A pen and inkwell sits on Dickinson's writing desk with light cascading through her curtains

Call for Submissions:
Phosphorescence and
Tell It Slant 2025

The Emily Dickinson Museum is now accepting proposals for our 2025 programs: Phosphorescence Contemporary Poetry Series – a virtual event held monthly from April through September AND the 13th annual Tell It Slant Poetry Festival, held September 15-21! The Museum’s poetry programming features established and emerging poets who represent the diversity of the flourishing contemporary poetry scene and fosters community by placing poetry in the public sphere.

To submit for the Phosphorescence Contemporary Poetry Series and the Tell It Slant Poetry Festival, please click on the appropriate submission link and complete the free application process as directed. All submissions must be received through SurveyMonkey Apply (via Amherst College) using the submission links provided below. Email or paper submissions will not be considered.

If you wish to submit multiple proposals, please complete a new application for each proposal (up to 3 allowed per program).

TIMELINE:

All proposals must be submitted by Thursday, January 16 2025, 8am ET. All submissions will be notified of their acceptance status by March 5. Participating poets and presenters will be asked to sign a letter of agreement confirming participation on assigned dates.

Learn more about each program below.


About Phosphorescencea banner for PHOSPHORESCENCE Contemporary Poetry Series

Produced by the Emily Dickinson Museum, the Phosphorescence Contemporary Poetry Series celebrates contemporary creativity that echoes Dickinson’s revolutionary poetic voice. The Series is a place to connect virtually over a shared love of poetry and an appreciation for Dickinson’s literary legacy. This year, poets may read remotely from the location of their choice or travel to the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA, to have their reading live-streamed to a virtual audience. Poets will indicate their preference for reading location on their submission form.

Featured poets are promoted on the Museum’s event web page, through a mailing list of over 25,000 addresses, and through the Museum’s social media. Each participating poet receives a $200 honorarium. There is no fee to submit proposals.

View last year’s Phosphorescence lineup

Watch past Phosphorescence readings on YouTube

READINGS: Readings will take place on Thursdays at 6PM ET on the following dates: April 17, May 15, June 19, July 17, August 21, and September 18. Each reading may feature 2-3 poets. Readings are 15 minutes long on average per reader. Poets who submit alone will be paired with other poets if selected. Poets are welcome to promote sales of their books and awareness of other media during the program. (The Museum does not sell books for this series.) Poets should be prepared to engage in a facilitated conversation after their readings.

The following submission qualities are especially encouraged:

    • Group submissions of up to 3 poets
    • Builds community
    • Features BIPOC and/or LBGTQ+ voices
    • Highlights a connection to Dickinson’s life and legacy
    • Pushes poetic boundaries

SUBMIT FOR PHOSPHORESCENCE

Only complete submissions made through the SurveyMonkey Apply (via Amherst College) platform linked above will be considered. (You may be prompted to create a free account if you do not already have one.)

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Thursday, January 16 2025, 8am ET.

About the Tell It Slant Poetry Festival

Produced by the Emily Dickinson Museum, the Tell It Slant Poetry Festival celebrates the poetic legacy of Emily Dickinson and the contemporary creativity she continues to inspire from the place she called home. The Festival’s name, “Tell It Slant,” pays homage to Dickinson’s poem, “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.” This title underscores the revolutionary power of poetry to shift our perspective and reveal new truths.

The Festival is a hybrid event, with programs happening in-person at the Museum and online, for both in-person and virtual audiences throughout the week of September 15-21. We invite you to “dwell in possibility” and submit your most inventive proposals for in-person or virtual, generative workshops and panels! Submissions for virtual programs should be for live, synchronous content only. Honoraria of $350 are provided per event. There is no fee to submit proposals.

View last year’s Festival schedule

The Festival Steering Committee especially welcomes the following submission qualities:

    • From groups of 2 – 5 facilitators
    • Generative writing programs
    • Creatively encourage audience participation or foster a strong sense of community
    • Engage young attendees and/or those new to poetry
    • Ensure people with a range of abilities can participate meaningfully

The Committee is seeking submissions for the following program types:

IN-PERSON OR VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS:

  • Public poetry workshops are typically 90-minutes long.
  • Workshops must be interactive and generative, centering around skill-building activities.
  • Virtual workshops must be adaptable for large virtual audiences of around 200.

IN-PERSON OR VIRTUAL PANELS:

  • Public poetry panels are typically 90-minutes long.
  • Panels must consist of at least three people, including a facilitator.
  • Panels should foster a strong sense of community and include moments for audience participation. They may include short readings by panel members.
  • Virtual panels will be recorded and live-streamed to large virtual audiences of around 200.

