Kent State University is preparing to welcome poets, scientists and curious members of the public for three days this November, as its Wick Poetry Center hosts the first-ever Poets for Science Gathering from Nov. 12-14. U.S. Poet Laureate Arthur Sze is set to headline the event as keynote speaker, with organizers expecting up to 800 participants from around the world.
The gathering, reported by Cleveland.com, marks the 10th anniversary of the Poets for Science initiative, which was co-founded by poet Jane Hirshfield and the Wick Poetry Center in conjunction with the 2017 March for Science. According to kent.edu, the initiative is now based at Kent State's nationally distinctive Wick Poetry Center, and the university says hundreds are expected to attend the Kent Campus event.
Beyond Sze, the lineup includes former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith, marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco, and Phillip Levin, described as a nature record and earth lab director. Poet and environmental writer Camille T. Dungy, natural history writer and poet Diane Ackerman, and essayist and cultural critic Maria Popova round out the featured roster, alongside Poets for Science founder Jane Hirshfield herself, per the Wick Poetry Center’s event listing.
Readings, Panels and a Book Fair Fill Three Days
The gathering will include readings, panel discussions, workshops, performances and other events, organizers say, aiming to bring together people from professional and community backgrounds to consider what poetry and science can contribute to public conversations. Kent State’s event page describes three days of readings and panels, participatory events, formal and informal conversations, and a book fair, open to writers, scientists, researchers, educators, students, clinicians, policymakers, community organizers and members of the public.
Dozens of breakout sessions are planned, addressing environmental communication, health and humanities, education, civic imagination and public life. Organizers say the sessions will examine how scientific inquiry and creative expression can improve public understanding and strengthen community connections. One listed session, according to poetsforscience.org, will look at how a scientist approaches writing poems and how two poets approach writing about science, with an eye toward doing so carefully and imaginatively.
Another session, titled Writing at the Edge of Knowing: Poets and Scientists as Intellectual Allies, emphasizes ways to integrate multiple methods of learning and observation in order to deepen practice and sharpen storytelling, according to the session’s own page on the same site. The schedule also connects poetry and science to pressing real-world issues — one session on the agenda is titled “After Hurricane Helene and Community Hospitals Closing,” tying the gathering’s themes to environmental and health crises in Appalachia.
Why Kent State, and Why Now
David Hassler, executive director of the Wick Poetry Center, said the gathering offers a space for interdisciplinary work and shared reflection on creativity, inquiry, communication and community. Organizers hope the event will foster exchange for people interested in poetry, science, public understanding and human connection, Hassler said.
The timing lines up with the Poets for Science initiative’s 10th anniversary, and the Wick Poetry Center received $50,000 grants from both the Poetry Foundation and the Knight Foundation to support a year of national programming tied to that milestone, per kent.edu. A USA Today column published in May described the broader effort to bring scientists like Lubchenco and Levin into conversation with writers as part of merging science and the humanities, though that framing offers context rather than official event detail.
Registration Costs and Venue Details
Registration runs $275 with meals, $200 without meals, and $150 for students with meals, according to poets.org. A limited number of reduced-registration options are available for people facing cost barriers, and those interested should email [email protected].
Event materials differ on where exactly the gathering will be held: poets.org lists the venue as Kent State University’s Kent Student Center at 1075 Risman Drive in Kent, Ohio, while the Wick Poetry Center’s own event page lists Gaston Prentice House at 126 S. Lincoln Street in Kent. The gathering also includes a book fair and community programming, along with formal and informal collaboration opportunities for attendees across its three days.
