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Useful Resources : Websites for Poets and Writers : Poetry in Performance
92nd Street Y Virtual Poetry Center
The Unterberg Poetry Center at the 92nd Street Y is an important New York City cultural center where many prominent writers have read. Their website now includes videos and archival recordings from decades of readings. Featured authors include Truman Capote, Chinua Achebe, Joyce Carol Oates, Doris Lessing, and Norman Mailer.
| | ABC Tales Radio
A joint venture between UK-based online writers' forum ABC Tales and the online broadcaster Short Story Radio, ABC Tales Radio is a unique website offering writers and poets the chance to self-publish their work in an audio format. Fees start at 20 pounds for a story under 2,000 words, and increase with length.
| | An Incomplete History of Slam
| | Animated Poems by Billy Collins
Delightful short animated films in which former US Poet Laureate Billy Collins reads his poems out loud as accompanying images illustrate his words. View online or download to your iPod or PDA.
| | Audio Archives from the Academy of American Poets
Beginning with John Berryman's historic first reading of The Dream Songs on Halloween night, 1963, the Academy of American Poets has presented and recorded over 700 poetry readings, lectures, and symposia, making the Poetry Audio Archive one the world's richest aural records of poetry. You can search for audio clips by author or poem title, or browse the most popular selections. See their online store for poetry CDs to purchase.
| | Boston Poetry Slam at the Cantab Lounge
Poetry slam open mike and featured readers can be enjoyed every Wednesday night at this Cambridge, Mass. club.
| | Clips: The Video Blog at Poets & Writers
A curated selection of videos, including book trailers,
brief interviews, and other literary curiosities updated
daily.
| | Coffee House to Go
ESC! Magazine's monthly podcast for writers and the small press community offers readings of poetry, short fiction, interviews and reviews as well as featured music from independent bands and musicians.
| | Dodge Poetry Festival YouTube Channel
This YouTube channel features videos of readings and performances from the renowned Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, held biennially since 1986 in northern New Jersey.
| | Drama Workshop: The Nuts & Bolts of Dramatic Writing
Site for aspiring playwrights and screenwriters includes basic advice on genres, writing exercises, and listings of markets and contests.
| | Folded Word
Independent literary press with a special interest in adapting short written works into a variety of electronic media. One of their projects is Shape of a Box, the first YouTube poetry journal, which features videos by poets such as Ellaraine Lockie, Dan Nowak, and Pris Campbell.
| | From the Fishouse
Audio archive of emerging poets features text and recordings of work by dozens of contemporary writers as diverse as Matthea Harvey, Leslie McGrath, Tyehimba Jess, and Xochiquetzal Candelaria.
| | Gabcast.com
Podcasting and audioblogging service allows you to create audio files for your website with a simple phone call. Your recordings can also be browsed by Gabcast subscribers. Basic service is free; enhanced services are $6-$12 per month.
| | Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Blog
This blog from the sponsor of the renowned
Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival features video
clips of readings by major contemporary poets (see
the "Poetry Fridays" sidebar link), plus news about
other cultural programs that the Dodge Foundation
sponsors in New Jersey and beyond.
| | Hipcast.com
Audio and video blogging and podcasting tool has several price tiers starting at $4.95 per month, with a 7-day free trial period.
| | Karla K. Morton
This Texas-based poet's book/CD combo, 'Wee Cowrin' Timorous Beastie', is a 17th-century Scottish epic story, written in rhyme, and set to an original musical score by the Juno award-winning Canadian composer, Howard Baer. Morton's creative multimedia project brings the old world of European epic poetry together with a modern cinematic score.
| | Live Hope Love
Kwame Dawes, the University of South Carolina's poet-in-residence, launched this multimedia site to chronicle the experiences of HIV patients and caregivers in Jamaica. The site features his own profound and lyrical poetry as well as video interviews and background stories of the people who inspired him.
| | Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam
This Cambridge, Mass. nightclub offers a poetry slam open mike followed by featured readers and jazz band every Sunday evening. Check out their weblog for news and links to some of their regular performers.
