Turtle Island

Honoring the rich traditions, vibrant voices, and visionary perspectives that American Indian poets bring to our stages.

5th Poetry Downtown Festival

For the first time, our festival will honor American Indian poetry as a whole rather than focusing on the life and work of a single poet.

This year, Poetry Downtown Festival will publish an anthology only. We won’t host talks, lectures, Poetry Train events, or city-wide tributes tied to a poet’s birthplace or passing.

We invite submissions from around the world, especially poems that engage with the rich traditions, voices, and visions of American Indian poetry.

Thank you for your support. We look forward to celebrating American Indian Poetry together.

— Erik van Loon

Read Here Their Decision

Poetry On Air

Poetry On Air, a proud partner of Poetry Downtown, is seeking poets to host shows in:
– Omaha – September 23
– Denver – September 24
– San Francisco – September 27

Poetry On Air
Bringing Poetry Home!

Poetry On Air

Visit our crowdfunding and support poetry now!

Meet our team

ERIK VAN LOON

Founder & chair jury 

Call me

VACANT

Sponsor

VACANT

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Latest News

All news in this section is protected by the first amendement!

I am working on a statement

Dear friends, Today I received an important message from a respected American Indian poet. To honor their privacy, I won’t share their name, but it’s become clear that many poets[…]

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August 6, 2025 0

Newsletter August

Fifth Anniversary of Poetry Downtown Festival As you know, I launched this festival like as a birthday gift to America—each year’s grand poetry celebration lands on the last weekend of September,[…]

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August 5, 2025 0

Make America Write Again

This year we organise for the fifth time the Poetry Downtown Festival and it’s our goal to make America write again. The last four years, we got entries from 26[…]

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July 3, 2025 0