the Homestead lights are on at night time

Phosphorescence Contemporary Poetry Series 2025

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 2025 Series is a FREE virtual program. Join us on Zoom each month to hear from poets around the world as they read their work and discuss what poetry and Dickinson mean to them.

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.

For more information on our upcoming Phosphorescence Readings, sign up for our e-newsletter.

Phosphorescence 2025 Schedule:

Thursday, April 17, 6pm ET

Featuring poets: Carlene Kucharczyk, Avia Tadmor, and Silvia Bonilla

Thursday, May 15, 6pm ET

Featuring poets: Joy Ladin, Niina Pollari, and Joan Larkin

Wednesday, June 18, 6pm ET

Featuring poets: Barbara Mossberg, Bridget Lowe, and Rachelle Toarmino

Thursday, July 17, 6pm ET

Featuring poets: Lesley Wheeler and Nadia Alexis

Thursday, August 21, 6pm ET

Featuring poets: Cathy Linh Che, Monica Ong, and Lee Ann Roripaugh

Thursday, September 18, 6pm ET

Featuring poets: Livia Meneghin, Meg Day, and Rajiv Mohabir

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.

Phosphorescence Contemporary Poetry Series
Thursday, April 17, 6pm ET

Phosphorescence April 2025 featured poets:
Carlene Kucharczyk, Avia Tadmor, and Silvia Bonilla

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 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:

Carlene Kucharczyk’s debut collection “Strange Hymn” is the winner of the Juniper Prize for a first book of poems and will be published by the University of Massachusetts Press in April 2025. She is the recipient of a Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council, and her work has been published in journals such as Poetry Northwest, Tupelo Quarterly, Green Mountains Review, Conduit, Mid-American Review, and Permafrost Magazine, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She was the Henry David Thoreau fellow at the Vermont Studio Center, where she worked for two years in the Writing Program, and was the Writer-in-Residence at the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site. She has received support from The Center for Book Arts Fine Press Seminar and The Frost Place Poetry Seminar. She holds an MFA from North Carolina State University, where she also taught creative and expository writing. She lives in Vermont, and works as an Administrative Assistant in the English and Creative Writing Department at Dartmouth College.

Avia Tadmor is the author of the poetry collection “Song in Tammuz,” winner of the Tupelo Press International Berkshire Prize, forthcoming 2026. Her poems appear or are forthcoming in Best New Poets, The New Republic, New England Review, Prairie Schooner, Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Avia’s poetry received support from Yaddo, the Rona Jaffe Foundation/ Bread Loaf Writers’ Workshop, the Vermont Studio Center, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Adroit Journal’s Gregory Djanikian Scholars Program. Previously, she has taught writing at Columbia University, where she directed the Columbia Artist/Teachers program, promoting no-cost arts education in schools and community organizations in NYC. Currently, she is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Expository Writing Program at New York University. Born in Jerusalem, she lives in New York.
aviatadmor.com

Silvia Bonilla was born and raised in South America. She received an MFA in Poetry from The New School. She is the author of a chapbook called “An Animal Startled by The Mechanisms of Life” (Deadly Chaps 2024) and “Town of Eves,” forthcoming from Arizona University Press. Her work has been featured in Blackbird, Green Mountains Review, Cream City Review, Reed, Cimarron Review, among others. She has received support from Kenyon Writers Workshop, The Staltonstall Foundation, Sewanee Writer’s Conference, Community of Writers, Napa Valley, The Frost Place, Colgate Writers Workshop and The Post Graduate Conference at The Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Emily Dickinson's handwriting on a letter and envelope

Poetry Discussion Group Spring 2025 Series

Join us for a lively virtual discussion of Emily Dickinson’s poetry and letters, meeting once a month from March to June. This program is designed to welcome newcomers and seasoned readers of Dickinson alike.

Each session is facilitated by a guest scholar with unique expertise, who leads the group in discussion following an introductory talk. Brief reading handouts will be distributed prior to each month’s program.

Topics and Leaders:

March: Possession and Dispossession: Jewels in Dickinson’s Poetry with Kylan Rice
Examining Dickinson’s treatment of gemstones, with respect to her attitudes toward race and class privilege

April: “Because I could not stop:” Courting Death in Apple TV’s Dickinson with Marianne Noble
Revisiting the poetry and plot of Apple TV+ first episode of Dickinson, with a focus on the oft-anthologized “Because I could not stop for Death”

May: “Sphere of simple Green -” with Renée Bergland
A discussion on Dickinson and natural science, drawing from her recent book, Natural Magic

June: “A formal feeling comes -“: Defining Nameless Feelings with Eliza Richards
A look at poems that explore feelings with no precise definition in English, such as “After great pain, a formal feeling comes”

Format

As a registrant, you are signing up to join a small group of 25 or fewer regular participants for four 90-minute Zoom sessions. Meetings are participatory, with video and audio encouraged. Because we want everyone to feel comfortable speaking, full sessions will not be recorded. The program is designed for adult audiences (18+).

