Join us for a celebration of Pitt Poetry Series on September 12, 2025 at 7:30pm in the Connelly Ballroom, located in Alumni Hall (4227 Fifth Ave) on the University of Pittsburgh campus. RSVP here!
The event will be emceed by former Pitt Poetry Series co-editor Terrance Hayes (IPF ‘08, ‘24) and will feature readings, remembrances, and a discussion with luminaries of American poetry and the Pitt Poetry Series under the editorship of the late Ed Ochester (IPF ‘76): Billy Collins (IPF ‘02), Jan Beatty (IPF ‘99), Lynn Emanuel (IPF ‘89, ‘91, ‘00), Ross Gay, Quan Barry, Denise Duhamel, Paisley Rekdal, and Aaron Smith.
The event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are encouraged; seating in Connelly Ballroom is first-come, first-served.
In addition to this Friday event, there will also be a series of events on Pitt’s campus that feature discussions and panels involving the same group of poets on Saturday, September 13, 2025 (more info soon).
The celebration is being hosted by the University of Pittsburgh Press, the Pitt Poetry Series, and the Drue Heinz Literature Prize, in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, the Department of English, the Center for African American Poetry and Poetics (CAAPP), and the Writing Program and the International Poetry Forum.
This event continues a long relationship between the International Poetry Forum and Pitt Poetry Series. From 1967–1976, a jury of poet-judges including Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Penn Warren, Richard Wilbur, May Swenson, and others presented the International Poetry Forum’s United States Award and International Award, which included manuscript publication through the University of Pittsburgh Press. These awards gave rise to the Pitt Poetry Series, which remains a major voice in poetry publishing today. During this period, the International Poetry Forum and the University of Pittsburgh Press collaborated in publishing nearly 50 books, including works by Archibald MacLeish, May Swenson, and Nobel Laureates Tomas Tranströmer and Odysseus Elytis.