The Literature Department’s Monday Poets series is one of the longest-running programs for adults at the Free Library. Join us in celebrating the 30th Anniversary season of Monday Poets which runs from September to April. This year’s theme is Sankofa (SAHN-koh-fah), a Twi word from the Akan Tribe of Ghana loosely implying that to move forward, one must "go back and get it." In that spirit, we will celebrate a past Monday Poet and introduce a new one at each event. Each month from September 2024 to April 2025 a new Sankofa pair will read at a new library location. 

Former Literature Department librarians Michele Gendron and Michele Belluomini began Monday Poets in 1994 to support local published poets. Over the years local, national, and international poets have read and engaged with community members in person. During the peak of the COVID-19 emergency, the series continued online. Songs inspired by poems have been written and performed, and the Literature Department's American poetry section is full of works by past Monday Poets and local writers in their orbit. Monday Poets is an important part of the culture of our department and programming history at the Free Library.

Monday Poets exists to inspire and connect poets and community members across Philadelphia. Monday Poets 30th Anniversary Season schedule and locations are as follows:

• September 16 at 6:00 p.m. at Parkway Central Library → featuring Michele A. Belluomini and Raina J. León with Kai Davis
• October 21 at 5:30 p.m. at Lucien E. Blackwell West Philadelphia Regional Library → featuring Vernita Hall and Lindo Jones
• November 18 at 5:30 p.m. at Thomas F. Donatucci Sr. Library → featuring M. Nzadi Keita and Mabel Lee
• December 16 at 5:30 p.m. at Northeast Regional Library → featuring Jeffrey Ethan Lee and Cydney Brown
• January 27 at 4:00 p.m. at Widener Library → featuring Marissa Johnson-Valenzuela and Andrea Walls
• February 24 at 5:30 p.m. Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library → featuring Trapeta B. Mayson and 王潇/Evan Wang
• March 17 at 5:30 p.m. at Fishtown Community Library → featuring Mytili Jagannathan and Allison Whittenberg
• April 21 at 6:00 p.m. at Parkway Central Library → featuring Lawrence Dugan and Gabriel Ramirez with Kai Davis

Learn more about this Monday Poets season. Check out our Monday Poets booklist and look up your favorite poets in our online catalog.

Contact the Literature Department at 215-686-5402 or email literature@freelibrary.org for more information.