Poets Reading the News is where poets keep pace with and transcend the headlines.
Poets Reading the News, founded in 2016 in Oakland, California, is a digital platform and event series dedicated to the poetics of current events.
This work is urgent and extraordinary, tackling issues including politics, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, technology, gun violence, identity and immigration in real time. We’ve published hundreds of poet-journalists from over 25 countries, including the U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, as well as established and emergent writers. And we’ve been featured in the East Bay Express, Ivoh Magazine, NPR, KPFA, and elsewhere.
Our mission is to enact poetry’s vital cultural function as a processor for violence, cultural complexity, and political change in a society overwhelmed by the headlines. We’re out to prove what we know is true: in times of darkness, poetry is essential reading.
We are home to a dynamic publishing house, event series and curriculum program. Read all about it right here.
Get in touch with us here.
Stay up-to-date
You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.
