O.B. Hardison Poetry Series

For more than 40 years, the Folger's poetry reading series has brought hundreds of distinguished poets to read from their work on the Folger stage, including Octavio Paz, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, W. S. Merwin, Adrienne Rich, Yusef Komunyakaa, James Merrill, Frank Bidart, Robert Pinsky, Derek Walcott, Hayden Carruth, Rita Dove, Seamus Heaney, Sterling Brown, Denise Levertov, June Jordan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Sonia Sanchez, and James Dickey. Beginning with the 2010–11 season, it was renamed O.B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry reading series in honor of its founder, O. B. Hardison, Jr.

From traditional poetry readings to multimedia presentations to eclectic combinations of lecture, conversation, and performance, O.B. Hardison Poetry reading series is committed to expanding the contexts in which poetry is experienced. Each year, we present eight to ten poetry events— including a moderated conversation and Q & A—in the Folger’s Elizabethan Theatre, followed by wine receptions and book signings in the Great Hall.

Current season

To view the current season of the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series and purchase tickets to any of the events, please see the Folger's main website.

Previous seasons

Previous poetry readings at the Folger

Previous poetry readings at the Folger offers a comprehensive list of poets who have read at the Folger, including additional biographies, audio recordings and further information when available.

2010s

• A Bicentennial Celebration of Walt Whitman (2019)
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Kay Ryan (2019)
• Verse from Southern Foodways Alliance: Sandra Beasley, Sean Hill, and W. Ralph Eubanks (2019)
• Afrofuturism: Tananarive Due, N. K. Jemison, and Airea D. Matthews (2019)
• Not Just Another Day Off (2019)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Jen Bervin and Martha Nell Smith (2018)
• Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize: Sir Andrew Motion and Christopher Cessac
• Eudora Welty Lecture: Richard Ford (2018)
• Ghost Fishing: Eco-justice Poetry: Melissa Tuckey and Brenda Cardenas (2018)
• Hardison Season Opening: Linda Pastan, Marilyn Chin, and Ellen Bass (2018)
• Silence and Breath: Kazim Ali and Kaveh Akbar (2018)
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Poetry of Witness: Carolyn Forché (2018)
• 10 Artists After Paul Klee at the Phillips Collection: Sherwin Bitsui and Paisley Rekdal (2018)
• Natural Mystic: A Poetic Celebration of Reggae: Kwame Dawes and Safiya Sinclair (2018)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Sandra Gilbert (2017)
• Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize: Gjertrud Schnakenberg and Mike White (2017)
• Words Wanting to be Said: John Burnside and Phillis Levin (2017)
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Jane Hirshfield (2017)
• Manuel Gonzales, Yona Harvey, and Gary Jackson; We Wear the Masks: Poetry and Fiction inspired by Comic Books (2017)
• A Celebration of Pablo Neruda: Forrest Gander and Javier Zamora (2017)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Tracy K. Smith and Dr. David DeVorkin (2016)
• Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize: Eavan Boland and Austin Allen (2016)
• Begin Again: Sharon Olds (2016)
• Lineage: From the Black Arts Movement to Cave Canem: Nikki Giovanni, Haki Madhubuti, Toi Derricotte, Kyle Dargan, Gregory Pardlo, & Rachel Eliza Griffiths (2016)
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Sir Andrew Motion (2016)
• The New Sonneteers: Malachi Black, Laurie Ann Guerrero, and A. Van Jordan (2016)
• The Human Voice in Struggle: Reginald Dwyane Betts and William Archila (2016)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Linda Gregerson (2015)
• Chapter and Verse: Julianna Baggott and Laura Kasischke (2015)
• Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize: Anthony Thwaite and Jaimee Hills (2015)
• Before and After: Poets Respond to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (2015)
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Rita Dove (2015)
• Mother Tongue: Poetry in Translation: Adam Zagajewski, Clare Cavanagh, Edward Hirsch (2015)
• Human Equations at The Phillips Collection: Rae Armantrout (2015)
• Drama & Verse: Simon Armitage and Peter Oswald (2015)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Rafael Campo (2014)
• Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize: Geoffrey Brock and Heather McHugh (2014)
• Writing From the Edge: 40th Anniversary of Graywolf: Matthea Harvey, Claudia Rankine, Vijay Seshadri, Stephen Burt (2014)
• Here and Now: Stephen Dunn (2014)
• Poet Lore Celebrates 125 Years of Literary Discovery: Traci Brimhall, Cornelius Eady, Terrance Hayes, Linda Pastan (2014)
• Before & After: Poets respond to Two Gentlemen of Verona (2014)
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Carol Ann Duffy (2014)
• The Literary Legacy of Seamus Heaney (2014)
• The Voice of Women in American Poetry (2014)
• Making Your Own Map: Joy Harjo and Evie Shockley (2014)
• Made in the USA: American Masters from The Phillips Collection: Tina Chang and Maurice Manning (2014)
• Before & After: Poets respond to Richard III (2014)
• Not Just Another Day Off (2014)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Peter Gizzi (2013)