| | Massachusetts Poetry Festival
This annual celebration of Massachusetts poets and small presses is held every October. The festival is based in Lowell, Mass., and also includes events around Boston, Worcester, Amherst, and the Berkshires. Videos from the festival are available on their YouTube channel: presenters include Rhina Espaillat, Robert Pinsky, Nick Flynn, and Martin Espada.
| | Mike Guinn, Poetry & Spoken Word Promoter
Poet and motivational speaker Mike Guinn coordinates poetry slams for adults and youth in the Fort Worth area and beyond. He began writing as catharsis for the emotional stories that he witnessed as a Texas child welfare investigator. This inspiration led him to create the DFW Youth Poetry Slams.
| | MotionPoems
MotionPoems features short, evocative, professionally produced videos that dramatize the poems being read on the soundtrack. Featured
authors include Robert Bly, Todd Boss, Jane Hirshfield, and Freya Manfred. At present, they are not accepting unsolicited submissions.
| | National Jukebox
This project at the Library of Congress makes historic recordings of popular and classical music and spoken-word performances available online. Search the archives by artist name and genre, or simply enjoy the eclectic selections of the day. The collection features more than 10,000 78rpm disc sides issued by the Victor Talking Machine Company between 1900 and 1925. Other material from the archives is currently being brought online.
| | Online School of Poetry
New venture seeks to bridge the worlds of literary academia and slam poetry. Instructors include former California poet laureate Quincy Troupe, performance poets Patricia Smith and Regie Gibson, prizewinning author Tom Daley.
| | PD Info: Royalty Free Music
This archive of sound clips in various genres, from the website of the Public Domain Information Project, can help you enhance podcasts or other audiovisual recordings of your creative writing. Pricing starts at $7.95 per song.
| | PEN Prison Writing Program: Recordings of 'Voices From Inside' Event 2009
The PEN American Center mentors incarcerated writers and publishes the best of their work in the annual Voices From Inside series. On this page, you can view video clips of notable writers such as Marie Ponsot and Patricia Smith reading prisoners' work at a November 2009 presentation in New York City.
| | Poetcast: Poetry Podcasts
Listen on your computer or iPod to selections from the Academy of American Poets' extensive Poetry Audio Archive, as well as new work by contemporary poets and favorite verses selected by readers. For those new to podcasting, the website contains a helpful introduction to downloading and playing the files.
| | Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Project
This joint venture of the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts awards over $100,000 in scholarships annually to high school students for memorizing and performing classic poems. Top prize is $20,000.
| | Poetry Series on the PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
PBS and the Poetry Foundation collaborated on this series of broadcasts featuring short-form profiles on living American poets and long-form segments on current debates in poetry. Listen/view past segments on their website.
| | Poetry Slam Incorporated
Poetry slam is the competitive art of performance poetry. It puts a dual emphasis on writing and performance, encouraging poets to focus on what they're saying and how they're saying it. Click here to find local slams in the US, Canada and Europe. A National Poetry Slam meets in a US city each year in August.
| | Poetry.LA
Online video showcase of over 150 poets reading their work at various venues in Southern California. Poets featured include US Poet Laureate Kay Ryan and Anne Carson. The site also includes video interviews with authors and publishers. Poetry.LA was started by poet Hilda Weiss and videographer/writer Wayne Lindberg as a way to bring broader exposure to poets beyond the coffeehouses, bookstores and cafes where most of these readings were taped.
| | PoetrySpeaks
This free online forum for audio and video performances of poetry is distinguished by the top-quality authors and presses who are featured members of the site. Published poets can also register to sell their books here.
| | Poetryvlog.com
Video archive of contemporary poets reading their own work features a new short video every week. See website for instructions on submitting a video.
| | Poetz.com
Online poetry calendar lists readings and literary events in the New York metro area, plus Connecticut, Vermont and New Mexico. The site also includes an editor's blog and links to other poetry websites.
