At the Blackbird Poetry Festival, so named after Wallace Steven’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” HoCoPoLitSo partners with Howard Community College (HCC) to bring poetry to the students and residents of Howard County in a day-long celebration of verse held in recognition of National Poetry Month on the college campus. Since 2009, the program has brought many notable and exciting poets to Howard County, including Billy Collins, Taylor Mali, Noah Arhm Choi, Nate Marshall, and Denice Frohman. The festival features writing workshops, an afternoon reading dubbed Sunbird, and concludes at the evening reading, Nightbird.

HoCoPoLitSo’s Eighteenth Annual Blackbird Poetry Festival

Thursday, April 23rd, 2026

Sarah Kay headlines this year’s Blackbird Poetry Festival to be held on April 23rd, 2026, on the campus of Howard Community College (HCC). Now in its 18th consecutive year, the festival is a day devoted to verse, presented in partnership between HoCoPoLitSo and HCC’s Departments of Student Life and Humanities/World Languages, including a writing workshop, multiple readings, HCC’s poetry patrol, a recording session of HoCoPoLitSo’s writer-to-writer talk show The Writing Life, appearances from the Howard County Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Laureate, and much more.

This year, all event segments will be held in the Kittleman Room of Duncan Hall (DH-100), starting off with the 11 a.m. Morning Songs Writing Workshop, hosted by Howard County’s inaugural Poet Laureate, Truth Thomas, on the Skinny— the dynamic poetic form which he created and is now taught worldwide. The 2 p.m. Sunbird Reading features readings from special guest Sarah Kay and Howard County Youth Poet Laureate Penelope Tofigh, followed by a poetry open mic for local authors of all ages. Attendance to the daytime events is free and open to the public, while seating lasts; current HCC students and faculty may find registration links for credits on the college event page.

Finally, the festival culminates its daylong celebration of poetry with the Nightbird Reading at 7 p.m., again in the Kittleman Room. Nightbird will feature Sarah Kay, introduced by poet Teri Ellen Cross Davis following their conversation on the set of HoCoPoLitSo’s The Writing Life, with a reception, book sale and signing to follow the readings. General admission to Nightbird is available NOW while seating lasts for $25 per person, with discounted rates available for educators and students. For questions or issues purchasing tickets, to request accommodations, or to discuss attendance by a larger group, please contact HoCoPoLitSo via e-mail to info@hocopolitso.org, or by phone call to (443) 518-4568.

Festival Events

Poetry Police : 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., campus-wide

To celebrate National Poem in Your Pocket Day, HCC seeks volunteers for the Poetry Police Force. Poetry Police will roam the halls and outdoor spaces distributing rewards and (poetry) citations to encourage reading and sharing of poetry. Poetry Police receive an official festival t-shirt. To volunteer for a shift or for more information, contact our Poetry Police Captain Rick Leith at rleith@howardcc.edu.

Morning Songs Workshop : 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m., Kittleman Room in Duncan Hall, Room DH-100

Join Howard County’s inaugural Poet Laureate, Truth Thomas, at a Skinny Poetry Workshop for an inspiring late-morning writing session on the HCC campus. In this special workshop, Thomas will teach the Skinny— the dynamic poetic form he created that has gained international popularity and is now taught in classrooms including Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Whether you’re a seasoned poet or just beginning, this engaging, hands-on workshop will guide you through the music, precision, and expressive power of the Skinny form. Participants will leave with new drafts, fresh techniques, and renewed creative energy. Don’t miss this opportunity to write, learn, and create with one of the region’s leading literary voices. To learn more about the formal rules of this fixed poetry form, go to The Skinny Poetry Journal; for more information on the festival session, contact Tara Hart or Brian Martin.

Sunbird Reading : 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., Kittleman Room in Duncan Hall, Room DH-100

Sunbird features readings from festival special guest Sarah Kay and Howard County Youth Poet Laureate Penelope Tofigh, followed by another passionate open mic welcoming students, faculty, staff, and community members for the afternoon of poetry which then-Provost Dr. Shantay Grays last year called “one of the premier events at the college.” For more information, contact Tara Hart or Brian Martin.

Nightbird Reading : 7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., Kittleman Room in Duncan Hall, Room DH-100

Nightbird culminates the daylong celebration of poetry, featuring festival special guest Sarah Kay, introduced by poet Teri Ellen Cross Davis following their conversation on the set of HoCoPoLitSo’s The Writing Life. A reception with book sales and signing will follow the readings. General admission to Nightbird is available NOW while seating lasts for $25 per person, with discounted rates available for educators and students. For questions or issues purchasing tickets, to request accomodations, or to discuss attendance by a larger group, please contact HoCoPoLitSo via e-mail to info@hocopolitso.org, or by phone call to (443) 518-4568.

Festival Poet — Sarah Kay

SARAH KAY is a writer, performer, and educator from New York City who has been performing her poetry since she was fourteen years old. She has performed on Broadway, at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the United Nations, the Sundance Festival, and many other venues of note, but has also shared her poetry in cornfields in Iowa, the Royal Danish Theater in Denmark, a public square in Estonia, the back rooms of dive bars, middle school gymnasiums, and many places in between. Sarah holds a Master’s Degree in the Art of Teaching from Brown University and an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Grinnell College. She is the author of five books of poetry: B, No Matter the Wreckage, The Type, All Our Wild Wonder, and her newest collection A Little Daylight Left. Sarah is the founder and co-director of Project VOICE, an organization that uses spoken word poetry to entertain, educate, and empower students and communities worldwide. For more, see www.kaysarahsera.com.

Festival Host — Teri Ellen Cross Davis

TERI ELLEN CROSS DAVIS is the author of a more perfect Union, winner of the 2019 Journal/Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize, and of Haint, winner of the 2017 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. In 2022 she was one of two state-wide winners of a Maryland State Arts Council Independent Artist Award, and the 2020 winner of the Poetry Society of America’s Robert H. Winner Memorial Award. A Cave Canem fellow, she has been awarded numerous scholarships, residences, and fellowships, including the Community of Writers Workshop, and her work has been featured in many anthologies and journals including Academy of American Poets. Davis served as HoCoPoLitSo’s Bauder Writer-in-Residence for the 2019–2020 academic year. Learn more at www.poetsandparents.com/teri.

Master Workshop Facilitator — Truth Thomas

TRUTH THOMAS is a singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and raised in Washington, DC. He previously recorded as Glenn Edward Thomas for Capitol Records. He is the founder of Cherry Castle Publishing and studied creative writing at Howard University under Dr. Tony Medina. Thomas earned his MFA in poetry from New England College. His poetry collections include Party of Black, A Day of Presence, Bottle of Life, and Speak Water, which won the 2013 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry. He is also the author of the children’s book My TV Is Not the Boss of Me by Cory Thomas. A 2025 Outstanding Artist Howie Award recipient, Thomas has served as HoCoPoLitSo’s 2007–2008 Bauder Writer-in-Residence and is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Howard County, Maryland. His poems have appeared in more than 150 publications, including The 100 Best African American Poems (Ed. Nikki Giovanni) and This Is the Honey (Ed. Kwame Alexander). Thomas is the creator of the Skinny poetry form and serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Skinny Poetry Journal. Find more at www.truththomas.me.

Guest Poet — Penelope Tofigh

PENELOPE TOFIGH is the 2026–2027 Howard County Youth Poet Laureate, an honorary role appointed by the County Executive, serving to amplify the power of youth expression, celebrate community, and promote literary arts in Howard County. A junior at River Hill High School, Tofigh is an avid writer and an active member in the school’s theater program, wind ensemble, jazz band, and marching band. As a poet, Tofigh has excelled in the 2025 Poetry Out Loud competition— earning first place at River Hill, then going on to become Maryland’s State Winner, and ultimately a National Semi-Finalist.

Howard County Poetry and Literature Society— HoCoPoLitSo— this past year proudly celebrated its 50th anniversary of bringing poets and writers— including several dozen Nobel, Pulitzer, and National Book Award winners—to adult and student audiences. The society sponsors numerous literary readings throughout the year; administers the Bauder Writer-in-Residence program providing for a current working author to visit Howard County students in their classrooms; produces The Writing Life talk show, now seen by more than a million viewers; and partners with many other cultural arts organizations to support the arts in Howard County, Maryland, and beyond. More information is available here at hocopolitso.org, and the tax-deductible gifts of individual donors are always welcomed, and crucial to sustaining another 50 years to come.

Festival History

• April 24, 2025 — Denice Frohman
• April 25, 2024 — Nate Marshall
• April 27, 2023 — Noah Arhm Choi
• April 28, 2022 — Molly McCully Brown
• April 29, 2021 — Ilya Kaminski
• April 23, 2020 — Pandemic Cancellation
• April 25, 2019 — Beth Ann Fennelly
• April 26, 2018 — Marylin Chin
• April 27, 2017 — Tyehimba Jess
• April 28, 2016 — Marie Howe
• April 23, 2015 — Taylor Mali, Chris August, and Steve Mandes
• April 24, 2014 — Billy Collins
• April 23, 2013 — Rives, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Kendra Kopelke and Rocket Sled
• April 26, 2012 — Michael Cirelli, Kim Addonizio, and Mother Ruckus
• April 28, 2011 — Lyubomir Nikolov, Sue Ellen Thompson, Gayle Danley and Martín Espada
• April 2010 — A Tribute to Lucille Clifton with Kendra Kopelke
• April 2009 — Patricia Van Amburg and Steve Mandes

HoCoPoLitSo is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (FEIN 52-1146948) registered in the state of Maryland, donations to which are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. A copy of our current financial statement is available upon request. Documents and information submitted to the State of Maryland under the Maryland Charitable Solicitations Act are available from the Office of the Secretary of State for the cost of fees and postage.

HoCoPoLitSo is supported in part by funds gratefully received from the Maryland State and Howard County Arts Councils; Howard County Government; Community Foundation of Howard County; Dr. Lillian Bauder; and from numerous other, generous individual and corporate contributors. Event proceeds support the live and recorded literary programs offered by HoCoPoLitSo for student and general audiences. The Howard County Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Laureate programs are administered in partnership between HoCoPoLitSo, Howard County Arts Council, and the Office of the Howard County Executive. The artistic contents and opinions expressed at HoCoPoLitSo events do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of HoCoPoLitSo’s grantors, donors, or individual Board or staff members.