Please review our Virtual Group Tour Policies before submitting your request.
Our current pricing:
$250 Speaker Fee per session
Tickets are now on sale for March through May. Timed tickets are required — please buy your tickets in advance.
The Emily Dickinson Museum, comprising two historic houses, is open for guided tours March through December. Begin your visit at the Museum’s Tour Center, located in the Homestead, where you can purchase tickets for our 45-minute guided tour of the historic interiors. From there, visit our Museum shop, grounds, and gardens, all of which are open to the public. Tours, for which a fee is charged, are offered throughout the day and sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
To see inside the Homestead, where Emily Dickinson wrote almost all of her poetry, visitors must purchase tickets for a guided tour. Purchasing timed-tickets online ahead of your visit is recommended.
Please note: The Evergreens, home of her brother Austin Dickinson and sister-in-law Susan, is temporarily closed for preservation improvements during the 2023 season.
Tour Tickets Available:
| Adult | $16 |
| Seniors | $13 |
| Students (18+) | $10 |
| Youth (17 and Under) | Free |
| Five College Students | Free |
Further discounts available by calling the Tour Center:
| Teachers | $10 |
| Blue Star families | Free |
| Amherst College Faculty & Staff | Free |
| Museum Professionals (AAM, NEMA) | Free |
Wednesday – Sunday
10am – 5pm ET
This program is free to attend.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25
Hosted by Emily Dickinson Museum Keiter Family Executive Director Jane Wald
Location: Friendly Reading Room, Frost Library
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 Poetry Reading 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. The 2021 Series will be a virtual event to ensure the health and safety of participants. While we are disappointed not to gather together in Amherst, we are excited to connect with a global community of friends and writers. Join us on the last Thursdays of each month to hear from poets around the world as they read their work and discuss what poetry and Dickinson mean to them.
This program is part of Amherst College’s LitFest, an annual literary festival celebrates the College’s literary life by inviting distinguished authors and editors to discuss the pleasures and challenges of verbal expression — from fiction and nonfiction to poetry and spoken-word performance.
To learn more about LitFest:
amherst.edu/about/literary-amherst/litfest
Tyehimba Jess is the author of two books of poetry, Leadbelly and Olio. Olio won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, The Midland Society Author’s Award in Poetry, and received an Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. It was also nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the PEN Jean Stein Book Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Leadbelly was a winner of the 2004 National Poetry Series. The Library Journal and Black Issues Book Review both named it one of the “Best Poetry Books of 2005.”
Jess, a Cave Canem and NYU Alumni, received a 2004 Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and was a 2004–2005 Winter Fellow at the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center. Jess is also a veteran of the 2000 and 2001 Green Mill Poetry Slam Team, and won a 2000–2001 Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Poetry, the 2001 Chicago Sun-Times Poetry Award, and a 2006 Whiting Fellowship. He presented his poetry at the 2011 TedX Nashville Conference and won a 2016 Lannan Literary Award in Poetry. He received a Guggenheim fellowship in 2018. Jess is a Professor of English at College of Staten Island.
Jess’ fiction and poetry have appeared in many journals, as well as anthologies such as Angles of Ascent: A Norton Anthology of Contemporary African American Poetry, Beyond The Frontier: African American Poetry for the Twenty-First Century, Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature and Art, Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam, Power Lines: Ten Years of Poetry from Chicago’s Guild Complex, and Slam: The Art of Performance Poetry.
tyehimbajess.net
Victoria Chang’s forthcoming book of poems, With My Back to the World will be published in 2024 by Farrar, Straus & Giroux and Corsair Books in the U.K. Her most recent book of poetry, The Trees Witness Everything was published by Copper Canyon Press and Corsair Books in the U.K. in 2022, and was named one of the Best Books of 2022 by the New Yorker and The Guardian.
Her nonfiction book, Dear Memory (Milkweed Editions), was published in 2021 and was named a favorite nonfiction book of 2021 by Electric Literature and Kirkus. OBIT (Copper Canyon Press, 2020), her most recent poetry book, was named a New York Times Notable Book, a Time Must-Read Book, and received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Poetry, and the PEN/Voelcker Award. It was also longlisted for a National Book Award and named a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize. She has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship.
