Poets & Writers Theater
Every day we share a new clip of interest to creative writers—author readings, book trailers, publishing panels, craft talks, and more. So grab some popcorn, filter the theater tags by keyword or genre, and explore our sizable archive of literary videos.
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In this Beyond Baroque event, poets David Quiroz and Joseph Rios join Alan Chazaro for a reading to celebrate the launch of his second collection, These Spaceships Weren’t Built for Us (Tia Chucha Press, 2026). For more from Chazaro, read the latest installment of Literary MagNet in the May/June 2026 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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In this Green Apple Books event, Emilie Lygren, author of Once I Was a Stone (Wayfarer Books, 2025), and Deema K. Shehabi, author of Water to Water: Gaza Renga (Interlink Books, 2025), read a selection of their poems and discuss their experiences with writing communities and creating time and space for their writing.
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In this video, Diane Ackerman reads a selection of poems from the fiftieth-anniversary edition of her debut collection, The Planets: A Cosmic Pastoral, published by Marginalian Editions, and discusses her lifelong obsession with poetics in a conversation with Maria Popova for this McNally Jackson Books event at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn.
Tags: Poetry | Diane Ackerman | The Planets | Marginalian Editions | Maria Popova | McNally Jackson Books | 2026 -
In this Books Are Magic event celebrating National Poetry Month, Monica Ferrell reads from her collection The Future (Four Way Books, 2026), Bianca Stone reads from her collection The Near and Distant World (Tin House, 2026), and Craig Morgan Teicher reads from his collection August, September, October (BOA Editions, 2026).
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“Am I living? Do I / accept revision / as my godhead / and savior?” Wendy Xu reads her poem “Looking at My Father,” which appears in her collection The Past (Wesleyan University Press, 2021), in this video for the Dear Poet series, the Academy of American Poets’ educational project for National Poetry Month.
Tags: Poetry | Wendy Xu | The Past | Academy of American Poets | Dear Poet | reading | National Poetry Month | 2026 -
In this Square Books event, Aimee Nezhukumatathil reads from her fifth poetry collection, Night Owl (Ecco, 2026), and talks about the themes of darkness and nighttime in her poems. Nezhukumatathil’s book is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Poetry | Square Books | Aimee Nezhukumatathil | Night Owl | Ecco | Page One | March/April -
In this trailer for PBS’s American Masters documentary Julia Alvarez: A Life Reimagined, the life and work of the acclaimed Dominican American poet and novelist is explored through interviews, photographs, and archives. A profile of Alvarez about her new poetry collection, Visitations (Knopf, 2026), appears in the May/June 2026 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Poetry | Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | Julia Alvarez | American Masters | documentary | movie trailer | Visitations | May/June 2026 -
In this event at the University of Arizona Poetry Center, Annie Wenstrup reads from her debut collection, The Museum of Unnatural Histories (Wesleyan University Press, 2025), and Lena Khalaf Tuffaha reads from her latest collection, Something About Living (University of Akron Press, 2024).
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In this New York Public Library event celebrating Arab American Heritage Month and National Poetry Month hosted in partnership with the Radius of Arab American Writers, poets Maha Hashwi, Ghinwa Jawhari, Lawrence Joseph, and Kamelya Omayma Youssef read from their work and discuss their writing in a conversation with senior librarian Reuben Gelley Newman.
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In this Green Apple Books event, Will Brewer, author of Nocturama (Milkweed Editions, 2026), and Richie Hofmann, author of The Bronze Arms (Knopf, 2026), read from their latest poetry collections and discuss what they have learned from each other as poets and friends.
Tags: Poetry | Will Brewer | Nocturama | Milkweed Editions | Richie Hofmann | The Bronze Arms | Knopf | Green Apple Books | reading | 2026 -
In this 2025 event hosted by the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan, Carl Phillips reads from his most recent collection, Scattered Snows, to the North (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024), and answers questions about the relationship between the natural world and human experience, and his use of notebooks to collect images.
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In this installment of UC Berkeley’s Lunch Poems series, Aracelis Girmay begins with a reading of “Poem of Commitment” by June Jordan followed by a selection of poems from her collections The Black Maria (BOA Editions, 2016) and Green of All Heads (BOA Editions, 2025).
Tags: Poetry | Aracelis Girmay | Lunch Poems | The Black Maria | Green of All Heads | BOA Editions | UC Berkeley | 2026 -
In this episode of the Fashion Neurosis podcast hosted by Bella Freud, Abiodun Oyewole talks about the legacy of the spoken word group The Last Poets, the influence of Langston Hughes and Nina Simone, and his thoughts on the poets of today.
Tags: Poetry | Spoken Word | Abiodun Oyewole | Bella Freud | Fashion Neurosis | podcast | interview | The Last Poets | 2026 -
In this episode of the New Social Environment series hosted by the Brooklyn Rail, poets Eve L. Ewing and Andrea Faye Hart read a selection of their poems and join journalist trina reynolds-tyler to discuss how they became co-owners of Build Coffee & Books, a community-centered bookstore and coffee shop in Chicago.
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In this Amanpour and Company segment, Hari Sreenivasan speaks with poet Megan Falley and comedian Tig Notaro about their Oscar-nominated documentary film Come See Me in the Good Light, which follows Colorado poet laureate Andrea Gibson’s journey with terminal cancer.
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In this PBS NewsHour video, Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation, speaks about the efforts to support literary nonprofits, including independent publishers, residencies, and fellowships for writers.
Tags: Poetry | Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | Elizabeth Alexander | Mellon Foundation | publishing | writing | reading | PBS NewsHour -
This short film produced by Boa Editions and Hunger Media highlights the life and career of Lucille Clifton and how her work continues to influence and inspire the poetry community, including Boa’s Blessing the Boats Selections series. For more on the press’s work, read “Poetry to Save Us: Boa at 50” in the March/April 2026 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Poetry | Lucille Clifton | BOA Editions | short film | blessing the boats | independent presses | March/April 2026 | in memoriam -
In this 2022 event from UC Berkeley’s Lunch Poems series, Jake Skeets reads a selection of poems, some of which appear in his debut collection, Eyes Bottle Dark With a Mouthful of Flowers (Milkweed Editions, 2019). A Q&A with Skeets about his second collection, Horses (Milkweed Editions, 2026), appears in the March/April 2026 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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In this 2024 LanguageBack Retreat Reading hosted by Indigenous Nations Poets, Kalehua Kim reads her poem “Mystique.” Kim, author of Mele (Trio House Press, 2025), is featured in “New Ways of Seeing: Our Twenty-First Annual Look at Debut Poets” in the January/February 2026 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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In this Virtual Craft Chat event hosted by Poet Lore and the Writer’s Center, Ally Ang reads from their debut collection, Let the Moon Wobble (Alice James Books, 2025), and talks about how formal challenges and constraints can inspire new poems in a conversation with Emily Holland.
Tags: Poetry | Ally Ang | Let the Moon Wobble | Alice James Books | Virtual Craft Chat | Poet Lore | The Writer’s Center | writing process | 2025



