Allan Kornblum, legendary founder and publisher of both Coffee House Press and Toothpaste Press, examines the history of poetry publishing from the clay tablet to digital imprints. Informed by his 40-year career in publishing, Kornblum explores the ways in which book-making shapes culture and imagines the future of literary publishing and independent presses.

Dylan Gauthier, Kendra Sullivan, A'yen Tran and friends of the boat-building collaborative Mare Liberum lead a workshop on how to sing shanties like a sailor, write poetry like a pirate, and build model boats like a shipwright learning the trade.

A'yen Tran is an artist, story collector, raft-builder and singing enthusiast. Currently, she is working on The Boat for Singing Together, a handmade sculptural raft for group singing in New York City.

Help! Wendy Windstorm has terrible sneezes! Grumpy Harry’s poems blew away with her breezes! Wendy needs your super smarts to conquer alliteration, simile and more in this puppet adventure straight from Urban Stages.

Performed by Liz Parker and Rachel Sullivan

Mystical beasts, magical forests, lost treasure and more can be found in this island-making workshop. Children will create maps and poetic descriptions of distant unexplored islands for those daring enough to venture there.

Led by Poets House’s own Michael Romanos.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, Poets House presents Albert Lamorisse’s timeless children’s film classic The Red Balloon. Afterward, children will make their own floating valentines in the form of hot-air balloon mobiles. This is an annual Poets House Children’s Room happening.

In celebration of the centenary of May Swenson’s birth, this reading showcases the breadth of her poetic output—from nature poems displaying her keen observation of wildlife, to exuberant, erotic love poems, to place poems recording her travels to the American Southwest, France and Italy and her residence in New York.

CAConrad writes: “(Soma)tic poetry rituals aim our attention at two basic principles: (1)Everything around us has a creative viability with the potential to spur new modes of thought and imaginative output and (2)The most vital ingredient to bringing sustainable, humane changes to our world is creativity.”

Moderated by Malaika Adero

A conversation and book-signing to celebrate the publication of the retrospective catalog Blink Your Eyes: Sekou Sundiata Revisited. Jane Lazarre, Greg Tate, Kimiko Hahn, Amiri Baraka and Talvin Wilks reflect on the breadth of poet Sekou Sundiata’s accomplishments and his influence as artist, activist, educator and bandleader.

• 12:00-1:45 pm - Panel moderated by Rochelle Spencer
• 2-3:30 pm Reading with Tisa Bryant, Major Jackson, John Keene & Sharan Strange
• 3:45-4:15 pm - Musical Interlude with Janice Lowe
• 4:30-6 pm - Reading with Tracy K. Smith, Thomas Sayers Ellis & Natasha Trethewey

Prolific poet and novelist Stephen Dobyns discusses the life and poetry of Pulitzer-prize winner James Wright (1927-1980), one of the most influential and admired post-war poets, who was called by James Dickey “a seer with astonishing compassion for human beings.”