She lives in Los Angeles and is Acting Program Chair and Faculty at Antioch’s low-residency MFA Program. She is the current poetry editor of the New York Times.
victoriachangpoet.com
Support Phosphorescence and Honor Someone Special:
Admission to all Phosphorescence events is free, but online donations, especially those made in honor or memory of family, friends, or colleagues are heartily encouraged and vital to the future of our programs. All gifts are tax deductible.
VISITING US
Food and drink with the exception of water are not allowed in the historic rooms. Backpacks or large bags will need to be checked in the Tour Center. You may wish to leave these items in your vehicle.
BATHROOMS
Please note that the Tour Center only has one bathroom, which is a single-stall accessible restroom. We advise that you plan to use a rest-stop prior to your visit.
CHECKING IN
Please plan for your scheduled arrival and check-in at our Tour Center, located at the back of the Homestead. Please designate someone to share a guest count and pay your remaining balance in full at the register upon arrival.
FEES
Deposits are due one week following the invoice date and are non-refundable. Payment can be made via phone (413) 542-5073 or check, mailed to the Emily Dickinson Museum c/o Programs Department, 20 Triangle St, Amherst MA 01002.
Your reservation is not confirmed until we have received your tour deposit. The remaining balance for your tour is due upon arrival to the Museum.
GROUP SIZE
Upon requesting your visit, we ask you to provide an estimate of your group size. Your final numbers are due 3 weeks in advance of the tour. If your group size changes after we have received your final number, please notify us 48 hours in advance of the change. After 48 hours, we reserve the right to charge full admission for any “no shows” on the day of the tour. Please note, the Museum may not be able to accommodate increases in group size.
If your party is split into more than one group, we recommend splitting them in advance of their arrival.
BUSES AND PARKING
Arrival by Car: Metered parking is available on Main Street, as well as in the Amherst Center Parking Garage. On site parking is limited to two spaces for vehicles with an accessible parking tag only.
Arrival by bus: The Museum driveway is a steep grade which prevents most buses from driving in. Buses should pull alongside the sidewalk on Main Street in front of the Museum on the metered side to unload passengers safely. A town ordinance prohibits buses from idling longer than five minutes. Bus parking is available in Amherst College’s East Parking lot.
LATE ARRIVALS
Your group will be given an arrival and departure time to ensure an organized visit. If your group experiences delays, please call the Tour Center (413) 542-2947 to notify our staff. We reserve the right to shorten your tour to conclude at the scheduled time.
CANCELLATION
If for any reason you need to cancel your visit, please notify the Museum 48 hours in advance of the tour by emailing edmreservations@emilydickinsonmuseum.org.
COVID-19
At a minimum, the Emily Dickinson Museum follows all state and local guidelines related to COVID-19 including face coverings, occupancy, and sanitation guidelines. Visitors aged five and up may be asked to wear a mask indoors at the Museum, regardless of vaccination status. If this is the case, KN95 masks will be provided for visitors upon arrival. Visitor entry may be denied for non-compliance with safety measures. Learn more about our current Covid-19 response.
ACCESSIBILITY
The Emily Dickinson Museum welcomes all visitors. For accessibility information, please see Accessibility. Care partners of visitors with disabilities are admitted free of charge. Please share any known needs in advance with our group tour coordinator so that we can plan the best experience for your group.
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 Poetry Reading 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. The 2021 Series will be a virtual event to ensure the health and safety of participants. While we are disappointed not to gather together in Amherst, we are excited to connect with a global community of friends and writers. Join us on the last Thursdays of each month to hear from poets around the world as they read their work and discuss what poetry and Dickinson mean to them.
