The Evergreens parlor filled with Dickinson family objects including furniture, paintings, instruments and more

Letter from Executive Director Jane Wald:
Threats to Federal Funding

I took my Power in my Hand,
And went against the World –
‘Twas not so much as David – had –
But I – was twice as bold –

Greetings from Amherst, Massachusetts.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve heard from friends of the Museum expressing concerns about recent executive orders and the threats to federal funding. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on charitable gifts from individuals, like you, as well as from private foundations and government institutions, including the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS), two federal agencies that provide critical funding to museums, libraries, and cultural organizations.

The Emily Dickinson Museum has been proud to receive substantial funding from both the NEH and IMLS over its twenty-plus years. Most recently, these grants allowed us to catalog 10,000 Dickinson family artifacts and make them publicly accessible, and to create a comprehensive interpretive plan to guide development of our public and education programs. Right now, we await news of NEH funding for research support to tell the stories of immigrants and Black Americans who worked for the Dickinson family as well as support for an intensive week-long professional development workshop for K-12 educators. Over the next two to three years, we plan to apply for up to $750,000 in NEH and IMLS grants to continue professional development programs for K-12 educators, to implement interpretive enhancements designed to enrich the final phase of our Homestead restoration, and to improve physical conditions for our large collection of Dickinson family objects.

While the final outcome of executive actions is not yet known, it certainly appears that the federal funding sources on which we’ve relied in the past for starting up new initiatives is in jeopardy. I’m writing today to assure you that the Museum’s staff, Board of Governors, and volunteers are as dedicated as ever to serving all visitors and cultural explorers, students and teachers, poetry lovers, artists, writers, and scholars – indeed, everyone who finds inspiration and empowerment in the life and poetry of Emily Dickinson. Our work, like the work of many museums, libraries, and cultural organizations, nurtures learning and resilience in our communities by offering a window into history, an appreciation for the power of creative expression, and an awareness that we are linked across generations through our shared humanity. We will hold fast to this mission.

To be sure, the Emily Dickinson Museum is more important now than ever because we steward Dickinson’s legacy and the bold originality of her “revolutionary poetic voice” – a voice that challenged conventions and upended literary norms in ways that remain resonant and deeply relevant today.

I will keep you apprised of our progress as we move forward. Please reach out if you have questions. As ever, thank you for including the Museum in your philanthropic plans. We are sustained and inspired by your support.

Jane H. Wald

Jane and Robert Keiter Family Executive Director

P.S. Your advocacy with your congressional representatives can help draw attention to the importance of continued IMLS and NEH funding. The American Alliance for Museums provides a template and tools for contacting members of Congress, congressweb.com/AAM. Please take a moment to add your voice to ours. Thank you!

K-12 Group Visits

Spark your students’ imaginations by visiting the Emily Dickinson Museum.

Plan a field trip to the place she called home in Amherst, MA by signing up for The Power of Poetry tour or This was a Poet tour — learn more below!

If you’d like to work with the Emily Dickinson Museum, but don’t see an opportunity that would fit the age or needs of your students, please reach out to us at edmprograms@emilydickinsonmuseum.org. We’d love to connect with you!

The Power of Poetry (Hands-on tour for Middle & High School students)

a student writing while sitting on the floor in Dickinson's bedroom

Discover the ways that Dickinson embraced her unique personal vision, defying societal and literary convention to pen nearly 1800 revolutionary poems. In this participatory program, led by experienced educators, students will:

Tour the Homestead to learn about the poet’s early life, inspirations, and how she forged her own definition of poetry
Explore Dickinson’s writing process through a hands-on investigation of facsimile poem manuscripts
Write an original poem, reflecting on their own lives with a Dickinson-inspired prompt

Booking Information:

Now booking for Tuesdays, March through June.
90-minute program; anticipate up to 2 hrs on site.
Maximum group size: 36 (including adults). Groups larger than 12 will be divided and tour simultaneously.
Please book three weeks in advance. Following your request, the Museum will reach out to you to confirm the details of your visit and issue an invoice for a 50% deposit to secure your reservation.

Pricing:

$10 per student, one free adult per every 12 students.
$15 additional teachers, $17 additional adult chaperones.
Groups of fewer than 10 will be charged a fee to meet a $120 minimum.
Amherst-Pelham public schools are free of charge.

RESERVE THE POWER OF POETRY

This Was a Poet (Middle & High School students)

Education school group in the Evergreens The Museum’s general audience tours are led by knowledgeable guides who introduce Dickinson’s journey as a poet, with an emphasis on sharing her poems and letters.

