As the biggest poetry festival in New England, the Massachusetts Poetry Festival is committed to celebrating our common threads and to weaving worlds together by providing opportunities for writers to share their work, drawing people from different regions of the state and country to build community, harnessing the power of poetry to inspire collective care and imagine possibilities for social change. Programming themes at the 2025 Festival range from joy and play, the environment, and diversity in all of its forms to grief and care, democracy and the voice of the people, as well as the art of poetry and building a poet’s life.

The Massachusetts Poetry Festival kicked off on May 30th with Common Threads: A Celebration of Massachusetts Poets, a showcase of local poets with readings by distinguished Massachusetts poets and poet laureates, including Elizabeth Bradfield, Porsha Olayiwola, and J.D. Scrimgeour. The high energy continued with community programming held at venues throughout the City of Salem, including the Peabody Essex Museum, Old Town Hall, National Park Service Visitor Welcome Center, and others.

The 2023 Festival introduced the Teen Poetry Track, allowing young talents to shine. The Teen Poetry Track previously included a collaborative mural creation, a poetry showcase, and an exhilarating teen slam series that featured several Massachusetts teams. The Teen Poetry Track had an even larger role at the 2025 Festival, featuring a Community Cento organized by the Teen Council, interactive events, and a teen slam performance by Mass Poetry’s SW@MP team, which opened Danez Smith’s headline reading and Q&A.

This year’s Festival also continued the tradition of offering a Small Press Fair to attendees on May 31st. This fair acts as a platform for small, independent presses and literary organizations to share their books and literary journals, and raise their visibility without having to travel to expensive national conferences. Attendees were also able to buy books by headline poets and featured presenters throughout the Festival and get their books signed, thanks to our partnership with Boston-based bookseller JustBook-ish.

For those who were unable to travel to our in-person Festival, we offered a variety of online programming! Building on the success of virtual programming launched ahead of the 2023 Massachusetts Poetry Festival, Mass Poetry continued the Bridging the Gap series in 2025. Beginning in late April and leading up to the 2025 Massachusetts Poetry Festival, we hosted nine virtual readings, workshops, and panel discussions. Check out the full listing of events facilitated by a dynamic group of local, national, and international poets with descriptions and details here.

We are grateful to all of our supporters for making both virtual programming and this year’s Massachusetts Poetry Festival possible. For those interested in contributing to the ongoing work of Mass Poetry, please donate and support the Festival.