Indran Amirthanayagam achieved a unique feat in 2020, publishing three books in three languages: The Migrant States, Sur l’île nostalgique, and Lírica a tiempo. He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole; he has published twenty poetry books, including the just released Blue Window (Dialogos / Lavender Ink, translated by Jennifer Rathbun), and recorded a spoken word/music album Rankont Dout. He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly and curates ablucionistas.com. Amirthanayagam won the Paterson Prize and fellowships from Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, US/Mexico Fund for Culture, and MacDowell Colony. He has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature. He hosts The Poetry Channel.
youtube.com/user/indranam
Margo Taft Stever‘s latest of three full-length poetry collections are Cracked Piano (CavanKerry Press, 2019), which was shortlisted and received honorable mention for the 2021 Eric Hoffer Award Grand Prize, and The End of Horses, Broadstone Books, 2022. Her latest of four chapbooks is Ghost Moose (Kattywompus Press, 2019). Her poems have appeared in literary magazines including Verse Daily, Plant Human Quarterly, Cincinnati Review, Rattapallax, upstreet, Salamander, West Branch, Poet Lore, Blackbird, Poem-A-Day, poets.org, Academy of American Poets, and Prairie Schooner. She is currently an adjunct assistant professor in the Bioethics Department of the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. Stever also teaches a poetry workshop at Children’s Village, a residential school for at-risk children and adolescents. She is founder of the Hudson Valley Writers Center and founding and current co editor of Slapering Hol Press.
margotaftstever.com
Susana H. Case is the author of eight books of poetry, most recently The Damage Done (Broadstone Books, 2022). Dead Shark on the N Train (Broadstone Books, 2020) won a Pinnacle Book Award for Best Poetry Book and a NYC Big Book Award Distinguished Favorite and was a Finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award. She is also the author of five chapbooks. Her first collection, The Scottish Café (Slapering Hol Press) was re released in a dual-language English–Polish version, Kawiarnia Szkocka (Opole University Press). Her poetry is translated into Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. Poems by Case have appeared in literary journals including CALYX, Catamaran, The Cortland Review, Portland Review, Rattle, RHINO, and upstreet. Case recently retired as Professor from the New York Institute of Technology in New York City, where she taught for thirty-eight years. She is a co-editor of Slapering Hol Press.
susanahcase.com
Support Phosphorescence and Honor Someone Special:
Admission to all Phosphorescence events is free, but online donations, especially those made in honor or memory of family, friends, or colleagues are heartily encouraged and vital to the future of our programs. All gifts are tax deductible.
You are cordially invited to the Emily Dickinson Museum’s in-person celebration of the poet’s 192nd birthday! On Saturday, December 10, join us at the Homestead for an Open House. For the first time in 3 years, we’ll be celebrating Dickinson’s birthday from the place she called home. Join us for a free open house at the Homestead with activities, music, and treats!
All are welcome to this free program
Can’t attend in-person? Join us for our virtual celebration!:
Emily Dickinson Virtual Birthday Celebration
Give a Birthday Gift
It’s not a birthday party without gifts! If you’re looking to honor Emily Dickinson with a birthday present, please consider a donation to the Museum to support our free virtual programs which are made possible with your support. Gifts of all sizes are deeply appreciated.
About Dickinson’s Birthday
Emily Dickinson, the middle child of Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson, was born on December 10, 1830, in the family Homestead on Main Street in Amherst, Massachusetts. She celebrated 55 birthdays before her death in 1886. As an adult she wrote, “We turn not older with years, but newer every day.” (Johnson L379)
Location: Cole Assembly Hall in Converse at Amherst College
Composer Dana Kaufman screens Emily and Sue, her a cappella pop opera, in a film version shot on location at the Emily Dickinson Museum, and directed by Ron Bashford in collaboration with Four/Ten Media. The opera, which premiered in June 2022 at Amherst College, features soprano Jasmine Muhammad and spotlights the relationship between Emily Dickinson and her sister-in-law Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson, exploring themes of isolation, queerness, and forbidden love. Stay for a Q&A after the screening!
You are cordially invited to the Emily Dickinson Museum’s virtual celebration of the poet’s 192nd birthday! On Wednesday, December 7, join us for a behind-the-scenes exploration of the Emily Dickinson Museum’s collections, which contains more than 12,000 artifacts, including family objects such as oil paintings, textiles, furniture, servingware, and other household items.
All are welcome to this free VIRTUAL program. Space is limited, register in advance.
Give a Birthday Gift
It’s not a birthday party without gifts! If you’re looking to honor Emily Dickinson with a birthday present, please consider a donation to the Museum to support our free virtual programs which are made possible with your support. Gifts of all sizes are deeply appreciated.