• Before & After: Poets respond to Romeo and Juliet (2013)
• Mortally Beautiful: C.K. Williams and Stanley Plumly (2013)
• Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize: Shelley Puhak
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Paul Muldoon (2013)
• All the Worlds That Are: Billy Collins (2013)
• Forrest Gander on Angels, Demons, and Savages: Pollock, Ossorio, and Dubuffet (2013)
• The Weaving of Words: B.H. Fairchild & Mary Jo Bang (2013)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Kay Ryan (2012)
• Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize: Mark Strand & Chris Andrews (2012)
• Red White and Blue: Poets on Politics: Nikky Finney & Brian Turner (2012)
• Yale Younger Series: Carl Phillips and Eduardo C. Corral (2012)
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Gary Snyder (2012)
• Dark Room Collective: Bryant, Ellis, Jackson, Keene, Smith, Strange, Trethewey, and Young (2012)
• Becoming a Woman Poet: Eavan Boland (2012)
• Yusef Komunyakaa at The Phillips Collection (2012)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Aracelis Girmay (2011)
• Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize: James Fenton and Mark Kraushaar (2011)
• A Public Poet: Robert Pinsky (2011)
• Contemporary Poetry From Ireland: Theo Dorgan and Paula Meehan (2011)
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Robert Hass (2011)
• The Quiet Rise of Joy: Naomi Shihab Nye (2011)
• Splintered Beauty: Mary Karr & Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon (2011)
• Letras Latina: Naomi Ayala, Valerie Martinez, J. Michael Martinez (2011)
• Truth Beauty at The Phillips Collection: Kevin Young (2011)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Lucia Perillo (2010)
• An Economy of Language: Vera Pavolva (2010)
• The Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize: Roseanna Warren and Matthew Ladd (2010)
• The Case for Poetry: Edward Hirsch (2010)
• Vera Pavlova (2010)
• Wendy Wall (2010)
• Natalie Merchant (2010)
• Breath and Intuition: Charles Wright (2010)
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Richard Wilbur (2010)
• Abstraction: Folger Poetry at The Phillips Collection: Jane Hirshfield (2010)
• Kim Addonizio & Kyle Dargan (2010)
• Patricia Smith & John Burnside (2010)
• A View of the World: W.S. Merwin (2010)
• Resonance: Patricia Smith and John Burnside (2010)
• Celebrating Poet Lore and Beltway Poetry Quarterly: Kim Addonizio and Kyle Dargan (2010)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Lucie Brock-Broido (2009)
• On The Creative Path: Arthur Sze and Afaa Michael Weaver (2009)
• O.B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize: Juliana Spahr (2009)
• Folger Poetry Board Meeting: Eamon Grennan (2009)
• Singing the Body: Rita Dove (2009)
• Meditations: Michael Harper and A.B. Spellman (2009)
• The Act of Memory: Claudia Emerson and Natasha Trethewey (2009)
• Beauty in Ordinary Life: Marie Howe and Bob Hicok (2009)
• Duende: Linda Pastan and Tracy K. Smith (2009)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Elizabeth Spires (2008)
• Dark Radiance: Frank Bidart and Rae Armantrout (2008)
• O.B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize: Mary Kinzie (2008)
• State of the Union: 50 Political Poems: Nick Flynn, Terrance Hayes, Eileen Myles and Edwin Torres (2008)
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Lucille Clifton (2008)
• Under a Spell: Jazz and Blues in Poetry: Quincy Troupe and Tyehimba Jess (2008)
• The Natural World: Galway Kinnell and Mark Doty (2008)
• Of Light and Darkness: Gerald Stern and Ross Gay (2008)
• The Most Mysterious Clarity: Kay Ryan (2008)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Richard Howard (2007)
• Celebrating John Ashbery (2007)
• O.B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize: David Wojahn (2007)
• Folger Poetry Board Reading: Eavan Boland (2007)
• Celebrating the Sonnet: Phillis Levin, Henri Cole and Molly Peacock (2007)
• The Art of Poetry: Derek Walcott (2007)
• On Black Male Poetics: Terrance Hayes and Frank X Walker (2007)
• Emerging Asian American Poets: Tina Chang, Srikanth Reddy and Victoria Chang (2007)
• Emily Dickinson Birthday Tribute: Carolyn Forché (2006)
• Poetry and Verse: Tess Gallagher (2006)
• O.B. Hardison Jr. Poetry Prize: David Rivard (2006)

Special poetry events at the Folger

O.B. Hardison Poetry Series partners with national and community organizations promoting poetry and language throughout the Washington region, and the country. Join us at the Haskell Center or other locations for special readings and celebrations.

Folger Poetry Board

The Folger Poetry Board is a committee of friends providing significant support to the Folger Shakespeare Library's poetry programs by organizing and sponsoring fundraising and other literary events and by hosting an annual reading by a distinguished author.

• Gigi Bradford, Chair
• Anne Harding Woodworth, Co-Chair
• Edwin P. Conquest, Jr.
• Christina Daub
• Harriet Patsy Davis
• Barbara Goldberg
• Patricia Gray
• Marifrancis Hardison
• Joseph Hassett
• Anita Herrick
• Sherman E. Katz
• Hiram Larew
• Robert C. Liotta
• Richard Lyon
• Mary P. McElveen
• Barbara Meade
• Mary Muromcew
• Jean Nordhaus
• Jacqueline Quillen
• Susan S. Rappaport
• Heddy Reid
• Edith Schafer
• Dr. Marianne Schuelein
• Amy Tercek
• David Weisman
• Mary-Sherman Willis