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 feel hesitant—some even fearful—about participating in this year’s contest. Poetry Writing great poetry is hard! Especially with sensitive subjects like in 2021 with ‘Get Ready…
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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, coinciding with my birthday. This year we’re turning five, and I’d love nothing more than to receive more birthday presents (your poems!) than ever before.…
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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 states and we would love to get entries from all 50 states this year. Please share! The theme of Poetry Downtown 2025 is Turtle Island.…
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Chair becomes Curator I recently shifted our festival away from a jury-based selection to a single-curator model to ensure a cohesive creative vision and streamline editorial workflow. As founder of the Poetry Downtown Festival, House of Craziness (an indie publisher) and Poetry On Air I’ll be the sole curator this year, though I may enlist…
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In 2025, we transitioned from a jury-based selection process to a single-curator model to foster a more cohesive artistic vision and streamline decision-making. This year’s curator is Erik van Loon, founder of the Poetry Downtown Festival. In addition, he’s the founder of House of Craziness (an indie publisher) and Poetry On Air. Having chaired the…
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Celebrating American Indian Poetry Theme Turtle Island What to Submit • Lyric, prose, formal (syllabic, metrical, etc.), hybrid or experimental poetry • Maximum 30 lines per poem • Works in English Prizes • Up to 52 poets will be selected for the official anthology Reading Schedule • only online this year Deadline All entries must…
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Dear American Indians, Poets, and Friends, It is with a heavy heart that I share some unfortunate news. After weeks of calls and emails, Ana Ruiz from Drive Music Publishing decided not to grant us the copyrights to use any photo’s, music, songs, videos and not even the poetry of ‘Warrior Poet’ to celebrate the…
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Finally, President Biden commuted the life sentence of Indigenous elder and activist Leonard Peltier. Finally. This is what the Dutch Newspaper Leeuwarder courant wrote on 12-10-1987:
