Poetry Foundation

The Poetry Foundation transforms lives through the power of words. Our work aims to amplify poetry and celebrate poets by fostering spaces for all to create, experience, and share poetry.

The Poetry Foundation publishes POETRY magazine, the premier gathering space for poets and readers. The magazine publishes contemporary poetry and prose, primarily in English, and translations from contributors all over the world. A true Chicago institution, POETRY has been published in the city since its founding in 1912.

The Poetry Foundation library is the Midwest’s only library dedicated to poetry. Visitors can access more than 40,000 volumes of poetry, experience audio and video recordings, and view exhibitions of poetry-related materials in our reading room. In addition to books, visitors will find writing activities, reading challenges, and art-making stations.

The Poetry Foundation hosts free events in its performance space and the Chicago community, often with the opportunity to attend remotely. Events include poetry readings, musical performances, artist collaborations, literary festivals, staged plays, and more.