Alumni

The International Poetry Forum has hosted readings by over 800 poets and performers in Pittsburgh, PA, and Washington, D.C., since 1966.

IPF alumni represent 36 countries and include nine Nobel Prize laureates, 14 Academy Award recipients, 27 U.S. Poet Laureates, 39 National Book Award winners, and 47 Pulitzer Prize winners—as well as a Princess, a Queen, and a Steelers Super Bowl MVP.

Click below to view our complete list of alumni, including figures such as W.H. Auden, Gwendolyn Brooks, Kurt Vonnegut, Tennessee Williams, Mary Oliver, Jorge Luis Borges, Lucille Clifton, Robert Lowell, Octavio Paz, Chinua Achebe, Derek Walcott, Elizabeth Bishop, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Czesław Miłosz, Naomi Shihab Nye, Terrance Hayes, Mary Karr, James Earl Jones, Gregory Peck, Anthony Hopkins, Danny Glover, Brooke Shields, Princess Grace of Monaco, and Queen Noor of Jordan.

  • Laureano Ablán

    Edward Albee

    Dannie Abse

    Chinua Achebe

    Diane Ackerman

    Carl Adams

    Adonis

    Aijaz Ahmad

    Jane Alexander

    Katherine Allentuck

    A.R. Ammons

    Jack Anderson

    Jon Anderson

    Dame Judith Anderson

    Orlando Antigua

    Antiqua Players

    Philip Appleman

    Carroll Arnett

    John Ashbery

    Tom Atkins

    W.H. Auden

    David Baker

    John Balaban

    Leonardo Balada

    Jill Balcon

    Sushanta Banerjee

    Carol Jane Bangs

    Gerald Barrax

    John Barth

    Jan Beatty

    Lynn Beckstrom

    Charles Bell

    Saul Bellow

    Louise Bennett-Coverley

    Daniel Berrigan

    Wendel Berry

    John Berryman

    Frank Bidart

    Elizabeth Bishop

    Claire Bloom

    Robert Bly

    Eavan Boland

    James Bonk

    Jorge Luis Borges

    Susana Bosque

    Phil Bourque

    Peg Boyers

    Barry Boys

    Bozhidar Bozhilov

    George C. Bradley Jr.

