Phosphorescence June 2026 featured poets:
Lauren Camp, Okwudili Nebeolisa, Annie Wenstrup
VIRTUAL PROGRAM
This virtual program is free to attend. Registration is required.
To Emily Dickinson, phosphorescence was a divine spark and the illuminating light behind learning — it was volatile, but transformative in nature. Produced by the Emily Dickinson Museum, the Phosphorescence Contemporary Poetry Series celebrates contemporary creativity that echoes Dickinson’s own revolutionary poetic voice. The Series features established and emerging poets whose work and backgrounds represent the diversity of the flourishing contemporary poetry scene. Join us on a Thursday evening each month to hear from poets around the world as they read their work and discuss what poetry and Dickinson mean to them.
About this month’s poets:
Lauren Camp served as the second New Mexico Poet Laureate (2022-25). She has authored nine books, most recently Is Is Enough (Texas Review Press, 2026) and In Old Sky (Grand Canyon Conservancy, 2024), the result of her experience as Astronomer-in-Residence at Grand Canyon National Park. Her honors include a fellowship from the Academy of American Poets, a Dorset Prize, a New Mexico Book Award, finalist for the Arab American Book Award and Adrienne Rich Award. Her poems have appeared in The Nation, Kenyon Review, Poem-a-Day and The Slowdown, and have been translated into Mandarin, Turkish, Spanish, French, and Arabic.
Okwudili Nebeolisa is the author of Terminal Maladies (Autumn House Press, 2024), winner of the 2023 Center for African American Poetry and Poetics Prize and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, and the Minnesota Book Award. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and is currently studying fiction at the University of Minnesota. His work appears in POETRY, Sewanee Review, Southern Review, and Threepenny Review, among others. He has received support from the Elizabeth George Foundation and the Granum Foundation.
Annie Wenstrup is Dena’ina poet and the author of The Museum of Unnatural Histories (Wesleyan University Press, 2025). Awarded the 2025 Whiting Award in Poetry, the tenth annual New England Review Award for Emerging Writers, and the Alaska Literary Award in 2023, Wenstrup is an inaugural Indigenous Nations Poets Fellow. She lives on the traditional territories of the lower Tanana Dene Peoples in Fairbanks, Alaska.
Support Phosphorescence
While Phosphorescence events are free to attend, they are sustained by the Emily Dickinson Fund, which provides critical, unrestricted support for the Museum’s day-to-day operations. Your generous donation helps us offer immersive poetry programs to a global audience and preserve the historic Dickinson legacy in Amherst. As the Fund supplies 36% of our annual budget, your tax-deductible contribution is essential to our mission. Join us in inspiring learners of all ages by making an immediate impact today.