery, and encouraging new kinds of poetry. In the long term, the Foundation aspires to alter the perception that poetry is a marginal art, and to make it directly relevant to the American public.
Established in 2003 upon receipt of a major gift from philanthropist Ruth Lilly, the Poetry Foundation evolved from the Modern Poetry Association, which was founded in 1941 to support the publication of Poetry magazine. The gift from Ruth Lilly has allowed the Poetry Foundation to expand and enhance the presence of poetry in America and has established an endowment that will fund Poetry magazine in perpetuity.
PROGRAMS OF THE POETRY FOUNDATION
With Poetry magazine as its flagship initiative, the Foundation pursues its mission to celebrate and share the best poetry with the largest audiences through a family of programs.
POETRY magazine
Founded in Chicago by Harriet Monroe in 1912, Poetry magazine is the oldest monthly devoted to verse in the English-speaking world. Harriet Monroe’s “Open Door” policy, set forth in Volume I of the magazine, remains the most succinct statement of Poetry’s mission: to print the best poetry written today, in whatever style, genre, or approach.
EVENTS
The Poetry Foundation hosts a robust schedule of free live events throughout the year. Ranging from poetry readings to lectures to staged plays, events have also included artist collaborations, exhibition openings, and other performances. View our current events schedule.
LIBRARY
The Midwest’s only library dedicated exclusively to poetry, the Poetry Foundation Library invites the reading of poetry through its collections and public programs. Visitors can browse a collection of more than 30,000 volumes, experience audio and video recordings in private listening booths, engage with gallery exhibitions through library materials, and explore educational programs for children, students, and lifelong learners. The library is free and open to the public 11 AM – 4 PM, Monday – Friday and on select Saturdays. Visit us at 61 West Superior Street, Chicago, Illinois.
The Poetry Foundation gallery features work by poets who practice fine art and by fine artists working in collaboration with and in response to poetry. Past exhibitions have ranged from poetry comics to rare books, archival photographs and letters to complete wall installations. The Poetry Foundation gallery is free and open to the public 11 AM – 4 PM, Monday – Friday, during Poetry Foundation events, and on select Saturdays. Visit us at 61 West Superior Street, Chicago, Illinois.
The Poetry Foundation uses emerging technology to reach and engage a broad audience for poetry. Through its mobile applications and award-winning website, which includes poetry journalism, educational resources, and an archive of more than 12,500 poems by more than 3000 authors, the Foundation seeks to create new readers of poetry, serve existing poetry fans, and support Foundation initiatives and programs.
HARRIET MONROE POETRY INSTITUTE
The Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute is an independent forum created to provide a space in which fresh thinking about poetry, in both its intellectual and its practical needs, can flourish free of any allegiance other than to the best ideas. With this in mind, the Institute convenes leading poets, scholars, publishers, educators, and other thinkers from inside and outside the poetry world to address issues of importance to the art form of poetry and to identify and champion solutions for the benefit of the art.
The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation have partnered with U.S. state arts agencies to support Poetry Out Loud, a contest that encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. This program helps high school students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.
Through active partnerships and sponsorships, the Foundation works to place poetry before the widest possible audience and raise it to a more visible and influential position in American culture. The Poetry Foundation helps support an enhanced presence for poetry in each of the major media channels: print, radio, television, film, and new media.
The Poetry Foundation presents multiple awards, which directly support and encourage poets, in service of the Foundation’s mission: to discover and celebrate what is best in poetry and present it to the largest possible audience. Awards include the annual Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, The Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships, the Pegasus Award for Criticism, the bi-annual Children’s Poet Laureate, and the Pegasus Awards.