    Kamau Brathwaite

    Nellie Briles

    Joseph Brodsky

    William Bronk

    Gwendolyn Brooks

    Michael Dennis Browne

    Ashley Bryan

    David Budway

    Anne Burnham

    Richard Burns

    Stanley Burnshaw

    Ellen Burstyn

    Stacy Byers

    Marcus Cafagna

    Zoe Caldwell

    Dr. Robert Cameron

    Ellis Cannon

    Olga Carlisle

    Carnegie Mellon Orchestra & Chorus

    Morris Carnovsky

    Robert Carothers

    John Carroll

    Pat Carroll

    Hayden Carruth

    Jay Caufield

    Charles Causley

    Hayan Charara

    Andrée Chedid

    Kelly Cherry

    Nancy Chesney

    Nicholas Christopher

    John Ciardi

    Liam Clancy

    The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem

    Carole Clemmons

    François Clemmons

    Lucille Clifton

    Alex Coleman

    Michael Collier

    Judy Collins

    Billy Collins

    The Con Spirito Quintet

    Alice Condodina & Company

    David Conrad

    Demareus Cooper

    Jane Cooper

    Myron Cope

    Marianne Cornetti

    Frank Correnti

    Robert W. Corrigan

    Gerald Costanzo

    Etta Cox

    Robert Creeley

    James Crenner

    Hume Cronyn

    R. R. Cuscaden

    Yakov Dan

    Jim Daniels

    John Dankworth

    Dankworth Quartet

    Ann Darr

    Loren K. Davidson

    Ossie Davis

    Al Davis

    Nathan Davis & Tomorrow

    Victoria De Los Angeles

    Ruby Dee

    Michel Deguy

    James Den Boer

    J. Brooks Dendy

    Richard Denning

    Carl Dennis

    Diana Der Hovanessian

    Jean Desailly

    Colleen Dewhurst

    Raymond Di Palma

    W.S. Di Piero

    James Dickey

    Annie Dillard

    R.H.W. Dillard

    Pat Dobler

    E.L. Doctorow

    Marilyn Donnelly

    Ariel Dorfman

    Sean Thomas Dougherty

    Melvyn Douglas

    Al Dowe & Ensemble

    Stephen Dunn

    Duquesne University Concert Choir

    Duquesne University Symphonic Band

    Duquesne University Wind Symphony

    Lawrence Durrell

    David Early

    Richard Eberhart

    W.D. Ehrhart

    Lynn Emanuel

    John Engles

    Daniel Mark Epstein

    Jean Erdman & Company

    Martín Espada

    Dave Etter

    Peter Everwine

    Gavin Ewart

    Clifton Fadiman

    James Ferla

    Lawrence Ferlinghetti

    Rina Ferrarelli

    José Ferrer

    Karen Fish

    Pauline Flanagan

    Fionnula Flanagan

    Roland Flint

    Nicholas Flocos

    Carolyn Forché

    Frederick H. Fornoff

    Wallace Fowlie

    Siv Fox

    Dan Frezza

    Jonathan Galassi

    Brendan Galvin

    Patrick Galvin

    Theresa Gambacorta

    Isabella Gardner

    George Garrett

    Jack Gelber

    Rhoda Gelford

    Vivica Genaux

    Dan Gerber

    Gail Ghai

    Robert Gibb

    Jack Gilbert

    Sandra Gilbert

    Gary Gildner

    Richard Gilman

    Dana Gioia

    Danny Glover

    Lloyd Goldman

    Lorna Goodison

    Kathy Greenstone (musician)

    Linda Gregg

    Arthur Gregor

    Eamon Grennan

    Tammy Grimes

    George Grizzard

    Emily Grosholz

    Suzanne Gross

    Allen Grossman

    Nicholas Guest

    Thom Gunn

    Doris Hackney

    John Haines

    Alex Haley

    Barbara Hall

    Donald Hall

    Talât Sait Halman

    Mark Halperin

    Daniel Halpern

    Sam Hamill

    Sam Hamod

    Michael Harper

    Barbara Harr

    Craig Harris

    Julie Harris

    Keith Harrison

    Noel Harrison

    Lisa Harrow

    Jeffrey Hayden

    Robert Hayden

    Ann L. Hayes

    Terrance Hayes

    Samuel Hazo

    Seamus Heaney

    Anthony Hecht

    Sara Henderson Hay

    Patricia Henley

    William Heyen

    Bob Hickock

    Jamake Highwater

    Edward Hirsch

    Jane Hirshfield

    Daniel Hoffman

    Miles Hoffman

    Jonathan Holden

    Stephen Holden

    Barbara Holland

    Andrea Hollander Budy

    Rudi Holzapfel

    Anthony Hopkins

    Michael Horovitz

    John Houseman

    Richard Howard

    Jeff Howell

    Barbara Howes

    Bill Hillgrove

    Andrew Hudgins

    Robert Huff

    Glyn Hughes

    Ted Hughes

    Richard Hugo

    Abbie Huston Evans

    David Ignatow

    Colette Inez

    Anne Jackson

    Susan Jacobson

    Roderick Jellema

    Jonathan Johnson

    Judith Emlyn Johnson

    James Earl Jones

    Rodney Jones

    D.G. Jones (translator)

    Erica Jong

    Lawrence Joseph

    Nassif, S. Joseph (translator)

    Nuno Júdice

    William Jungles

    Donald Justice

    Dan Kamin

    Sottos Kappas

    Sotos Kappas (guitarist)

    Mary Karr

    Milton Katselas

    Menke Katz

    Shirley Kaufman

    Stacy Keach

    Edmund Keeley

    George Keithley

    Chauncey Kelley

    Grace Kelly (Princess Grace of Monaco)

