IN-PERSON PROGRAM

This in-person program is free to attend. Registration is required. 

REGISTER

Days before her death in 1886, Emily Dickinson wrote her final letter, “Little Cousins, / Called Back. / Emily”. On May 13, in honor of the 137th anniversary of the poet’s death, join the Emily Dickinson Museum for an engaging poetry walk through Amherst, the town she called “paradise.”  At each stop we will infuse place with poetry and discuss sites of meaning for Dickinson including her garden at the Homestead, The Evergreens — home to the poet’s brother and sister-in-law, the town common, and more.  This year, take the Walk at your own pace but be sure to head to Dickinson’s grave in West Cemetery at 12PM where we will all gather to share final poems and a light-hearted toast! 

The Walk takes approximately 40 minutes to complete. Participants begin at the Homestead at any time between 10AM and 11:15AM to pick up their Poetry Walk map and daisies to lay at the grave. The final toast at West Cemetery is at noon, which includes a live performance by the Amherst College Glee Club, led by Dr. Arianne Abela, of “I Sing to Use the Waiting”– a Dickinson choral setting by composer Paul Salerni.

The Amherst College Glee Club consists of students and alum from Amherst College, Smith College, and Hampshire College.

Registration for this program is free or by donation, but it is required in advance. Registration for the Walk does not include admission to the Museum. For Museum tour tickets click here.

Accessibility Information
The full walk is about 1 mile and is largely accessed by paved sidewalks, though some uneven terrain is possible. Participants who would prefer to meet us for the final toast are welcome to check in at the Homestead before 11:15AM and then drive to West Cemetery. Cemetery parking is available behind Zanna’s clothing store.

A Daisy for Dickinson: Be a part of a beloved tradition of outfitting Emily Dickinson’s final resting place at Amherst’s West Cemetery with fresh daisies on the anniversary of her death.  Make a supporting donation to the Museum in honor of Emily or in memory of a loved one and we’ll place a daisy in their name at the poet’s grave as part of this year’s Poetry Walk (May 13).

We hope you enjoyed this beloved tradition of honoring Emily Dickinson on the anniversary of her death. If you would like to make a supporting gift to the Museum in honor of Emily or in memory of someone you’ve loved and lost, you may do so below.

DONATE

VIRTUAL PROGRAM

This virtual program is free to attend. Registration is required. 

REGISTER

Join us for the first in a three-part series exploring the collection of the Emily Dickinson Museum. The Museum’s collection is the largest assemblage in the world of objects representing the Dickinson family’s material legacy. Progress continues on the three-year collections documentation project funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services. In this series, Museum staff converse with specialists and conservators about the unique qualities, challenges and opportunities of this singular collection.

Parts 2 + 3 are TBA. Sign-up for our e-newsletter to be the first to know!

Phosphorescence May 2023 featured poets:
Eleni Sikelianos, Gillian Conoley, and Dara Barrois/Dixon (née Dara Wier)

VIRTUAL PROGRAM

This virtual program is free to attend. Registration is required. 

REGISTER

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. 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.

Phosphorescence Lineup 2023

About this month’s poets:

Born in California on Walt Whitman’s birthday, Eleni Sikelianos is a poet, writer, and “a master of mixing genres.” Your Kingdom (2023) is her tenth book of poetry, riding alongside two memoir-verse-image-novels. Sikelianos’s writing, frequently saturated with delight in the natural world and a layperson’s study of biology, is dedicated to an ecopoetic turning of the kaleidoscope for more angles on what being alive looks and feels like. Edge-play manifests in many ways, including in her collaborative work with musicians, filmmakers, and visual artists.
elenisikelianos.com

Gillian Conoley is a poet, editor, and translator. Her new collection, Notes from the Passenger, is just out with Nightboat Books. The author of ten collections of poetry, Conoley received the Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, and was awarded the Jerome J. Shestack Poetry Prize, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and a Fund for Poetry Award. A Little More Red Sun on the Human, also with Nightboat, won the 39th annual Northern California Book Award in 2020. Conoley’s translations of three books by Henri Michaux, Thousand Times Broken, is with City Lights. Conoley has taught at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the University of Denver, Vermont College, and Tulane University. A long-time resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, Conoley is currently Professor of English and Poet-in-Residence at Sonoma State University. Founder and editor of VOLT magazine, Conoley has collaborated with installation artist Jenny Holzer, composer Jamie Leigh Sampson, and Butoh dancer Judith Kajuwara. 
gillianconoley.com

Dara Barrois/Dixon, previously publishing as Dara Wier, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, lives and works in western Massachusetts.  Her books include TOLSTOY KILLED ANNA KARENINA (Wave 2022), in the still of the night (Wave 2017), YOU GOOD THING (Wave 2013) REVERSE RAPTURE (Verse 2005) and chapbooks THRU (Scram 2020), NINE (Incessant Pipe 2023), TWO POEMS (Scram 2022). She edits for factory hollow press; Lannan, Guggenheim, National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council have generously supported her writing. She’s offered poetry writing and form & theory seminars for Hollins University, University of Alabama, University of Montana, University of Texas, Emory University, and University of Massachusetts Amherst, among other art organizations and locations and readings across the U.S.
Use promo code EMILY_DICKINSON for 20% off Tolstoy Killed Anna Karenina

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.