SUBMIT FOR THE FESTIVAL

Only complete submissions made through the SurveyMonkey Apply (via Amherst College) platform linked above will be considered. (You may be prompted to create a free account if you do not already have one.)

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Thursday, January 16 2025, 8am ET.


SUBMIT FOR PHOSPHORESCENCE

SUBMIT FOR THE FESTIVAL

All submissions will be notified of their acceptance status by March 5. Participating poets and presenters will be asked to sign a letter of agreement confirming participation on assigned dates.

Please direct questions about submissions to EDMprograms@EmilyDickinsonMuseum.org.


Dickinson's daguerrotype tripled and colored in yellow blue and red

Delve Into Dickinson: Educator Workshops

Dickinson's daguerrotype tripled and colored in yellow blue and red

Join us for a new, virtual professional development series for educators exploring Dickinson’s life and poetry. Led by Museum staff and special guests, each participatory workshop will provide context and exercises that illuminate Dickinson’s frequently cryptic poetry. Space is limited; sign up today for one session or all five! Attendees will leave each 90-minute session with new teaching strategies and context to connect Dickinson to broader themes, from her material world to science, faith, and the Civil War. While other educators are welcome, this series is especially designed for middle and high school humanities teachers.

Workshops are available via sliding scale. Your ticket helps provide low-cost programs and supports the attendance of other educators. If the cost is prohibitive, but you would like to attend, please write us at edmprograms@emilydickinsonmuseum.

Professional Development certificates are available upon request — please e-mail edmprograms@emilydickinsonmuseum if you are interested.

 

Delve Into Dickinson: Educator Workshop 2024 Schedule:

graphic delve into dickinson - Through the Dark Sod – as Education –Thursday, August 22, 6:30pm

“Through the Dark Sod – as Education –”: Reading & Teaching Emily Dickinson’s Poems
Featuring Bruce Penniman

 

 

 

 

 

graphic delve into dickinson - Nature and God – I neither knewThursday, September 12, 6:30pm ET

“Nature and God – I neither knew” Emily Dickinson, “The Scientist of Faith”
Featuring Bruce Penniman

 

 

 

 

 

graphic delve into dickinson - It feels a shame to be Alive -Thursday, October 16, 6:30pm ET

“It feels a shame to be Alive -”: Emily Dickinson and the Civil War
Featuring Ivy Schweitzer and Al Salehi

 

 

 

 

 

graphic delve into dickinson - Dwelling in PossibilityThursday, November 21, 6:30pm ET

Dwelling in Possibility: The Pleasurable Path of What if Poems
Featuring Tess Taylor

 

 

 

 

 

graphic for delve into dickinson - Digital Dickinson The Museum’s CollectionWednesday, December 18, 6:30pm ET

Digital Dickinson: The Museum’s Collection 
Featuring Elizabeth Bradley

 

 

 

graphic for delve into dickinson - Digital Dickinson The Museum’s Collection

Digital Dickinson
The Museum’s Collection
Wednesday, December 18, 6:30pm ET

VIRTUAL PROGRAM

graphic for delve into dickinson - Digital Dickinson The Museum’s CollectionFor any questions, please e-mail edmprograms@emilydickinsonmuseum.org

Registration is required for this virtual program and is offered on a sliding scale from $5 – $20. View the full educator workshop lineup.
Please select the ticket price that is right for you, and consider supporting the Museum and the participation of other educators through your purchase. Tickets are non-refundable.

REGISTER

Join Elizabeth Bradley, Education Programs Manager at the Emily Dickinson Museum, for an introduction to digital tools available for teaching and reading Dickinson. We’ll explore the materiality of Dickinson’s poetry and place through online resources that make her story more accessible than ever.

In this program, we’ll investigate pairings of poems with objects from the Museum’s digital collection and other repositories. What can personal domestic objects teach us about Dickinson’s life and her family’s pastimes, labors, and values? What can reading Dickinson’s poetry about the “lives” of man-made objects teach us about the force objects, themselves, exert on the world? Through discussion and prompts, we’ll consider strategies for reading objects as primary sources and how to use them to bring Dickinson’s material world to life.

Elizabeth Bradley is the Education Programs Manager at the Emily Dickinson Museum, where they work to create inclusive opportunities for learning, connection, and creative expression. In addition to managing programs for K-12 and College students, they curate the Museum’s poetry discussion group and serve on the steering committee of the Tell It Slant Poetry Festival. Elizabeth holds an MA with focuses in Nineteenth Century American Cultural History and Public History. Outside of work, they enjoy many hobbies, but the most Dickinsonian is exploring the flora and fauna of Western Massachusetts.