    David M. Kelly

    Jane Kenyon

    Michael Kermoyan

    Milton Kessler

    David Kherdian

    Richard Kiley

    Lou Killen

    Maurice Kilwein Guevara

    Nellie King

    Robert Kingdom

    Galway Kinnell

    Thomas Kinsella

    Carolyn Kizer

    George Kline

    George Kline

    Eric Kloss

    John Knoepfle

    Kenneth Koch

    Nancy Koerbel

    Yusef Komunyakaa

    Jerzy Kosinski

    Karen Kovacik

    Beatrice Krebs

    Barry Kukovich

    Maxine Kumin

    Stanley Kunitz

    Stephen Kuusisto

    Greg Kuzma

    John L'Heureux

    Tom LaFlame

    Cleo Laine

    Martin Lammon

    Paul-Marie Lapointe

    Konstantinos Lardas

    Richmond Lattimore

    James Laughlin

    Valerie Lawrence

    Irving Layton

    Naomi Lazard

    Don L. Lee (Haki R. Madhubuti)

    Cleve Leshikar

    Walter Leuba

    Lyubomir Levchev

    Denise Levertov

    Jan Heller Levi

    Philip Levine

    Larry Levis

    Gwyneth Lewis

    James Liddy

    Laurence Lieberman

    Viveca Lindfors

    A.J. Litwinko

    Robert Lowell

    Susan Ludvigson

    Dietlinda T. Maazel

    Archibald MacLeish

    Clarence Major

    Peter Makuck

    David Malouf

    Gregory Maninakis & Ensemble

    John Marcinizyn

    Kika Markham

    Marshall Mason

    Khaled Mattawa

    Jack Matthews

    William Matthews

    Edward Mattos

    Sister Maura

    Julia May

    Eugene J. McCarthy

    Mark McCloskey

    Walter McDonald

    Jo McDougall

    Roger McGough

    Heather McHugh

    Anthony McKay

    Siobhan McKenna

    Leslie Mcllroy

    Lynne McMahon

    Sandra McPherson

    The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh

    Gian Carlo Menotti

    William Meredith

    James Merrill

    W.S. Merwin

    G.W. Meyers

    Akram Midani

    Andrea Miller

    Jordan Miller

    Mildred Miller

    Jason Miller

    Czesław Miłosz

    Judith Minty

    Gaston Miron

    Adrian Mitchell

    Frederick Morgan

    Howard Moss

    Stanley Moss

    Michael Mott

    Nana Mouskouri & the Olympians

    Paul Muldoon

    Barbara Murphy

    Richard Murphy

    Tom Murphy

    Les A. Murray

    Joan Murray

    Patri Nader

    V.S. Naipaul

    Thomas Nassif

    Cristina Nassif

    Bobby Negri & Ensemble

    Joe Negri

    Marilyn Nelson Waniek

    Howard Nemerov

    Rex Nettleford

    Lyubomir Nikolov

    Bink Noll

    Queen Noor of Jordan

    Kathleen Norris

    Mija Novich

    Naomi Shihab Nye

    Richard O'Connell

    Ned O’Gorman

    Richard O’Keefe

    Bingo O’Malley

    Michael O'Siadhail

    Michael O’Siadhail

    Jeff Oaks

    Joyce Carol Oates

    Ed Ochester

    Sharon Olds

    Mary Oliver

    Peter Oresick

    Anthony Ostroff

    Maureen Owen

    Robert Pack

    Ron Padgett

    Heberto Padilla

    Robert Page

    Anna Paidousi-Drakopoulou

    Joseph Papp

    Nemesio Paredes

    Jay Parini

    Robert Parks

    Julie Parson-Nesbitt

    Richard Pasco

    Linda Pastan

    Brian Patten

    Octavio Paz

    Gregory Peck

    Susan Perabo

    Anthony Perkins

    Mark Perlberg

    Brock Peters

    Walt Peterson

    Samuel Pickering

    Sanford Pinsker

    Robert Pinsky

    Pittsburgh Oratorio Society

    Peter Porter

    Reynolds Price

    Al Purdy

    Lawrence Raab

    Thomas Rabbitt

    James Ragan

