Folger Shakespeare Library offers streaming options for the 2024–25 Season of the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series

56th Season features readings by Blas Falconer, Kimiko Hahn, Paul Muldoon, Yesenia Montilla, Claudia Rankine, Dan Vera, and more

Today, the Folger Shakespeare Library announces that single tickets for the 56^th season of the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series are now on sale for $20 for in-person readings. Tickets to virtual access are pay what you will, starting at $10.

Some of the most acclaimed and exciting US poets will take the stage on Capitol Hill. Literature lovers from around the country are invited to enjoy this season’s readings, which draw upon the Folger’s 2024-25 season theme of Whose Democracy?, exploring the idea of democracy through language, spoken word, and expression. The season features six readings, including the Folger’s annual tribute to Emily Dickinson, the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize, and readings featuring world-renowned and emerging writers in an intimate setting, the Folger’s Elizabethan-style theater.

“Poetry is meant to be shared,” states Teri Cross Davis, Folger Poetry Program Manager. “By having the O.B. Hardison Poetry series available virtually again, we can reconnect with poetry lovers across the country as we initially did during quarantine. Poetry can come to you if you cannot come to it, and we are happy to provide this experience on small screens all over the nation. This is poetry you don’t want to miss.”

In addition to the six readings, the poetry season includes two additional annual events. The Folger’s annual Not Just Another Day Off free, family-friendly celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s life and legacy invites audiences to enjoy a live reading of poetic and historical works on Saturday, January 18 at 11am, which will also be recorded and streamed, January 18-20, 2025. Tune in throughout the long holiday weekend to hear invited poets read their own works and local actors read famous historical speeches. On March 27, 2025, at 7:30pm, the Folger and the Eudora Welty Foundation will welcome Amor Towles to deliver the 2025 Welty Lecture, inspired by the writing and life of famed author Eudora Welty. More information on these two events will be available on the Folger website at a later date.

All readings take place at the Folger Shakespeare Library, located at 201 East Capitol Street, SE, in Washington, DC, and now will be accessible for streaming; in-person readings are followed by a book sale and signing.

The O.B. Hardison Poetry Series is one of the nation’s oldest poetry reading programs and is noted for featuring an extensive range of outstanding poets. The series was founded in 1970 after the late O.B. Hardison, Jr.—a renowned teacher, scholar, and poet—became director of the Folger Shakespeare Library and established many outreach programs to make the resources of the extraordinary research library available to the Washington community.

In addition to single tickets at $20 (in-person) or $10 (virtual), in-person six-reading season subscriptions are still available for $90—a 25% savings off individual ticket prices. Subscriptions may be purchased at www.folger.edu/poetry or by calling the Folger Box Office at (202) 544-7077.

Flex passes for in-person readings are available starting at $45. Virtual flex passes are available starting at $30 for three readings and include unlimited access to the recordings of each reading purchased through June 30, 2025.

O.B. HARDISON POETRY SERIES 2024-25

We the People of the United States…Establish Justice
with poets Claudia Rankine and Yesenia Montilla
Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 7:30pm

The 56^th season of the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series opens with Claudia Rankine (Citizen, An American Lyric) and Yesenia Montilla (Muse Found in a Colonized Body) reading from work that explores whether “we, the people” have truly established justice for all. Poet Sunu Chandy will moderate a conversation with both poets after the reading.

“Her work illuminates the emotional and psychic tensions that mark the experiences of many living in twenty-first-century America.” — MacArthur Citation 

“Rankine’s voice shimmers with wisdom and fury.” — The Telegraph

We the People of the United States…Ensure Domestic Tranquility
with poets Blas Falconer, Valerie Martínez, and Dan Vera
Tuesday, November 12, 2024 at 7:30pm

The second reading of the season celebrates twenty years of Letras Latinas, the literary initiative at the Institute for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Poets Blas Falconer (author of four poetry collections, including Rara Avis), Valerie Martínez (Each and Her and Count) and Dan Vera (Speaking Wiri Wiri and The Space Between Our Danger and Delight) will read from their work with a moderated conversation following the reading. Poet and visual artist Sami Miranda will moderate a conversation with both poets after the reading. Bookselling and signing will be available at the reception following the event.

The Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute
with poet Kimiko Hahn
Tuesday, December 10, 2024 at 7:30pm

The O.B. Hardison Poetry series, in partnership with co-sponsor, The Emily Dickinson Museum, hosts its annual celebration of Emily Dickinson with a reading by the Poetry Foundation’s Ruth Lilly Lifetime Achievement Award winner Kimiko Hahn. Hahn is the author of ten collections of poetry, including The Ghost Forest: New & Selected Poems. From the political to the personal, and from science to the journals of Matsuo Bashō, the celebrated Haiku poet of Japan, Hahn brings a lyrical gaze to all these subjects and more. A moderated conversation with book selling and signing will follow the reading.

“Hahn’s poem encourages us to look to our most unassuming neighbors—and in them, find ourselves.” — Chicago Review of Books

We the People of the United States…Promote the General Welfare
with poets torrin a. greathouse and Camisha Jones Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 7:30pm

Promoting the general welfare is commonly interpreted as improving transportation, promoting agriculture and industry, protecting health and the environment, and seeking ways to solve social and economic problems. But what has America done to promote the general welfare of all people, including the many Americans who have disabilities? Folger Poetry continues its exploration of Whose Democracy? with readings by poets torrin a. greathouse and Camisha Jones whose present works probe the erasure of disabled voices. This reading had originally included recently passed DC poet Kathi Wolfe, who will be honored and remembered during the reading.

The 2025 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize Reading
with poet Paul Muldoon
Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at 7:30pm

The Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize, created in honor of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Anthony Hecht, is awarded annually for a poetry collection by a poet who has published no more than one previous book of verse. This season, the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series and co-sponsor The Waywiser Press celebrate the 19^th winner of the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize with this year’s prize judge, acclaimed Irish poet, critic, playwright, and translator Paul Muldoon, who will read with the winning poet. Muldoon is the author of fifteen full-length collections of poetry, and has published smaller collections, works of criticism, opera libretti, books for children, and radio and television drama.

The Waywiser Press is a small independent company, with its main office in the UK, and a subsidiary in the USA. It was founded in late 2001 and started publishing in 2002. Waywiser is a literary press, first and foremost, with a special interest in modern poetry and fiction. 

The O.B. Hardison Series Finale Reading
with poet Ellen Bass
Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at 7:30pm

The 2024-25 Poetry season concludes with a finale reading by Ellen Bass. Bass’s most recent poetry books include Indigo, Like a Beggar, and The Human Line. She co-edited the first major anthology of women’s poetry, No More Masks!, and her nonfiction works include The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse and Free Your Mind: The Book for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Youth. Bass, chosen by a group of Folger Poetry supporters, will read from the work of other poets cited as a literary influence, as well as from her own work. A moderated conversation will follow the reading, with a bookselling and signing at the post-reading reception.

About The O.B. Hardison Poetry Series

The O.B. Hardison Poetry Series, one of the nation’s most established poetry reading programs, is noted for featuring an extensive range of outstanding poets. The series was founded in 1970 after the late O.B. Hardison, Jr., a renowned teacher, scholar, and poet, became director of the Folger Shakespeare Library and established many outreach programs to make the resources of the extraordinary research library available to the Washington community. Major funding for the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series is provided by the Lannan Foundation, which sponsors readings at the Folger, as well as a collaborative undergraduate learning program with the Lannan Fellows. More at www.folger.edu/poetry.

About the Eudora Welty Foundation

The Eudora Welty Foundation was established to assist the Mississippi Department of Archives and History to achieve its goals of celebrating the legacy of Eudora Welty, enhancing appreciation of her work, and encouraging reading and the efforts of young writers. The Foundation’s broad mission is to fund educational and research activities and to develop programs that will enhance Eudora Welty’s legacy and ensure that her work continues to be recognized as among the greatest in American literature. To visitors from across America and around the world, the Welty Home provides a literary experience to enhance the understanding of Welty’s life and work. Welty’s fiction affirms that the imagination can be a powerful force to combat suffering, both physical and spiritual. Programming emphasizes Welty’s striking intellect and creative powers, her devotion to the humanities, the place of literature in our lives, and the role of the writer in our society. Learn more about the Eudora Welty Foundation.

About Folger Shakespeare Library

The Folger Shakespeare Library makes Shakespeare’s stories and the world in which he lived accessible. Anchored by the world’s largest Shakespeare collection, the Folger is a place where curiosity and creativity are embraced, and conversation is always encouraged. Visitors to the Folger can choose how they want to experience the arts and humanities, from interactive exhibitions to captivating performances, and from path-breaking research to transformative educational programming. The Folger welcomes everyone to connect in their own way—from communities throughout Washington, DC, to communities across the globe.

Following a multiyear building renovation, the Folger’s historic Capitol Hill home reopened to the public on June 21, 2024. Learn more at www.folger.edu.

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