Cave Canem

05/28/2026

In loving memory of Dr. Rachel Elizabeth Harding—writer, historian, and poet. Rachel was an inaugural Cave Canem Fellow, attending the Retreat in 1996, ‘97, and ‘98. An initiated priestess of Candomblé, Harding contributed greatly to the knowledge expansion of Black religious studies. May the orixás guide her on the other side 🖤

She is remembered by her family and loving community.

05/22/2026

Join us in-person on Tuesday, May 26, for a restorative reading featuring poet and educator Brian Francis as he presents poets from our New York Regional Workshop, "Digging in the Crates: Creating Space for Revelry and Repair."

Poets will share works across genres that consider how realities of personal challenge and injustice enter their interior lives and can ultimately reflect beauty and gratitude around and within their artistic practice. Centering care and curiosity, these poets will create room for risk, invention, revelry, repair, and for poems that bend memory and narrative toward possibility.

RSVP at https://bit.ly/cc-digging-in-the-crates

📷 J Dilla and Madlib crate digging in Brazil, 2005. Image courtesy of B+

Join poet and educator Brian Francis as he presents poets from our New York Regional Workshop, "Digging in the Crates."

05/20/2026

Spots still available 📢

Join us tonight for an engaging virtual reading featuring poet, essayist, and scholar M. Nzadi Keita as she presents poets from our Camden Regional Workshop, "We Still Here: Present-Moment Quilt Poems / Quilt, Spell, Incantation." Holding the artistry of Gee’s Bend quilt makers, Faith Ringgold, and Bernice Reagon in mind, poets will share works that consider quilts, spells, and incantations as emblems of some singular moments.

RSVP virtually at: https://bit.ly/cc-spring-we-still-here

📷 Vermelle “Bunny” Smith Rodrigues with the Gullah Ooman Story Quilt in the background. Photo courtesy of the Gullah Museum of Georgetown.

05/15/2026

Join us for an restorative reading featuring poet and educator Brian Francis as he presents poets from our New York Regional Workshop, "Digging in the Crates: Creating Space for Revelry and Repair." Poets will share works across genres that consider how realities of personal challenge and injustice enter their interior lives and can ultimately reflect beauty and gratitude around and within their artistic practice. Centering care and curiosity, these poets will create room for risk, invention, revelry, repair, and for poems that bend memory and narrative toward possibility.

RSVP at https://bit.ly/cc-digging-in-the-crates

📽️ D'Angelo at Electric Lady Studios recording "Devil's Pie" for his album, "Voodoo," 1998.

05/13/2026

Join us for an engaging virtual reading featuring poet, essayist, and scholar M. Nzadi Keita as she presents poets from our Camden Regional Workshop, "We Still Here: Present-Moment Quilt Poems / Quilt, Spell, Incantation." Holding the artistry of Gee’s Bend quilt makers, Faith Ringgold, and Bernice Reagon in mind, poets will share works that consider quilts, spells, and incantations as emblems of some singular moments.

RSVP virtually at https://bit.ly/cc-we-still-here

📽️ Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers sing "Adam in the Garden," during a ring shout. Filmed by Bess Lomax Hawes.

04/30/2026

Reminder that submissions close today at 11:59 PM ET!

Don't hold on to your manuscripts for too long! Submissions for the 2027 Cave Canem Prize, judged by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jericho Brown, close in two weeks.

The Cave Canem Prize supports the work of Black poets to overcome the obstacle of publishing their first book of poems. Awarded annually to one poet, the 2027 Prize recipient will receive $10,000, a featured reading, and publication of their manuscript by the University of Pittsburgh Press.

Submissions close April 30 at 11:59 PM ET. Visit https://cavecanempoets.org/programs/ to learn more and submit.

📷 2021 Cave Canem Prize Winner Courtney Faye Taylor and prize-winning poet Aracelis Girmay at The Schomburg for the annual Cave Canem Prize Reading, in November 2022. Photograph by Nicholas Nichols for Cave Canem.

04/21/2026

We are excited to announce that poet Chaun Ballard is the winner of the 2026 Derricotte/Eady Prize! His collection, Love Letters to My Future Self, was selected by judge and Cave Canem Fellow, giovanni singleton.

In celebration of Ballard’s prize-winning collection and National Poetry Month, join us tonight for a reading at The Betsy Hotel on South Beach. The reading will feature prize winner, Chaun Ballard; judge, giovanni singleton; and Cave Canem Fellow, Lo**ta Stewart-White.

This event is hosted in partnership with O, Miami and The Betsy Hotel. RSVP is free and open to the public. Head to the link in our bio 🔗 for more information.

04/18/2026

Over the next two weekends, join Cave Canem’s Artistic Director Dante Micheaux for an engaging workshop, “Making Wisdom: a poetry workshop for elders.”

In “I Give In To An Old Desire”, poet Toi Derricotte, writes “I lost so much / of the world’s beauty”. How can those in our society with the most life experience, our elders, help ensure that this does not happen, that the world’s beauty is preserved? The objective of this workshop is for each participant to complete a single poem that instills an aspect of their life or a lesson learned that they do not want to be forgotten. Participants will read the late work of poets—including Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou, Derek Walcott and Jay Wright—to explore their strategies for capturing in poems what their observation finds most useful to commit to cultural memory. For more details, eligibility, and guidelines, email [email protected].

April 25, April 26, May 2 and May 3
1-4 PM ET
234 Goldwin Smith Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York, 14850

“Making Wisdom: a poetry workshop for elders” is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

This activity is made possible by a grant provided by the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies in partnership with E.A. Michelson Philanthropy.