| | Quiddity: International Literary Journal & Public-Radio Program
Quiddity is a literary journal published by Springfield College-Benedictine University in Illinois. Contributors to the journal may also be invited to read their work and be interviewed about the writing process on Illinois Public Radio, an NPR affiliate. Links to samples of these broadcasts are available on their website. Contributors have included Douglas A. Blackmon, Dan Guillory, and Martin Willitts, Jr.
| | Six Video Poems at Poets & Writers
Multimedia presentations of poems by Anne Carson, Thylias Moss, and Aaron Fagan add new dimensions to the spoken word through interpretive dance, music, and graphics.
| | Slam Idol Podcast
Download free MP3 audio files of slam poets performing their work. Currently the site is running a series of "American Idol"-style competitions in which you can vote for your favorite slam poem.
| | Slam News Service
Keep track of upcoming poetry slams and bouts across the US and the world. Hosted by "teacher, poet and traveling man" Michael Brown.
| | Sniplits
This site features audio files of original short stories that can be downloaded to any device that plays digital music. Search for stories by genre or playing time (the shortest are 1-5 minutes, the longest 30-40 minutes). Most stories cost under a dollar. Authors featured on the site include Sally Bellerose, Barbara Quinn, Bruce Boston, O'Neil De Noux, Laird Long, and many others.
| | Sycamore Review Audio Archives
Author interviews and recordings of creative writing from Sycamore Review, the Purdue University literary journal that sponsors the prestigious Wabash Prizes for poetry and fiction.
| | Taylor Mali
Poetry slam champion and teachers' advocate Taylor
Mali is also a driving force behind the award-winning
Urbana Poetry Slam team, which performs every
Tuesday night at the famed Bowery Poetry Club in
New York City.
| | The Drum
Published 10 times a year, The Drum is an online literary journal that features short fiction, essays, novel excerpts, and interviews, exclusively in audio form. Featured authors have included Susan Orlean and Lydia Millet.
| | The Moth: True Stories Told Live
The Moth is a NYC-based literary organization and performance space dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth directors work with storytellers to shape their tales into a performance piece. See website for submission guidelines, tour dates, and podcasts of The Moth Radio Hour.
| | The Pedestal Magazine
Online journal of poetry, fiction, reviews, and artwork, edited by poet and songwriter John Amen. They also accept submissions of "slam" poetry performances (send as MP3 files). Contributors have included Jim Redmond, Nathan Leslie, Arlene Ang, JoSelle Vanderhooft, and Linda Leedy Schneider.
| | The Poetic Voice
Poetry podcast from educational publisher Houghton Mifflin features contemporary poets such as Donald Hall, Alan Shapiro and Natasha Trethewey reading and discussing their work.
| | The Poetry of War at NPR
This National Public Radio series from 2003 (archived on their website) includes the written text and audio recordings of classic war poems, from the Iliad to Wilfred Owen.
| | The Rose & Thorn Podcasts
Pushcart nominees and other highlights from an attractive and long-running e-zine of poetry, fiction and memoirs. The Rose & Thorn is notable for its mix of mainstream literary, magical-realist and genre writing.
| | Tips for a Good Poetry Reading
This post from award-winning poet Diane Lockward's blog offers sound advice for poets, hosts, and audience members. Lockward is the author of 'What Feeds Us' and 'Eve's Red Dress', both from Wind Publications. (Hat tip to The Practicing Writer newsletter for the link.)
| | Write Now Poetry Society
Co-founded in 2007 by actress/author Amber Tamblyn and poet Mindy Nettifee, Write Now Poetry is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the audience for great poetry through performance, education, publishing and grant-making. Drums Inside Your Chest, their annual festival in Los Angeles, showcases the best poets writing and performing in the Unted States alongside magicians and musicians.
| | Youth Speaks
A leading youth poetry and spoken word program. Offices in San Francisco (its home base), New York and Seattle. Organizes the annual Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam and the annual Brave New Voices National Youth Poetry Slam, and many smaller events and projects.
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