A literary institution in its thirteenth year, funded by NYSCA, DCLA, and more, The New York City Poetry Festival is a progressive and transformative event that draws over 15,000 attendees. NYC PoFest is one of the most accessible large-scale events New York has to offer. It is free to attend, and its programming is designed to cater to audiences of all ages, regardless of their poetry background. The festival's core comprises five mainstages: The Brinkley, The Algonquin, The White Horse, The Blackbird, and The Beckett. Over two days, more than a hundred literary organizations will share these stages, from established presses to community writing groups. Attendees of NYC PoFest can also expect an open-air artisan market, top-notch Smorgasburg-worthy food trucks, interactive installations, a visual arts gallery, a Youth Poetry Festival, an open mic, and more. At NYC PoFest, there's truly a little something for everyone.

Getting to the Festival

Governors Island is accessible by three ferries:

  1. Governors Island Ferry - Manhattan ($3 roundtrip)

  2. Governors Island Ferry - Brooklyn ($3 roundtrip)

  3. NYC Ferry - East River ($2.75 each way)

The Governors Island Ferries from Manhattan and Brooklyn are both operated by Governors Island and are designed specifically for visiting the island. They take direct routes to and from the island without stops. You can find the complete, up-to-date ferry schedules for each location on the Governors Island website. 

The Governors Island Manhattan Ferry departs from the Battery Maritime Building at 10 South Street, New York, NY. The Ferry landing is immediately east of the Staten Island Ferry (but not the same building). It is at the very southern tip of Manhattan and easily accessible from the 1, 4, 5, N, R, J or Z trains.

The Brooklyn Ferry disembarks from Pier 6 in Brooklyn Bridge Park, located at the foot of Atlantic Avenue (corner of Columbia Street). It is accessible via the R, 2, 3, 4, 5 trains and the B23, B65, B61 buses.

The East River Ferry, operated by NYC Ferry, makes several stops along the East River—Midtown, Long Island City, Williamsburg, Dumbo, Wall Street—and only stops at Governors Island on weekends. A complete, up-to-date ferry schedule listing the locations of all stops is available on the NYC Ferry website.

Here is a link to a downloadable PDF map of Governors Island that shows you the walking routes from each of the ferry landings on the island to Colonels Row. 

See you on the island!

 
map governors island 2018.png

The purpose of the New York City Poetry Festival has been to liberate poets and their work from the dark corners of bars, bookstore, and coffee shops and their halogen-lit college campuses, and to bring together as many NYC poets as possible, in the bright light of day, to meet, mingle, and collaborate. Fostering an open, approachable, diverse, innovative, fun, and culturally prominent literary community lies at the core of The Poetry Society of New York's mission. While there are still a few entrenched poetry establishments, for many writers and artists, and even the general public, they can seem remote and inaccessible; The Poetry Society of New York aims not only to bridge these gaps, but to unify this city's poetry community in ways never before thought possible.

The New York City Poetry Festival has been honored to present such award-winning writers as Mark Strand, Paul Muldoon, Yusef Komunyakaa, Patricia Smith, Mark Doty, Dorothea Lasky, Joyelle McSweeney, Cornelius Eady, Aja Monet, and Matthea Harvey, but more importantly the festival has given poets and poetry lovers from all five boroughs and beyond an opportunity to hear, appreciate, and interact with poets whom they might never have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. The festival has also presented hundreds of artists of other mediums. By reaching outside the established poetry communities, The Poetry Society of New York hopes to create new audiences for poetry and facilitate collaborations between poets and other artists. Similarly, by reaching out to colleges, high schools, grade schools, and youth-focused poetry organizations the festival hopes to encourage, educate, and inspire fledgling writers of all ages to become a part of New York's diverse and dynamic poetry scene. 

If you would like to make a fully tax-deductible donation to The Poetry Society of New York, a New York state 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, click here.

We proudly hold our festival each year on Governors Island, located off the southern end of Manhattan. The borough of Manhattan was an area once cared for by the Lenape people who also made use of the natural resources on Governors Island. They referred to it as Paggank, meaning “Nut Island” because of its diverse array of hickory, oak, and chestnut trees. Governors Island made a perfect fishing camp for indigenous communities who used the Island on a seasonal basis. We acknowledge that we are performing and taking up space on colonized land and are actively working to embrace marginalized voices within our organization. We condemn the violent history which claimed this stolen land from its original caretakers. It is an honor to use this land for spreading our message of community and poetic expression and take pride in the vast indigenous histories of this land. 

Written by Lola Anaya, 2023

 

Resources for Learning & Connecting:

  • American Indian Community House

    • “Found­ed in 1969, AICH is a com­mu­ni­ty-based orga­ni­za­tion with a mis­sion to improve and pro­mote the well-being of the Amer­i­can Indi­an Com­mu­ni­ty and to increase the vis­i­bil­i­ty of Amer­i­can Indi­an cul­tures in an urban set­ting. Their space on Gov­er­nors Island has been used to present exhi­bi­tions, per­for­mances, and oth­er cul­tur­al and edu­ca­tion­al pro­grams, as well as to host artists in residence.”

