Spoken word in every form is celebrated at the Dodge Poetry Festival on October 15-17, 2026 in Downtown Newark.

Meet your favorite poets including Elizabeth Acevedo, Tyehimba Jess, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Aja Monet, Danez Smith, Jive Poetic, Mayde del Valle, José Olivarez and more. Discover new voices, speak your mind, call for change and mix rhyme with rhythm.

Events include:

• 7 simultaneous stages of events in a walkable village in downtown Newark

• Network and socialize at Thursday night’s mixer and open mic hosted by EvoluCulture

• Fine-tune your craft on Thursday, a day for writers created in partnership with the Academy of American Poets

• Pop-up bookstore and book signings curated and hosted by Source of Knowledge

• Special readings by Cave Canem, CantoMundo, Lampblack and Kundiman and New Jeru Slam Team

• And Saturday free outdoor Family Fun Day on Chambers Plaza

Festival passes DO NOT include special ticketed events which must be purchased separately: Patti Smith, Do the Write Thing and Def Poetry Reunion.

9:30-10:40 AM What Happens to a Dream Deferred?: Stephanie Burt, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Diamond Forde, and Naomi Shihab Nye - NJPAC Prudential Hall

9:30-10:40 AM New Jeru Slam Team featuring John Burke, Keynote, RADI, and SNC - NJPAC Victoria Theater

9:30-10:40 AM Poetry and the Body: Quenton Baker, Meg Day, Dena Igusti, and Cindy Juyoung Ok - Robert Treat Hotel-Pennsylvania Room

9:30-10:40 AM Developing a Lexicon Toward Liberation: Dr. Grisel Y. Acosta, Tyehimba Jess, and Frank X Walker - Robert Treat Hotel -New Jersey Room

9:30-10:40 AM Finding Our Ancestors in the Stars: Antoinette Ellis-Williams, Barbara Fant, Adrian Matejka, and Chanda Prescod-Weinstein - Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral

9:30-10:40 AM Poetry & the Sacred: Mckendy Fils-Aimé, Jessica Jacobs, Nick Martino, and Alysha Wise - First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church

9:30-10:40 AM Story, Sound, Synergy, Light: The Interdisciplinary Poetic Experience: Le Fiddler, Cara Hagan, Martha Mooke, and Melida Rodas, moderated by I. Buenaventura - Express Newark (Lecture Hall)

9:30-10:40 AM Festival Open Mic - New Jersey Historical Society

11:00-12:10 PM Griots, Troubadours and MCs: Poetry and the Oral Tradition: Jive Poetic, and Gabriel Ramirez - NJPAC Prudential Hall

11:00-12:10 PM Griots, Troubadours and MCs: Poetry and the Oral Tradition: Terrance Hayes, Rickey Laurentiis, and Glenis Redmond - NJPAC Victoria Theater

11:00-12:10 PM Griots, Troubadours and MCs: Poetry and the Oral Tradition: Rajiv Mohabir, Peter E. Murphy, and Evie Shockley - Robert Treat Hotel-Pennsylvania Room

11:00-12:10 PM Griots, Troubadours and MCs: Poetry and the Oral Tradition: Noah Arhm Choi, Malcolm Friend, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha - Robert Treat Hotel -New Jersey Room

11:00-12:10 PM Griots, Troubadours and MCs: Poetry and the Oral Tradition: Leslie McIntosh, E. Ethelbert Miller, and Noel Quiñones - Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral

11:00-12:10 PM Griots, Troubadours and MCs: Poetry and the Oral Tradition: Anthony Cody, Roberto Carlos Garcia, and Aja Monet - First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church

11:00-12:10 PM Griots, Troubadours and MCs: Poetry and the Oral Tradition: Sarah Browning, Marina Carreira, and José Olivarez - Express Newark (Lecture Hall)

11:00-12:10 PM Festival Open Mic - New Jersey Historical Society

12:40-1:50 PM Writing Our Story, Preventing Erasure: Quenton Baker, Amanda Johnston, Adrian Matejka, and Danez Smith - NJPAC Prudential Hall

12:40-1:50 PM We Are Not Your Labels: Dena Igusti, walela Nehanda, and Cindy Juyoung Ok - NJPAC Victoria Theater

12:40-1:50 PM Radical Love & Liberation: Aja Monet, Mckendy Fils-Aimé, Mayda del Valle, Marc Bamuthi Joseph - Robert Treat Hotel-Pennsylvania Room

12:40-1:50 PM Africana Institute’s 14th State of Black Writers Symposium: Tehsuan Glover, Rashida Nakia, and Mia x - Robert Treat Hotel -New Jersey Room

12:40-1:50 PM Writing Home: Brent Ameneyro, Ana Portnoy Brimmer, Anthony Cody, and Nick Martino - Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral

12:40-1:50 PM Taking Off the Mask: On Vulnerability in Poetry: Diamond Forde, Jessica Jacobs, and Alysha Wise - First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church

12:40-1:50 PM Writing Speculative Futures: Stephanie Burt, Len Lawson, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, and Julian Randall - Express Newark (Lecture Hall)

12:40-1:50 PM Festival Open Mic - New Jersey Historical Society

2:10-3:20 PM Let Me Show You How It’s Done: Poetry & Performance: Sarah Browning, Jive Poetic, and Noel Quiñones - NJPAC Victoria Theater

2:10-3:20 PM Where’s Jersey At? Fostering Community in our Neighborhoods: Dr. Grisel Y. Acosta, Marina Carreira, and Peter E. Murphy - Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral

2:10-3:20 PM To Be Young, Gifted and Black: Barbara Fant, Malcolm Friend, and Gabriel Ramirez - First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church

2:10-3:20 PM Festival Open Mic - New Jersey Historical Society

4:00-5:40 PM Redemption Time [movie screening and talk back with film direcor, David Gonzalez] -NJPAC Victoria Theater

8:00 PM Patti Smith: Songs and Stories - NJPAC Prudential Hall

THEME: Poetry Festival
HOST: NJPAC
FEATURES: See Line-up on website below
PRICE: $47.40 - $117.35 - https://www.njpac.org/series/dodge-poetry-festival/?utm_source=priority_notice&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dodge_poetry
CONTACT: FB - NJPAC / 1.888.696.5722