VIRTUAL PROGRAM

Color – Caste – Denomination: Emily Dickinson’s Race and Class Contexts

This virtual program is free to attend. Registration is required. 

REGISTER

Color – Caste – Denomination –
These – are Time’s Affair –
Death’s diviner Classifying
Does not know they are –
-FR836

Could Emily Dickinson’s striking poetic vision have been realized anywhere but Amherst? Would she have had the time to hone her craft without the domestic labors performed by individuals outside the Dickinsons’ privileged class? What was Amherst like for those who were not members of the provincial elite and how did they shape the poet’s world?

In this program, learn more about the forces of race and class impacting Emily Dickinson’s Amherst life. We’ll discuss the Dickinson family’s settler colonial roots, industry in Amherst, the town’s changing demographics, musical influences on the poet, and more. Along the way meet individuals in the employ of the Dickinson household as house and grounds workers and hear more about their lives and experiences.

Illustrated talks will be followed by a live Q&A session.

---

Presentations by Emily Dickinson Museum Tour Guides:
Emily Bernhard
Judith Hudson
Pete Redington
Becky Lockwood

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”, was selected in 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 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival remains committed to featuring and serving established and emerging poets who represent the diversity of the flourishing contemporary poetry scene, and to fostering community by placing poetry in the public sphere. To see our 2022 Festival schedule click here.

This year’s Festival will be hybrid, with events happening in-person at the Museum as well as online. We invite you to “dwell in possibility” and submit your most inventive proposals for audience-centered workshops. Submissions for virtual programs should be for live, synchronous content only. 

The Steering Committee especially welcomes the following:

• Submissions from groups of 2 – 5 facilitators
• Submissions that engage young attendees and/or those new to poetry
• Submissions that creatively encourage audience participation or that foster a sense of community or space

Honoraria of $250 are provided per event.

Seeking proposals for the following IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL program slots to be scheduled September 25 – October 1 (Individuals may submit multiple forms if proposing more than one program):

IN-PERSON OR VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS:

• Public poetry workshops are typically 60- to 90-minutes long. Workshops must be interactive and generative.

• Virtual workshops must be adaptable for large virtual audiences of around 200.

EDUCATOR WORKSHOPS:

• Workshops intended for educators teaching grades 6-12, with a focus on reading and/or writing poetry. Presenters should have facilitation experience and include a sample lesson outline. Virtual format preferred, with in-person considered.

Submission Guidelines:

• Only submissions made using the online form will be considered. To complete the online form, click on the “Submit your proposal” button below. There is no fee to submit proposals.
• To complete your submission, please also upload the following to this Dropbox folder
  • The resumes/CVs of all presenters.
  • If appropriate, up to 3 sample poems per group member.
  • Any desired links, audio, or video files of performances or facilitation. 
  • High resolution headshots of all presenters. DPI 300 or minimum 1080 pixels (if you don’t have a professional camera, an unedited selfie on a smart phone will fit those requirements)
• All your materials as listed above should be titled by your PROGRAM TITLE. You may upload materials as one zipped file or individually. We can accept .pdf, .doc, .doc(x) files. If applicable, you may upload images in .png, .jpg, or .gif form and audio files in .mp3, .aac, or .wav form.
• Selected facilitators will be notified Thursday, June 1st and will be asked to sign a letter of agreement confirming their participation in the Festival.
• Submissions Due: Thursday, May 11th at 11:59pm ET.

Submissions will be judged on the following:

• Originality – Is your idea bold and intriguing? Will it offer something new to our Festival?
• Quality – Does the submission reflect thoughtful preparation? How are you uniquely qualified to facilitate this program?
• Audience – Have you clearly outlined participatory elements? How does your proposal contribute to community-building for the Tell It Slant Poetry Festival? 
• Special consideration will be given to Massachusetts-based facilitators.

SUBMIT YOUR PROPOSAL

Questions? Email us at edmprograms@emilydickinsonmuseum.org

IN-PERSON PROGRAM

This in-person program is free to attend. Registration is required. 

REGISTER

Phosphorescence Amherst College LitFest featured poets:
Victoria Chang and Tyehimba Jess

IN-PERSON PROGRAM

This program is free to attend. 

REGISTER FOR LITFEST

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

About the poets:

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.

IN-PERSON PROGRAM

This free event is generously supported by the Amherst Cultural Council.

Thank you for your interest. We will do our best to move visitors through in a timely fashion to ensure maximum participation during the open house. Entry will occur on a first-arrived, first-served basis with priority given to ticket holders. 

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.

DONATE

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)

IN-PERSON PROGRAM

Location: Cole Assembly Hall in Converse at Amherst College

REGISTER

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!