    Laurie Randolph

    John Crowe Ransom

    Barbara Ras

    Christopher Rawson

    Mary Rawson

    David Ray

    Corin Redgrave

    Vanessa Redgrave

    Ishmael Reed

    Alastair Reid

    Georgeann Rettberg

    Adrienne Rich

    Jack Ridl

    Grace Rishell

    Elisavietta Ritchie

    Ed Roberson

    Len Roberts

    Paul Roche

    Jim Roddey

    María Soledad Romero

    Jane Romney

    Muriel Rukeyser

    Helena Ruoti

    Andy Russell

    Eva Marie Saint

    Baker Salsbury

    Bruno Sammartino

    Ernest Sandeen

    Carlota Santana Dance Company

    Sherod Santos

    Tom Sawyer

    Brij B. Saxena (singer)

    Ranjeet Saxena (violinist)

    Sangeet Saxena (clarinettist)

    Gladys Schmitt

    Dennis Schmitz

    Rainer Schulte

    Dennis Scott

    Herbert Scott

    Alexander Scourby

    George Seferis

    Hugh Seidman

    Richard Selzer

    Anne Sexton

    Simon Shaheen

    Harvey Shapiro

    Karl Shapiro

    Bihari Sharma (tabalchi)

    Anita Shear

    Anita Sheer

    Richard Shelton

    Brooke Shields

    Devrim Shirin

    Rebecca Sieferle

    Charles Simic

    Michael Simms

    Yannis Simonides

    Louis Simpson

    Bellefield Singers

    Knute Skinner

    Warren Slesinger

    Ellen Smith

    Ken Smith

    William Jay Smith

    W.D. Snodgrass

    Gary Soto

    Stephen Spender

    Elizabeth Spires

    Sheryl St. Germain

    William Stafford

    Maureen Stapleton

    George Starbuck

    David Steingass

    Kevin Stemmler

    Stephan Stepanchev

    Dr. John Stone

    Ruth Stone

    Beatrice Straight

    Mark Strand

    Ray Stricklyn

    Lucien Stryk

    Julie Suk

    Sekou Sundiata

    Barton Sutter

    Ross Sutter

    Lynn Swann

    Karen Swenson

    May Swenson

    Pedro Tamen

    Jessica Tandy

    Philip Terman

    Diane Thiel

    Lynne Thigpen

    B. Geoffrey Thomas

    Aeronwy Thomas Ellis

    Sue Ellen Thompson

    Holly Thuma

    Harold Tinkle

    Charles Tomlinson

    Tony Towle

    Tomas Tranströmer

    Dietlinde Turban

    Fawaz Turki

    Brian Turner

    John Updike

    Peter Ustinov

    Jean Valentine

    Simon Valère

    Mark Van Doren

    Mona Van Duyn

    Vassilis Vassilikos

    Gerald Vizenor

    George Vogel

    Ellen Bryant Voigt

    Kurt Vonnegut

    Andrei Voznesensky

    David Wagoner

    Diane Wakoski

    Derek Walcott

    Anne Waldman

    Ken Waldman

    Eli Wallach

    Maureen Wallis

    Chad Walsh

    Bryan Walters

    William Walton

    Sam Wanamaker

    Robert Penn Warren

    Roseanna Warren

    Michael Weaver

    Marc Weber

    Theodore Weiss

    James Welch

    John Westbrook

    Sally Wiggin

    Richard Wilbur

    Donald Wilkins

    Nancy Willard

    Charles Williams

    Miller Williams

    Tennessee Williams

    C.K. Williams

    Lucinda Williams

    Nicol Williamson

    Paul Winter & Ensemble

    Craig Wolfley

    John Woods

    Gabriel Woolf

    James Wright

    Jay Wright

    Kit Wright

    Michael Wurster

    Amy Yanity

    Michael B. Yeats

    Gráinne Yeats

    Samuel Yellen

    Yevgeny Yevtushenko

    Michael York

    Gozo Yoshimasu

    David P. Young

    Kate Young

    Margaret Young

    Adam Zagajewski

    Bill Zavatsky

    Andrena Zawinski

    Anthony Zerbe

    Paul Zimmer

  • Edward Albee (IPF ‘80)

