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Theme this year is:
Turtle Island!
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 will celebrate American Indian poetry in general with a Turtle Island anthology of the 52 most outstanding entries. All events in the birth city, death city, and aboard the Poetry Train have been canceled.