Registration

We are offering an identical program for Wednesday and Friday groups. Please review the dates carefully — space is limited.
Refunds are not available for this program.

Wednesday Group, $100 program fee (inclusive of all sessions), limited to 25 participants: SOLD OUT
March 19, 6-7:30pm ET
April 23, 6-7:30pm ET
May 14, 6-7:30pm ET
June 11 6-7:30pm ET

Friday Group, $100 program fee (inclusive of all sessions), limited to 25 participants: SOLD OUT
March 21, 12-1:30pm ET
April 25, 12-1:30pm ET
May 16, 12-1:30pm ET
June, 13 12-1:30pm ET

For Educators:
Educators may request a certificate attesting to your participation in the program.

Reservations are made on a first-come, first-served basis.

Questions: Don’t hesitate to reach out to edmprograms@emilydickinsonmuseum.org with any questions about the program.

MARCH

Kylan Rice, PhD, is a scholar of nineteenth-century American poetry. His work on the subject has appeared in ELH, Arizona Quarterly, CR: The New Centennial Review, Leviathan: A Journal of Melville Studies, and Women’s Studies. He is the author of An Image Not a Book, a collection of poetry, and his creative writing has been published in numerous literary journals, including Colorado Review, Image, and West Branch.

APRIL

Marianne Noble’s teaching and research interests include American literature, intimacy and the emotions, and philosophical approaches to literature. She is the author of Rethinking Sympathy and Human Contact in Nineteenth-Century American Literature: Hawthorne, Douglass, Stowe, Dickinson (Cambridge UP 2019) and The Masochistic Pleasures of Sentimental Literature (Princeton UP 2000), which won a Choice Outstanding Book Award. She co-edited Emily Dickinson and Philosophy (Cambridge UP 2013). Recently, she has published articles on Dickinson, Hawthorne, phenomenology, and human contact. In 2016, she was a Fulbright Scholar in South Korea.

MAY

Renée Bergland is a literary critic and a historian of science who teaches in the Department of Humanities at Simmons University where she is Program Director of Literature and Writing. Her most recent publication is Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science (Princeton University Press, 2024). She contributed an essay, “Dickinson Emergent: Natural Philosophy and the Postdisciplinary Manifold”, to the Oxford Handbook to Emily Dickinson (2022). Bergland is writing a forthcoming general audience book examining Dickinson’s poetry as interpreted through the lens of different sciences, including astronomy, geology, and ecology. She is a member of the board of the Emily Dickinson International Society.

JUNE

Eliza Richards is the Director of Graduate Studies at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where she teaches American literature with a specialization in American poetry before 1900. She is especially interested in the way historical events and changes in media networks shape and inform the way that people write poetry, as well as the ways poetry participates in cultural transformations. Her work broadens understanding and awareness of important nineteenth-century poetry written by women, African Americans, and popular writers. Her books include Battle Lines: Poetry and Mass Media in the US Civil War (U of Pennsylvania P, 2019) and Emily Dickinson in Context (edited collection; Cambridge UP, 2013), and she is currently working on The Collected Works of George Moses Horton: A Critical Edition.

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. 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 submitters 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 Phosphorescence

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

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.

archival lithograph showing the carriage house next to The Evergreens

Carriages – Be sure – and Guests – True:
A Dickinson Birthday Celebration
Tuesday, Dec. 10, 6pm ET

VIRTUAL PROGRAM

This free event has limited capacity, we encourage you to register in advance.

REGISTER

archival lithograph showing the carriage house next to The Evergreens

Reconstruction of The Evergreens Carriage House has begun at the Museum! In this virtual celebration of Emily Dickinson’s 194th birthday, we explore what it takes to re-create a historic structure, from conducting archaeology to designing an environmentally passive building within a historically-sensitive shell. Join Jane and Robert Keiter Family Executive Director Jane Wald and special guests as we go behind the scenes of this exciting moment in the Museum’s history. Along the way we’ll hear special birthday messages to the poet from fans around the world.

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.

DONATE

About Dickinson’s Birthday

Emily Dickinson, the middle child of Edward Dickinson and Emily Norcross Dickinson, was born on December 10, 1830, in the family Homestead on Main Street in Amherst, Massachusetts, now the home of the Emily Dickinson Museum. She celebrated 55 birthdays before her death in 1886. Some of the poet’s most favored themes were time and immortality; she wrote, “We turn not older with years, but newer every day.” (Johnson L379)

emily dickinson graphic standing in front of numbers 194! and balloons

[SOLD OUT] Emily Dickinson 194th Birthday Open House
Sat., Dec. 7, 1-4:30pm ET

IN-PERSON PROGRAM at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA

This program is now SOLD OUT — please join us for the virtual birthday celebration.

