proposal guidelines and submission form

NOPF hosts over 90 poetry readings, panels, and workshops each year. Selections are made by the board via a ranked voting system from our submission pool. To increase the chances of your proposal’s acceptance, please consider the following:

Two-event limit: Proposal submissions are capped at two per lead submitter. All participants within the festival are limited to appearing on no more than two events (with the exception of opening night, international, and headliner poets). If you are accepted on more than two events, NOPF will ask that you drop out from whichever event has the most participants on it.

Confirm participants: The minimum number of participants for readings or panels is four, while workshops need only one (though more are welcome in any category). When you submit a proposal, you are confirming that each participant listed will be in attendance.

In-person only: We require all proposals to be oriented for face-to-face exchange. We unfortunately cannot accept any proposals that include online components, including video conferences.

You will be notified of the outcome of your proposal’s status on December 15, 2026.

Poets pack into Saturn Bar for the opening night reading, 2026

Opens September 15, 2026

With the exception of the nightly featured readings beginning Thursday, all other NOPF events take place from April 16-18, 2027 (Friday to Sunday) from the hours of 10 AM to 5 PM. They are 50 minutes each and take place in and around the New Orleans Healing Center. Do not include third-person bios—that’s what the “representative website” portion is for.

All proposals are reviewed independently by each board member and then deliberated upon as a group. We consider it a privilege to be able to review so many brilliant thinkers in this way, including those we must turn down due to the constraints of being a small festival. Best of luck and thank you for the time and energy spent applying.