We at The Poetry Society of New York pledge to prioritize sustainability and equity within our programming. It is important to us to not only preserve the history of this land, but to also ensure a safe and eco-conscious future with our work and the organizations with which we collaborate. We follow the guidelines provided to us by Governors Island to uphold a standard of sustainable practices and promote a zero waste environment. We inform our vendors of our intentions as we connect with them and aim to educate both our audience and ourselves to expand our capacity for sustainability. Additionally, we are aiming to connect with local organizations that give back to communities, especially marginalized spaces, to further our goal of educating our audience and expanding our reach to uphold our equity standards. These groups are so valuable to providing sustainability education to our youth and inspiring the next generation of poets and leaders! 

We hope that you will join us to help keep The New York City Poetry Festival a clean, zero waste space so that we can continue to uphold our values and enjoy poetry together, sustainably! We at PSNY intend to use as little paper as possible, and we encourage the festival’s participants to do the same. We hope that you will be inspired to take these principles into your day to day lives as well. 

At the festival, there will be compost bins and labeled recycling bins as well as waste bins for us to be mindful of our trash and other items and we have resources for you all to learn more about sustainability in New York City with us. Please enjoy our space proactively and respectfully. 

Thank you for your generous support and we hope that you will uplift our vision for a greener Poetry Festival! 

Written by Lola Anaya, 2023

 

Resources for Learning & Connecting:

 

Tova Greene, CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Tova Greene (they/them) is a non-binary, queer, Jewish, Brooklyn-based producer and poet-person. They are the Programs Director of The Poetry Society of New York, the producer and host of PSNY’s podcast, Having a Coke with You, and an Editorial Director of PSNY’s publishing arm, Milk Press. A Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia Engineering graduate, they specialize in the intersection of twentieth century American poetry and feminist theory, with a sprinkle of Greek and Roman antiquity and dramatic literature. In their producing, they strive to create generative, inclusive, and wondrous spaces with no barriers to entry that prioritize and uplift marginalized creatives. They are the author of the collection lilac on the damned's breath (Bottlecap Press, 2022). Their poem "snowed like this on fulton street" was nominated for Sundress Publications "Best of the Net" awards. Their work has been featured in Eunoia Review, Midway Journal, West Trade Review, and others. For more information, please see https://linktr.ee/tovagreene.

JACKIE BRAJE, MANAGING DIRECTOR

Jackie Braje (she/her) is a Brooklyn-based poet, a friend of poets, educator, and arts administrator. She currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Poetry Society of New York. With Stephanie Berger, she co-founded Milk Press—the publishing arm of PSNY— and serves as the editor-in-chief. Her work has been published or featured by Ugly Duckling Presse, Brooklyn Poets, Free People, the Minnesota Review, the Oakland Review, the Westchester Review, Stoneboat Literary Journal, Statorec, the Quarterless Review, the Nottingham Review, Ninth Letter, and elsewhere. She is the Allerton Park Fall ‘22 Artist-in-Residence, a 2022 collaborator and artist-in-residence with the 4heads initiative on Governors Island, and the recipient of a 2022 Himan Brown Award. She received her MFA in poetry from Brooklyn College, where she also taught as an adjunct English professor.

Stephanie Berger, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

Stephanie Berger (she/her) is the Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director, and a co-founder of The Poetry Society of New York. She is also a poet and performance artist. She is co-creator of The Poetry Brothel, The New York City Poetry Festival, & The Typewriter Project. She is the author of IN THE MADAME’S HAT BOX (Dancing Girl Press, 2011) & co-author with Carina Finn of THE GREY BIRD: THIRTEEN EMOJI POEMS IN TRANSLATION (Coconut Books, 2014). With Jackie Braje, she founded Milk Press, a publisher & nurturer of poetic collaborations. Her work is largely collaborative, interactive, & community-oriented; & it straddles the worlds of literature, immersive theatre, & public art. Stephanie earned a B.A. in Philosophy at the University of Southern California, received an M.F.A. in Poetry from the New School, & taught in the English Department at Pace University.

JOELIS RODRÍGUEZ, EVENT PRODUCTION INTERN

Joelis Rodríguez is a born and raised Puerto Rican poet who uses poetry as a refuge from real life. Her main goal throughout her verses is to represent her heritage and raise awareness to past and present events happening in the small island in the Caribbean. She currently studies at Stony Brook University majoring in Creative Writing and Literature with a minor in TV Writing. When she's not reading or writing, you can find her at the beach collecting seashells or singing her heart out at some concert.

Faith-Marie McHenry, web design intern

Faith-Marie McHenry is a third-year student at Sarah Lawrence College, studying creative writing in various forms. She is an editor and blogger for Sarah Lawrence’s literary magazine, Love & Squalor, where you can find her published work. In addition to Love & Squalor, Faith-Marie’s poetry has been featured in The Sarah Lawrence Review, Dark Phrases (a BIPOC literary magazine), and The Garden Variety Magazine. As of 2024, she is a recipient of The Andrea Klein Willison Prize for Poetry.