Reconstruction of The Evergreens Carriage House

On Tuesday, August 27, 2024 the Emily Dickinson Museum began the reconstruction of the Dickinson family Carriage House that once stood east of The Evergreens, the home of Emily Dickinson’s brother Austin and his wife Susan. The project flows from a recently-completed long range plan, which maps programmatic and capital enhancements over the next decade at the Museum’s historic downtown Amherst location. 

Digital rendering of completed Evergreens Carriage

Digital rendering of completed Evergreens Carriage House (edmsSTUDIO)

The John and Elizabeth Armstrong Carriage House–scheduled for completion in 2025–will initially serve as a much-needed site for visitor welcome, orientation and services to enable a third and final phase of Dickinson Homestead restoration. In the longer term, the reconstructed carriage house will be dedicated to student and visitor learning and engagement. By expanding access to the Museum and its programs for both onsite and online visitors, the changes firmly establish the Museum as the premier center for the study and celebration of Dickinson’s life and work, and as a source and site of inspiration for new generations of poets, artists, writers, and thinkers.

The carriage house reconstruction project is supported by a major pledge of $750,000 from former Board members and long-time friends John and Elizabeth Armstrong. “We’ve always been proud of our association with the Museum, recognizing its importance to our regional community and now–through the wonders of technology–to the world.” stated Elizabeth, adding “We’ve been drawn over the years to supporting singular projects that open multiple possibilities for the Museum. The Carriage House is just such a project.”

The Museum continues to raise funds for the project. “We were incredibly fortunate to have wonderful support from John and Lise Armstrong, which enabled us to put shovels in the ground today,” says Erin Martin, Senior Director of Development. “Because this project is a very visible demonstration of the Museum’s ambitions for the future, we are asking our loyal donors and friends to support the project – as a community.” Martin says the Museum is seeking additional funding to help fit out the interior spaces of the new Carriage House to optimize its flexibility and energy efficiency.

ABOUT THE PROJECT
The design calls for reconstructing the exterior historic appearance of the carriage house as faithfully as possible while optimizing interior functions and flow. At the outset of the design phase, museum staff worked with architects at edmSTUDIO to track down details of the original structure in historic maps, deeds, insurance documents, photographs, and archaeological reports. The original structure may have been built as early as the 1840s as an outbuilding associated with the modest cottage owned by the poet’s father, which was incorporated into The Evergreens dwelling, built for Austin and Susan Dickinson in 1856. In a photograph taken in about 1870, the carriage house appears as a prominent yet simple vernacular structure with window and door openings barely visible. Insurance maps from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries revealed that it was a wood frame structure with two levels and a metal roof. Details such as these gave the design team guidance about the exterior appearance and finishes.

Archival photograph of The Evergreens and Carriage House (in middle ground of photo)

Archival photograph of The Evergreens and Carriage House (in middle ground of photo)

As new construction, the carriage house gives the Emily Dickinson Museum an opportunity to combine its sustainability and historical priorities. Since 2006, the museum has recognized that full interpretation of the historic Dickinson site and the poet’s life cannot be completely understood from a functional and aesthetic perspective without reconstruction of the outbuildings. While the current project is being carried out as a “historic reconstruction,” it also gives the museum the opportunity to advance its sustainability goals. Working with Monica Del Rio Perez and Tim Widman of edmSTUDIO, the design calls for construction techniques and materials selections that will produce significant energy savings and carbon reduction for heating and cooling. The museum has engaged Teagno Construction, Inc., as general contractor for the project.

Jane and Robert Keiter Family Executive Director Jane Wald says, “Reconstruction of the Evergreens carriage house is a true milestone for the Emily Dickinson Museum. It’s the linchpin of our future plans to complete the Homestead restoration – an effort that’s already transformed our sense of who Emily Dickinson was and how she lived. Not only does the carriage house begin to fill out the Dickinson landscape, but its flexible interior also offers greater comfort, better service, and much-needed space for public and educational programming that’s already on the drawing board.”

Image of Dickinson's room featuring her writing desk and white dress

Studio Sessions

Image of Dickinson's room featuring her writing desk and white dress

“Sweet hours have perished here;
This is a mighty room;
Within its precincts hopes have played, –
Now shadows in the tomb.”
-Fr1785

Spend a “sweet hour” in Emily Dickinson’s creative space where she penned her startling poetry and honed her revolutionary voice. Whether you are a writer, an artist, a composer, a poet, or a lover of poetry, you’ll find inspiration in Emily Dickinson’s own room. Let this quiet experience jumpstart your next creative journey.

Participants may reserve up to two hours in the room. A small table and chair will be provided.  Participants will experience the atmosphere of Dickinson’s corner chamber, and enjoy the view from the her windows.

This specialty program can be a wonderful gift and is a great way to support the Museum’s mission.