You are cordially invited to the Emily Dickinson Museum’s celebration of the poet’s 194th birthday! On Saturday, December 7, join us in person at the Homestead for a free open house with tours, crafts, music, cider and gingerbread cookies! All are welcome to this free program.

Can’t make it to Amherst? Join us for our virtual birthday celebration.

Give a Birthday Gift
It’s not a birthday party without gifts! If you’d like to honor Emily Dickinson on her birthday, please consider a donation to the Museum to support our free 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 Dickinson and Emily Norcross Dickinson, was born on December 10, 1830, in the family Homestead on Main Street in Amherst, Massachusetts, now the site of the Emily Dickinson Museum. She celebrated 55 birthdays before her death in 1886. Some of the poet’s most favored themes were time and im/mortality; she wrote, “We turn not older with years, but newer every day.” (Johnson L379)

Sweet Countrymen — Judge Tenderly of Me
A Community Poetry Hour
Tuesday, Nov. 5, 3pm ET

VIRTUAL PROGRAM

For any questions, please e-mail connect@emilydickinsonmuseum.org

This is my letter to the World
That never wrote to Me –
The simple News that Nature told –
With tender Majesty

Her Message is committed
To Hands I cannot see –
For love of Her – Sweet – countrymen –
Judge tenderly – of Me

Take a mid-day break from the uncertainties of election day for an hour of poetry. “Sweet Countrymen — Judge tenderly of me” offers an opportunity to consider, through the poetry of Emily Dickinson and others, themes of discord and unity, the known and unknown, places of refuge and moments of hope for the future. All are welcome to join the Zoom webinar to hear the poetry reading, and to sign up to read a poem of their choice. If you wish to read a poem, please register for the program AND complete the reader request form.

REGISTER FOR THE PROGRAM

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 Collection For 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 Elias 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.

Elias 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. Elias 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.

Marta Macdowell and a volunteer work in Dickinson's garden

Summer Garden Days 2024
July – October

IN-PERSON PROGRAM

My Garden — like the Beach —
Denotes there be — a Sea —
That’s Summer —
Such as These — the Pearls
She fetches — such as Me

-Fr429

The Emily Dickinson Museum gardens call for maintenance all season long! Come be a part of the cultivation and growth of the historic Dickinson family landscape. Join a small group of volunteers for a morning of Summer or Fall tending. Participants will help to weed, deadhead, plant new annuals, and more. Gardeners of all experience levels are welcome!

2024 Garden Sessions:

Monday, July 29th 9am – 12pm ET
Monday, August 26th 9am – 12pm ET
Saturday, September 21st 9am-12pm ET
Saturday, October 19th 9am – 12pm ET

Spots are limited; advance registration is required.

To register for one or more sessions, please email edmprograms@emilydickinsonmuseum.org with your name and the date you wish to volunteer. Staff will be in touch to confirm your participation.

DETAILS:
Garden sessions will take place rain or shine! In extreme conditions, sessions may be canceled or rescheduled to the following Friday. Participants are expected to stay for the duration of their session.

Volunteers are encouraged to bring the following if they have them:

Gloves
Clean hand trowel and clippers
Bucket
Kneeling pad
Water bottle
Snack
Comfortable footwear
Sun protection

This in-person program is free to attend. Please email for session availability.

Want to join our garden volunteer mailing list to be the first to learn about future opportunities? Let us know at edmprograms@emilydickinsonmuseum.org.

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

Delve Into Dickinson: Educator Workshops

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:

Phosphorescence April 2025 featured poets: Carlene Kucharczyk, Avia Tadmor, and Silvia Bonilla

VIRTUAL PROGRAM

About this month’s poets:

Topics and Leaders:

Format

Registration

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

About Phosphorescence

About the Tell It Slant Poetry Festival

VIRTUAL PROGRAM

This free event has limited capacity, we encourage you to register in advance.

IN-PERSON PROGRAM at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA

VIRTUAL PROGRAM

This is my letter to the World That never wrote to Me – The simple News that Nature told – With tender Majesty

Her Message is committed To Hands I cannot see – For love of Her – Sweet – countrymen – Judge tenderly – of Me

VIRTUAL PROGRAM

IN-PERSON PROGRAM

Phosphorescence April 2025 featured poets:
Carlene Kucharczyk, Avia Tadmor, and Silvia Bonilla

**About the Tell It Slant Poetry Festival**

This is my letter to the World
That never wrote to Me –
The simple News that Nature told –
With tender Majesty

Her Message is committed
To Hands I cannot see –
For love of Her – Sweet – countrymen –
Judge tenderly – of Me