Building Community Through Poetry
The Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program is dedicated to building community through poetry by appointing and supporting an outstanding local poet as Poet Laureate for the city, sponsoring events that feature area poets and authors from outside the New Hampshire Seacoast, and encouraging a love of poetry among people of all ages.
Established in 1997 by local arts organizers and writers, the program brings people together to celebrate the written word and the talents of local and visiting artists.
February 7th Hoot Cancelled
The February 7th Hoot is cancelled due to inclement weather. We hope everyone stays safe and warm, and we'll see you in March!
Cancelled: February 7th Hoot featuring Lee Sharkey and Adam Scheffler
Lee Sharkey’s poetry collections are Walking Backwards (Tupelo Press, 2016), Calendars of Fire (Tupelo, 2013), A Darker, Sweeter String (Off the Grid, 2008), and eight other full-length poetry books and chapbooks. Her work has appeared in Crazyhorse, FIELD, Kenyon...
5th Annual Youth Poetry Hoot January 3rd!
Students from several area schools will join us as our January Featured Readers. One of the PPLP’s Board’s long term goals is to encourage poetry writing and performance by young people. They’re our poetic future. What better way than to provide a venue? If you’ve...
December 6th Hoot featuring Gigi Thibodeau and Ben Berman
Gigi Thibodeau’s writing has appeared in Mid-American Review, Soundings East, t.e.l.l. New England, Mingle Magazine, Marvels and Tales: Journal of Fairy Tale Studies, The Virginia Woolf Miscellany, and elsewhere. Her blog, The Magpie’s Fancy, has been featured...
November 1st Hoot featuring UNH MFA poets John McDonough Rhosalyn Williams
Rhosalyn Williams is a poet from Wenvoe, Wales and Tallahassee, Florida. She is an MFA candidate for poetry at the University of New Hampshire where she writes, climbs, teaches, and waits tables. She is a reader for Barnstorm Literary Journal and her writing has...
October 4th Hoot featuring Rhina Espaillat and Alfred Nicol
Rhina P. Espaillat has published ten full-length books and three chapbooks, comprising poetry, essays and short stories, in both English and her native Spanish, and prize-winning translations from and into Spanish. Her work appears in numerous journals, websites and...
September 6th Hoot featuring Dennis Camire and Jim Thatcher
Dennis Camire recently published “Combed by Crows” with Deerbrook Editions. His poems have appeared in Poetry East, Spoon River Review, Mid-American Review, Hamilton Stone Review, Maine Public Radio, and in other journals and online zines. Currently he teaches...
Good Fat Poetry Zine
Submissions are open for the inaugural issue Good Fat Poetry Zine! Submit up to three poems with the theme "Humor and Absurdity" by July 31st for consideration for the first issue.
Poets in the Park
Join us at Prescott Park Arts Festival this summer for Poets in the Park: Women Reading Women. We're excited about this lineup, and we hope you are, too!
June 7th Hoot featuring Dudley Laufman and David Rivard
Dudley Laufman was raised near Boston, and graduated from agricultural school. His poems have been in many little mags and journals. William Bauhan Press, Beech River Books and Shaker Village have published books of my poetry. Pudding House and Serif & Pixel Press...