Program Guidelines:

  • Photo ID must be presented upon arrival for your studio session and a photocopy will be made, which will be destroyed after your session.
  • The door to the room will remain open, and staff will be present nearby at all times. Participants must remain in the designated area of the room and may not touch the historic furnishings.
  • Bags, food, and beverages other than bottled water must be left outside the room.
  • No pens, inks, or paints permitted. Pencil and paper or laptop only. Other materials must be approved by special request in advance.
  • Photography for non-commercial, personal use is permitted.
  • Sessions will not be rescheduled or refunded after booking except in the case of an emergency. Refunding and rescheduling are at the discretion of the Emily Dickinson Museum.

When reserving your session, please navigate to the calendar view to see available days and times. Availability is limited.

RESERVE YOUR SESSION

Pricing: 
1 person for 1 hour: $300
1 person for 2 hours: $500
2 people for 1 hour: $400
2 people for 2 hours: $600

Please direct questions to EDMPrograms@emilydickinsonmuseum.org.

a view of different items in the Emily Dickinson Museum's collections

Press Release:
Collections Database

EMILY DICKINSON MUSEUM ANNOUNCES PUBLIC COLLECTION DATABASE AND IMLS GRANT TO CONTINUE DOCUMENTATION PROJECT

The Museum’s collection had remained largely undocumented and inaccessible, but has now been digitized and published for public use for the very first time.

For Immediate Release
Contact: Patrick Fecher
pfecher@emilydickinsonmuseum.org

a view of different items in the Emily Dickinson Museum's collections(Wednesday, September 13, 2023, AMHERST, MA) – Today the Emily Dickinson Museum announces the premiere of its online collection database. The Museum’s collection had remained largely undocumented and inaccessible until a major grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services in 2019 funded the documentation and baseline cataloging of the entire collection for the very first time. This project has improved collection care, providedpublic access to the collection, will strengthen the museum’s interpretation, and open promising new research opportunities.

The Emily Dickinson Museum’s collection is the largest and most diverse assemblage of objects associated with Emily Dickinson and her family to be found anywhere. It consists of more than 8,000 artifacts, including fine art such as an impressive collection of Hudson River school paintings; cooking, dining, lighting, and heating artifacts; personal items such as Edward Dickinson’s wallet, Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson’s sewing kit, children’s toys, handwork, and musical instruments; souvenir objects and art from travels abroad; and a large assortment of clothing and textiles. The collection captures the details of nineteenth-century life in a semi-rural educational and agricultural community and vividly illustrates the daily life and writing habits of one of the world’s greatest poets.

Jane and Robert Keiter Family Executive Director Jane Wald says, “This was, for practical purposes, a hidden collection until a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services allowed us to improve our management of these thousands of Dickinson family objects. It’s a significant accomplishment to celebrate in the Museum’s 20th anniversary year.”

Collections Manager Megan Ramsey says, “Documenting our collection is a huge step in taking better care of our artifacts and providing more access to visitors, researchers, and students. With this new digital resource, the museum is able to share more stories about the lives of the Dickinsons.”

The Institute for Museum and Library Services has awarded the Emily Dickinson Museum additional funding to improve documentation about this collection by digitizing institutional records, including photographs, letters and other information related to the artifacts. These records will help to enhance database entries and provide greater context for the collection. The Emily Dickinson Museum will also survey archival material at other institutions, including Amherst College, Jones Library, Mount Holyoke College, Harvard University, Brown University, and Yale University, in order to gather information on the extent of primary sources related to Museum collections objects. Following an intensive three-year IMLS-funded project to create a foundational and comprehensive catalog database, digitizing collections-related information is the logical next step in documenting the collection and understanding the histories of each object. This project will result in more complete collections information management, enabling the Emily Dickinson Museum to interpret the poet’s life and times more fully, and provide public and scholarly access to an important cultural collection.


To access the Collection database, visit: emilydickinsonmuseum.org/museum-collection

For images, please visit: bit.ly/EDM-Images-Collections-Database


ABOUT THE EMILY DICKINSON MUSEUM

The Emily Dickinson Museum is dedicated to sparking the imagination by amplifying Emily Dickinson’s revolutionary poetic voice from the place she called home.

The Museum comprises two historic houses—the Dickinson Homestead and The Evergreens in the center of Amherst, Mass.—that were home to the poet (1830-1886) and members of her immediate family during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Museum was created in 2003 when the two houses merged under the ownership of the Trustees of Amherst College. The Museum is overseen by a separate Board of Governors and is responsible for raising its own operating, program, and capital funds.

ABOUT THE INSTITUTE OF MUSEUM AND LIBRARY SERVICES 

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov