BELFAST — The Belfast Poetry Festival seeks poets and writers, artists, performers, and workshop facilitators to join this year’s program, which celebrates the Festival’s 20 year. Events geared for families, teens, young adults, and marginalized community members are especially encouraged.

Those interested in submitting proposals are invited to share their ideas, along with any relevant work (published or otherwise), website links, and video, audio, or digital images. If the idea has specific technical, space, or equipment requirements, these should be included as well.

Proposals are due by May 20, 2025 and can be sent to belfastpoetryfestival@gmail.com. Details about the call for proposals are available at belfastpoetryfestival.com/participate. 

The Belfast Poetry Festival was founded 2004 by Annaliese Jakimides and Troy Casa and a visionary steering committee hoping to seed a great community arts event in Belfast. The event has been run by the Belfast Poet Laureate (appointed by the Belfast City Council) and a steering committee of volunteers each October since then, and is one of the few community-based, non-academic literary festivals in the country.

All events are free or low cost to the public. This year’s festival takes place October 16-19, with events in various venues in downtown Belfast. This year’s keynote speaker is nationally recognized poet Ellen Bass; Stockton Springs-based artist and muralist Peter Walls is this year’s official festival artist. For more information, visit www.belfastpoetryfestival.com.