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Theme:
The theme of the 5th Poetry Downtown Festival is
Turtle Island
We publish this year only an anthology. All the 5th Poetry Downtown Festival events in the birth city, death city, and aboard the 4th Poetry Train have been cancelled. Read under the cancelled Poetry Downtown Festival 2025 guide why!
Important Message from Erik van Loon
Founder of Poetry Downtown Festival
Each year, Poetry Downtown honors a distinguished poet’s lifetime achievements—see 2021-2031 honorees—by hosting lectures, talks, workshops, and readings in their birth city and death city, linked by the Poetry Train. This year, we planned to commemorate the late John Trudell (February 15, 1946 – December 8, 2015) on the 10th anniversary of his passing. After weeks of calls and emails, Drive Music Publishing was unfortunately unable to grant permission for a dedicated tribute—read their decision here. In lieu of a single honoree, we decided to celebrate American Indian poetry in general with only an anthology of the 52 most outstanding entries. That’s why all events in the birth city, death city, and aboard the Poetry Train have been canceled.
