Participants in this year’s Dodge Poetry Festival will include, from left, Elizabeth Acevedo, aja monet, Danez Smith and Patti Smith.
“Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine,” wrote Patti Smith in her provocative song “Gloria” from her landmark 1975 album Horses.
“Gloria” announced the kind of artist Smith would become, launching a career that has blurred the boundaries between poetry, performance and rock ‘n’ roll.
That fusion makes the New Jersey native and punk poet laureate a fitting presence at the 2026 Dodge Poetry Festival, which returns to Newark from Oct. 15 to Oct. 17 with poetry, spoken word and music performances and workshops across seven stages.
The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and NJPAC will present the event, billed as North America’s largest poetry festival. Since 1986, the biennial festival has created a platform to showcase poetry as an art form and a catalyst for social justice, and drawn more than 150,000 people.
At a time when many people are searching for ways to respond to a troubled world, the festival offers poetry as a vehicle for expression, resistance, connection and engagement.
YSABEL Y. GONZÁLEZ
“Poetry gives us a voice,” says festival curator Ysabel Y. González, who is NJPAC’s producer for poetry and social impact. “Whether you are writing privately in a journal, or featuring at your local open mic, it gives us power to share our most vulnerable self. It also puts us in community with each other.”
Smith will perform at an event titled “Patti Smith: Songs and Stories,” Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. at NJPAC’s Prudential Hall. The performance requires a separate ticket from the festival pass. Smith has published several volumes of poetry, including 2005’s “Auguries of Innocence.” Her books include her 2010 memoir “Just Kids,” which is about about her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe and their lives in New York, and which won the 2010 National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Other festival participants will include U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze, Pulitzer Prize winner Tyehimba Jess, Elizabeth Acevedo, Terrance Hayes, Natalie Diaz, Jericho Brown, Naomi Shihab Nye, Patricia Smith, Danez Smith, aja monet, José Olivarez, Marc Bamuthi Joseph and Stephanie Burt.
Sessions on Oct. 15 will include “What We Do With Grief,” “The Art of Revision and “Poetry Ancestors.”
Oct. 16 will be Young Artist Day, with high school students and teachers allowed to attend daytime programs free of charge.
NELSON GEORGE
On Oct. 17, highlights will include a free Family Fun Day and two ticketed events at NJPAC’s Victoria Theate. “Def Poetry Reunion,” at 5 p.m., features poets who appeared on the 2002-2007 HBO series “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry,” better known as “Def Poetry Jam”; at 8 p.m. filmmaker and author Nelson George will present “Do the Write Thing,” a multimedia event featuring DJ Spinna, Jessica Care Moore, Carl Hancock Rux and others.
I talked with González about what audiences can expect from this year’s festival, its history, and the role poetry can play in bringing people together.
Q: What will be different about the festival this year?
A: This year will feel noticeably more vibrant and, well, festive! We have close to 3,000 students and teachers registered for Young Artist Day, which will fill downtown Newark with a very upbeat energy, and our free Family Fun Day out on our renovated plaza will offer an outdoor poetry stage hosted by DJ Drewksi from Hot 97, face painters for the kids, a Child’s Place obstacle course, poets who will write you poems on our Baraka typewriter, dancers, and all-around festive fall vibes.
Q: How did you approach putting together this year’s lineup? Was there a theme or idea that guided you?
A: We wanted an eclectic mix of poets who bring power and stage presence. This is a live, living and breathing festival, so we wanted to include voices who not only could offer passionate and awe-inspiring performances, but also poets who had a variety of experiences they could share in conversations. What Dodge has gotten very good at is being able to curate sessions from a diverse mix that make for wonderful and iconic conversations that audiences think about for years to come. Thanks in great part to our wonderful selection committee and advisory committee, we have been able to include some really brave voices who are fierce and unapologetic.
It’s also important to me that we have a mix of established, emerging and mid-career poets all on the same sessions to flatten the poetry hierarchy — and this makes for rich conversations and readings.
TYEHIMBA JESS
Q: Patti Smith has spent her career crossing the boundaries between poetry, music and performance. Why did she feel right for this year’s festival?
A: With her latest book, “Bread of Angels,” and her Jersey roots, we are grateful to have this legendary force join us this year. She is bold and fierce, and makes a perfect addition to some of the other really powerful voices that are joining us — like Elizabeth Acevedo, Patricia Smith, Tyehimba Jess and Marc Bamuthi Joseph. Patti’s work dovetails music and poetry and is exactly some of the work this festival is doing — showcasing the incredible power of language and the literary arts.
Q: The festival includes celebrated poets alongside emerging writers, spoken-word artists and musicians. Are you trying to expand the idea of what a poetry festival can be?
A: We believe poetry should be accessible to all, which means exploring all the intersections of spoken word, poetry and all the ways we engage with it on a regular basis — and that includes film, dance and music. We can find poetry in the cadence, rhythm and repetition in almost every genre.
We are also expanding the idea of who gets to tell their stories and we want this festival to be reflective of our great country — all the richness of identities, abilities and class.
Newark mayor Ras J. Baraka, reading poetry at NJPAC in 2021.
Q: How important is Newark itself to the character of Dodge, and how are Newark artists and audiences reflected in this year’s festival?
A: Newark is a city of poets and celebrates arts and culture so beautifully. We are very lucky to call Newark our home. Our very own Mayor Ras J. Baraka is a phenomenal poet himself, and son of two very brilliant poets, Amiri and Amina Baraka. Our Mayor will also be performing at this year’s festival, which you don’t want miss.
Because of all of the poetry richness in the month of October in Newark we affectionately refer to October as Poetry Month in Newark. Because the festival’s home is Newark, it adds yet another deeply soulful and exciting layer to the festival.
Q: At a time when many people feel overwhelmed by what’s happening in the world, what can poetry — and gathering together around poetry — offer?
A: Poetry gives us a voice. Whether you are writing privately in a journal or featuring at your local open mic, it gives us power to share our most vulnerable self. It also puts us in community with each other! Some people think poets hole away writing in their attics, but in fact, poets are some of the most engaged artists I know, yearning to share their voices with each other. Whether you write poetry or not, I encourage everyone to come out to this year’s festival and participate in community and fellowship.
Q: Who are you personally most excited to see or hear at this year’s festival?
A: I’m most excited about the opening session on Saturday morning, titled “Praise & Reclamation,” with poets Meg Day, Tongo Eisen-Martin, Rickey Laurentiis, Rajiv Mohabir, Naomi Shihab Nye, José Olivarez and Danez Smith. This event will include a call-and-response with percussionist Carly Maldonado and is a perfect blend of music and poetry. It will be a great way to metaphorically break bread with each other that morning.
For information and updates, visit njpac.org/series/dodgepoetry or grdodge.org/our-work/dodge-poetry.
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