VIRTUAL and HYBRID Program (see date details below)
Part of the 2026 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival
Come read with us and join in for the week-long Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon! An Emily Dickinson Museum tradition, the Marathon is a group reading of all 1,789 poems by Emily Dickinson over the course of 7 sessions. For this year’s hybrid Festival, some sessions will take place in-person and others online. For the Marathon, we will be reading from Ralph Franklin’s The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition.
Join us for the 14th annual Tell It Slant Poetry Festival, a week of events happening both online and in-person at the Museum!
The 2026 Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon is supported by a donation from Martha Nell Smith and Marilee Lindemann and held in memory of Eleanor Heginbotham, who dwelled in Possibility!
REGISTER FOR THE FESTIVAL
There are two ways to participate in each Marathon session: as a reader or as a listener.
- Listeners sit back and enjoy the group reading, which beautifully blends the voices of volunteer readers coming to Dickinson from different places, times in their lives, and levels of familiarity with the Poet. Listeners can watch the Marathon online via Zoom all week long. Listeners can watch the Marathon online OR in-person during the hybrid sessions on Saturday and Sunday. To sign up as a listener, register through the main Festival page.
- Readers volunteer to read 10-20 poems as part of the circle reading. Reader spots are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Readers of all levels of experience are invited to participate! To sign up as a reader, complete the separate Reader Registration below.
Schedule:
Monday, September 21:
6pm [Virtual] — Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon: Part 1
Tuesday, September 22:
12pm [Virtual] — Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon: Part 2
Wednesday, September 23:
12pm [Virtual] — Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon: Part 3
Thursday, September 24:
12pm [Virtual] — Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon: Part 4
Friday, September 25:
12pm [Virtual] — Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon: Part 5
Saturday, September 26:
9:30am [Hybrid] — Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon: Part 6
Sunday, September 27:
12:30pm [Hybrid] — Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon: Grand Finale
With coconut cake to celebrate!
Support The Tell It Slant Poetry Festival
The Tell It Slant Poetry Festival is 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.