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West Chester University Poetry Conference

West Chester University Poetry Conference
Genre Formalist poetic craft conference
Frequency Annual
Location(s) West Chester University,
West Chester, PA 19383,
United States
Inaugurated June 1995, West Chester, PA
Most recent Tuesday, June 6–10, 2017
Next event Tuesday, June 5–9, 2018
Participants 300 poets and poetry scholars
Website
WCU Poetry Conference


Program Director
R. S. Gwynn

Associate Director
Ann Mascherino

Founders
Michael Peich

Dana Gioia


Program Director
R. S. Gwynn

Associate Director
Ann Mascherino

Founders
Michael Peich

The West Chester University Poetry Conference is an international poetry conference that has been held annually since 1995 at West Chester University, Pennsylvania, United States. It hosts various panel discussions and poetry craft workshops, which focus primarily on formal poetry, narrative poetry, New Formalism and Expansive Poetry. It is the largest poetry-only conference in America and possibly the world as well as the only conference which focuses on traditional craft.

The conference was founded in 1995 by West Chester professor Michael Peich and poet Dana Gioia with 85 poets and scholars in attendance. The original core faculty members included Annie Finch, R. S. Gwynn, Mark Jarman, Robert McDowell, and Timothy Steele. While some of these faculty still return regularly to teach, the faculty has expanded in recent years to include Kim Addonizio, Rhina Espaillat, B. H. Fairchild, Rachel Hadas, Molly Peacock, Mary Jo Salter, A. E. Stallings, and many other widely published New Formalists.

Starting in 1999, the conference's program began including an art song concert.

In 2003, Gioia stepped down as co-director of the conference in order to become chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.


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