    John Ashbery (IPF ‘77)

    W.H. Auden (IPF ‘69)

    Saul Bellow (IPF ‘80)

    John Berryman (IPF ‘69)

    Frank Bidart (IPF ‘76)

    Elizabeth Bishop (IPF ‘78)

    Gwendolyn Brooks (IPF ‘68, ‘83)

    Carl Dennis (IPF ‘80)

    Annie Dillard (IPF ‘75)

    Stephen Dunn (IPF ‘95)

    Richard Eberhart (IPF ‘67)

    Alex Haley (IPF ‘81)

    Anthony Hecht (IPF ‘73, ‘76, ‘82)

    Richard Howard (IPF ‘74)

    Donald Justice (IPF ‘67, ‘81)

    Galway Kinnell (IPF ‘71, ‘83, ‘88, ‘91, ‘00)

    Carolyn Kizer (IPF ‘69, ‘75)

    Yusef Komunyakaa (IPF ‘98)

    Maxine Kumin (IPF ‘74, ‘82, ‘99)

    Stanley Kunitz (IPF ‘73, ‘81, ‘86)

    Philip Levine (IPF ‘90)

    Robert Lowell (IPF ‘67)

    Archibald MacLeish (IPF ‘66, ‘71, ‘75, ‘77)

    Gian Carlo Menotti (IPF ‘84)

    William Meredith (IPF ‘67, ‘70)

    James Merrill (IPF ‘70)

    W.S. Merwin (IPF ‘69, ‘70, ‘82, ‘89, ‘97, ‘06)

    Jason Miller (IPF ‘86)

    Paul Muldoon (IPF ‘08)

    Howard Nemerov (IPF ‘74)

    Sharon Olds (IPF ‘02)

    Mary Oliver (IPF ‘79)

    Anne Sexton (IPF ‘67)

    Karl Shapiro (IPF ‘90)

    Charles Simic (IPF ‘75)

    Louis Simpson (IPF ‘74, ‘88, ‘96)

    W.D. Snodgrass (IPF ‘70)

    Mark Strand (IPF ‘70)

    John Updike (IPF ‘69)

    Mark Van Doren (IPF ‘67)

    Mona Van Duyn (IPF ‘72, ‘92)

    Robert Penn Warren (IPF ‘68)

    Richard Wilbur (IPF ‘66, ‘70, ‘75, ‘81, ‘86, ‘96, ‘05)

    C.K. Williams (IPF ‘06)

    Tennessee Williams (IPF ‘79)

    James Wright (IPF ‘69)

  • A.R. Ammons (IPF ‘67)

    John Ashbery (IPF ‘77)

    W.H. Auden (IPF ‘69)

    John Barth (IPF ‘69)

    Saul Bellow (IPF ‘80)

    John Berryman (IPF ‘69)

    Frank Bidart (IPF ‘76)

    Elizabeth Bishop (IPF ‘78)

    Robert Bly (IPF ‘69)

    Williams Bronk (IPF ‘88)

    Hayden Carruth (IPF ‘80)

    Lucille Clifton (IPF ‘71, ‘91)

    James Dickey (IPF ‘67, ‘73)

    E.L. Doctorow (IPF ‘77)

    Richard Eberhart (IPF ‘67)

    Martín Espada (IPF ‘97, ‘05)

    Terrance Hayes (IPF ‘08)

    Galway Kinnell (IPF ‘71, ‘83, ‘88, ‘91, ‘00)

    Jerzy Kosiński (IPF ‘72, ‘86)

    Stanley Kunitz (IPF ‘73, ‘81, ‘86)

    Philip Levine (IPF ‘90)

    Robert Lowell (IPF ‘67)

    Archibald MacLeish (IPF ‘66, ‘71, ‘77)