About Dickinson’s Birthday
Emily Dickinson, the middle child of Edward and Emily Norcross Dickinson, was born on December 10, 1830, in the family Homestead on Main Street in Amherst, Massachusetts. She celebrated 55 birthdays before her death in 1886. As an adult she wrote, “We turn not older with years, but newer every day.” (Johnson L379)
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 Poetry Reading 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. The 2021 Series will be a virtual event to ensure the health and safety of participants. While we are disappointed not to gather together in Amherst, we are excited to connect with a global community of friends and writers. Join us on the last Thursdays of each month to hear from poets around the world as they read their work and discuss what poetry and Dickinson mean to them.
Audrey Molloy is an Irish poet living in Sydney. Her debut collection, The Important Things, was published by The Gallery Press in 2021. Her work has been widely published in Australia, Ireland and the UK. In 2020 she was awarded a Varuna Residential Fellowship. She is currently undertaking an MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.
audreymolloy.com/
Barbara DeCoursey Roy lives near St Louis, Missouri. Her work has been published in The Gal-way Review, Headstuff, Skylight 47, Pendemic, and Popshot Quarterly. Barbara collaborated on How Bright The Wings Drive Us, which won first prize in the 2021 Dreich Alliance Chapbook competition. She is a founding member of the international writing group Poets Abroad.
Maeve McKenna is a poet living in Sligo, Ireland. Her poetry has been placed in several international poetry competitions, published in Mslexia, Orbis, Sand Magazine, Fly on the Wall, Channel Magazine among others and widely online. Maeve was a finalist in the Jacar Press Eavan Boland Mentorship Award 2020, and third in the Canterbury Poet of The Year in 2021. Her debut pamphlet will be published in February, 2022, by Fly On The Wall Press.
Morag Anderson is a Scottish poet based in Highland Perthshire. Her debut chapbook, Sin Is Due to Open in a Room Above Kitty’s (Fly on the Wall Press, 2021), explores human connections—concealed violence, love, and everything in between. Morag’s poetry has been published in many literary journals and anthologies.
Support Phosphorescence and Honor Someone Special:
Admission to all Phosphorescence events is free, but online donations, especially those made in honor or memory of family, friends, or colleagues are heartily encouraged and vital to the future of our programs. All gifts are tax deductible.
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 Poetry Reading 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. The 2021 Series will be a virtual event to ensure the health and safety of participants. While we are disappointed not to gather together in Amherst, we are excited to connect with a global community of friends and writers. Join us on the last Thursdays of each month to hear from poets around the world as they read their work and discuss what poetry and Dickinson mean to them.
.chisaraokwu. is an Igbo actor, poet, and healthcare futurist. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in GRIST, Obsidian, Zone3, Berkeley Poetry Review, Cider Press Review, Glass, Tinderbox and others. Thrice nominated for Sundress’ Best of Net (2019, 2020, 2021) and awarded writing fellowships and residencies with BANFF, Cave Canem, Tin House and Brooklyn Poets, she calls just about any beach home.
chisaraokwu.com
Shin Yu Pai is a poet, essayist and visual artist. She is the author of several books of poetry, including “Virga”(Empty Bowl, 2021), “ENSŌ” (Entre Ríos Books, 2020), “Sightings: Selected Works (2000-2005)” (1913 Press, 2007), “Aux Arcs” (La Alameda, 2013), “Adamantine” (White Pine, 2010), and “Equivalence” (La Alameda, 2003). She served as the fourth poet laureate of the city of Redmond from 2015 to 2017. She is a three-time fellow of MacDowell and has also been in residence at Taipei Artist Village, Soul Mountain, The Ragdale Foundation, Centrum, and The National Park Service. Her poetry films have screened at the Zebra Poetry Film Festival and the Northwest Film Forum’s Cadence video poetry festival. She lives and works in the Pacific Northwest.
shinyupai.com
Support Phosphorescence and Honor Someone Special:
Admission to all Phosphorescence events is free, but online donations, especially those made in honor or memory of family, friends, or colleagues are heartily encouraged and vital to the future of our programs. All gifts are tax deductible.