The New Orleans Poetry Festival began in 2016 as a small local gathering of poets. It has since advanced into an annual international hub for experimental poetics geared by and for the working class.

For the past eleven years, in the course of a single weekend in April, NOPF hosts nearly 100 poetry events in the forms of readings, panels, and workshops in the Bywater-Marigny neighborhood. The New Orleans Healing Center and Café Istanbul serve as the festival’s locus, with events spilling out into nearby dive bars such as St. Roch Tavern, Siberia, AllWays Lounge, Saturn Bar, and Kajun’s. Attendees frequently compliment the walkable, easy-going nature of the fest—juxtaposed with those intense, passionate conversations on all manners of poetics. In recent years, there has also been an explosive ecosystem of offsite readings that spread the these poetic tendrils even further.

Additionally, all weekend NOPF hosts a small press fair with over 60 publishers and organizations putting out and making some of the finest work today. This includes a “happy hour” where you buy a book and get a drink! What a dreamboat! Paddle our way!

We hope you’ll join us this coming April 15-18, 2027 for the 12th annual NOPF. Submit your proposals starting on September 15. Any and all questions can be directed to info@neworleanspoetryfestival.org.