    William Meredith (IPF ‘67, ‘70)

    James Merrill (IPF ‘70)

    W.S. Merwin (IPF ‘69, ‘70, ‘82, ‘89, ‘97, ‘06)

    Howard Moss (IPF ‘79)

    Howard Nemerov (IPF ‘74)

    Joyce Carol Oates (IPF ‘73)

    Mary Oliver (IPF ‘79)

    John Crowe Ransom (IPF ‘67)

    Adrienne Rich (IPF ‘69, ‘70, ‘73)

    William Stafford (IPF ‘72, ‘76, ‘86)

    Ruth Stone (IPF ‘88)

    John Updike (IPF ‘69)

    Jean Valentine (IPF ‘69)

    Mona Van Duyn (IPF ‘72, ‘92)

    Richard Wilbur (IPF ‘66, ‘70, ‘75, ‘81, ‘86, ‘96, ‘05)

    C.K. Williams (IPF ‘06)

  • Elizabeth Bishop (IPF ‘78)

    Joseph Brodsky (IPF ‘74)

    Gwendolyn Brooks (IPF ‘68, ‘83)

    Billy Collins (IPF ‘02)

    James Dickey (IPF ‘67, ‘73)

    Richard Eberhart (IPF ‘67)

    Donald Hall (IPF ‘93)

    Robert Hayden (IPF ‘78)

    Anthony Hecht (IPF ‘73, ‘76, ‘82)

    Daniel Hoffman (IPF ‘73)

    Maxine Kumin (IPF ‘74, ‘82, ‘99)

    Stanley Kunitz (IPF ‘73, ‘81, ‘86)

    Philip Levine (IPF ‘90)

    Robert Lowell (IPF ‘67)

    William Meredith (IPF ‘67, ‘70)

    W. S. Merwin (IPF ‘69, ‘70, ‘82, ‘89, ‘97, ‘06)

    Howard Nemerov (IPF ‘74)

    Robert Pinsky (IPF ‘97)

    Karl Shapiro (IPF ‘90)

    Charles Simic (IPF ‘75)

    William Jay Smith (IPF ‘69, ‘70, ‘78, ‘80)

    Stephen Spender (IPF ‘74)

    William Stafford (IPF ‘72, ‘76, ‘86)

    Mark Strand (IPF ‘70)

    Mona Van Duyn (IPF ‘72, ‘92)

    Robert Penn Warren (IPF ‘68)

    Richard Wilbur (IPF ‘66, ‘70, ‘75, ‘81, ‘86, ‘96, ‘05)

  • Saul Bellow (IPF ‘80)

    Joseph Brodsky (IPF ‘74)

    Seamus Heaney (IPF ‘74, ‘79, ‘87, ‘91, ‘04)

    Czesław Miłosz (IPF ‘75, ‘86)

    V.S. Naipaul (IPF ‘80)

    Octavio Paz (IPF ‘74)

    George Seferis (IPF ‘68)

    Tomas Tranströmer (IPF ‘72, ‘89)

    Derek Walcott (IPF ‘72, ‘84, ‘86, ‘92)

    *In addition to these nine participants, the International Poetry Forum also sponsored early translations of Odysseus Elytis for the Pitt Poetry Series (1974) and Vicente Aleixandre for Ohio University Press (1981).

  • Ellen Burstyn (IPF ‘87)

    Melvyn Douglas (IPF ‘75)

    José Ferrer (IPF ‘77)

    Anthony Hopkins (IPF ‘90)

    John Houseman (IPF ‘75)

    James Earl Jones (IPF ‘82, ‘92, ‘00)

    Grace Kelly (IPF ‘78, ‘80, ‘81)

    Gregory Peck (IPF ‘95)

    Vanessa Redgrave (IPF ‘93)

    Eva Marie Saint (IPF ‘96)

    Maureen Stapleton (IPF ‘72)

    Jessica Tandy (IPF ‘73)

    Peter Ustinov (IPF ‘79)

    Eli Wallach (IPF ‘71, ‘91)