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 Praise & Reclamation: Meg Day, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Rickey Laurentiis, Rajiv Mohabir, Naomi Shihab Nye, José Olivarez, and Danez Smith - NJPAC Victoria Theater

11:00-4:00 PM Family Fun Day (11-4 PM) - Chambers Plaza

11:00-12:10 PM The Future is Female: Elizabeth Acevedo, Diamond Forde, Aja Monet, and Patricia Smith - NJPAC Victoria Theater

11:00-12:10 PM Writing Workshop: Alysha Wise - NJPAC Parsonnet Room

11:00-12:10 PM Transient Worlds: Poetry & Translation: Carol Moldaw, Arthur Sze, and Michael Wiegers - Robert Treat Hotel-Pennsylvania Room

11:00-12:10 PM The Body, a Love Song: Claudia Cortese, Mckendy Fils-Aimé, Terrance Hayes, and Julian Randall - Robert Treat Hotel -New Jersey Room

11:00-12:10 PM Historical Legend & Poetry: Tyehimba Jess, E. Ethelbert Miller, and Frank X Walker - Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral

11:00-12:10 PM Finding Our Ancestors in the Stars: Mayda del Valle, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Gabriel Ramirez, and Evie Shockley - First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church

11:00-12:10 PM Dodge Poetry Youth Anthology Release (featuring Ms. Betty Neals and Darius Parker) (11-1) - Newark Public Library

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

12:30-1:40 PM Cave Canem’s 30th Anniversary - NJPAC Victoria Theater

12:30-1:40 PM Writing Workshop: Amanda Johnston - NJPAC Parsonnet Room

12:30-1:40 PM When Memory Speaks: A Dodge Poetry Festival Reading with CantoMundo: Jay Aja, María Fernanda Chamorro, and Noel Quiñones - First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church

12:30-1:40 PM Queering the Poem: Marina Carreira, Noah Arhm Choi, Rickey Laurentiis, and Leslie McIntosh - Robert Treat Hotel -New Jersey Room

12:30-1:40 PM Writing Radical Joy: Stephanie Burt, Malcolm Friend, José Olivarez, and Glenis Redmond - Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral

12:30-1:40 PM Writing Our Land: Dr. Grisel Y. Acosta, Sarah Browning, Anthony Cody, Jessica Jacobs, and Peter E. Murphy - Robert Treat Hotel-Pennsylvania Room

12:30-1:40 PM Mental Wellness & Poetry: Len Lawson, walela Nehanda, Cindy Juyoung Ok, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha - Express Newark (Lecture Hall)

12:30-1:40 PM Festival Open Mic - New Jersey Historical Society

2:00-3:10 PM Writing Workshop: Brent Ameneyro - NJPAC Parsonnet Room

2:00-3:10 PM Diaspora and Liberation: A Dodge Poetry Festival Reading with Lampblack Lit: Attorious Renée Augustin, Kailah Hodge, and Mya Matteo Alexice - Robert Treat Hotel-Pennsylvania Room

2:00-3:10 PM Embodied Connection: A Dodge Poetry Festival Reading with Kundiman: Fatimah Asghar, Sanam Sheriff, R. A. Villanueva - Robert Treat Hotel -New Jersey Room

2:00-3:10 PM Poetry as Time Capsule: Dena Igusti, Adrian Matejka, Danez Smith, and Frank X Walker - Express Newark (Lecture Hall)

2:00-3:10 PM Griots, Troubadours and MCs: Poetry and the Oral Tradition: Mayda del Valle, Tyehimba Jess, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Patricia Smith, and Alysha Wise - Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral

2:00-3:10 PM Developing a Lexicon Toward Liberation: Meg Day, Rajiv Mohabir, Noel Quiñones, and Evie Shockley - First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church

2:00-3:10 PM Festival Open Mic - New Jersey Historical Society

3:30-4:40 PM Writing Workshop: Barbara Fant - NJPAC Parsonnet Room

3:30-4:40 PM The Fusion of Form & Feeling: Quenton Baker, Terrance Hayes, Amanda Johnston, and E. Ethelbert Miller - Robert Treat Hotel-Pennsylvania Room

3:30-4:40 PM Writing Our Story, Preventing Erasure: Tongo Eisen-Martin, Nick Martino, Carol Moldaw, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha - Robert Treat Hotel -New Jersey Room

3:30-4:40 PM Saying What We Must: Ana Portnoy Brimmer, Roberto Carlos Garcia, and Naomi Shihab Nye - Trinity & St. Philip’s Cathedral

3:30-4:40 PM Poetry & Survival: Antoinette Ellis-Williams, Jive Poetic, Julian Randall, and Melida Rodas - First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church

3:30-4:40 PM Poetry Foundation presents the 2026 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellows: xochi quetzali cartland, Fatima Jafar, Shaina Jones, Noel Munguia-Moreno, and Tariq Thompson - Express Newark (Lecture Hall)

3:30-4:40 PM Festival Open Mic - New Jersey Historical Society

5:00 PM Def Poetry Reunion - NJPAC Victoria Theater

8:00 PM Do the Write Thing - NJPAC Victoria Theater

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