Booking Information:

Available Thursday mornings.
50-minute tour of the Homestead only.
Appropriate for high school students.
Please book three weeks in advance. Following your request, the Museum will reach out to you to confirm the details of your visit and issue an invoice for a 50% deposit to secure your reservation.

Pricing:

$10 per student, one free adult per every 12 students.
$15 additional teachers, $17 additional adult chaperones.
Groups of fewer than 10 will be charged a fee to meet a $120 minimum.
Amherst-Pelham public schools are free of charge.

RESERVE THIS WAS A POET

Partnership Programs for K-12

How to tailor content or teaching methods to support your group
Experiential learning activities you’d like to develop or offer in collaboration with the Museum

Dickinson's writing desk with pens, scraps of paper and her lamp

Mild Nights!
At the Emily Dickinson Museum

IN-PERSON PROGRAM

‘Mild Nights!’ at the Emily Dickinson Museum

Spend an evening in Emily Dickinson’s home, in quiet community with fellow creatives! For Dickinson, everyday life was a wellspring of poetic imagination, and evidence suggests she put pen to paper whenever and wherever that inspiration struck. Reserve a desk in one of the Homestead’s restored 19th-century spaces where the poet spent her own ‘Wild Nights!’.

On this decidedly mild night, participants can write letters, compose poetry or prose, draw, read, or contemplate for two uninterrupted hours. A tour guide welcomes the group with a brief orientation to the house, and each participant is provided with a chair and a small writing table with a desk light in their designated space.

Looking for a more private experience? Check out our Studio Sessions program.

2025 Sessions
Thursday, February 13, 5-7pm (Sold out)
Tuesday, March 18, 5-7pm (Sold out)
Tuesday, April 22, 5-7pm (Sold out)
Tuesday, May 20, 5-7pm (Sold out)
Tuesday, June 24, 5-7pm
Tuesday, July 22, 5-7pm
Tuesday, August 12, 5-7pm

Pricing: $65 per person

RESERVE YOUR SEAT

“The event itself was a complete joy. Sitting in the library of the Dickinson home and writing for two hours was a dream. I felt as though I had traveled back in time. The quiet atmosphere added to the experience. So much of life is loud, but that night was quiet.” — Beth Ann J.

Rooms

The Parlors (4 seats): A double room on the first floor with spaces for family time and entertaining. Find yourself seated near the portrait of the Dickinson children, an original Italianate marble fireplace mantel, or an 1852 square piano amid plush fabrics and cool tones once enjoyed by Amherst’s elite.

The Library (2 seats): A cozy room on the first floor where Emily Dickinson accessed the literary world through the family’s vast collection of verse and prose, news subscriptions, and academic texts. The poet’s conservatory opens into this room.

Emily Dickinson’s Bedroom (2 seats): The southwest room on the second floor where the poet spent her most private writing time. Find yourself surrounded by the rose-patterned wallpaper and personal effects, including her sleigh bed.

Northwest Bedchamber (1 seat): This second floor bedroom was a refuge for Emily Dickinson’s mother in her final years. The poet spent significant time caring for her mother in this space, which features an original wallpaper pattern and family art and furniture.

Learn more about these spaces through the Virtual Exploration.
Find out about accessibility at the Museum.

‘Mild Nights!’ are intended to be quiet experiences, but you will likely be sharing a space with other participants. Looking for a solo experience? Check out private Studio Sessions in Emily Dickinson’s bedroom.

Program Guidelines:

Registration closes two weeks prior to the event date. Each session requires a minimum of six participants to run. In the case of cancelation, ticket purchasers will be notified two weeks before their session and their ticket will be refunded or rescheduled.
Photo ID must be presented upon arrival for your session and a photocopy will be made which will be destroyed after your session.
The door to rooms in use will remain open, and staff will be present nearby at all times. Participants must remain in the designated area of the room and may not touch the historic furnishings.
Bags, food, and beverages other than bottled water must be left in the designated area of the tour center.
No pens, inks, or paints permitted. Pencil and paper or electronic device only. Other materials must be approved by special request in advance. Outlets may not be available; please arrive with your device fully charged.
Participants agree to help maintain a quiet environment for all.
Photography for non-commercial, personal use is permitted.
Refunding and rescheduling are at the discretion of the Emily Dickinson Museum. Unless a session is canceled by the Museum, ticket refunds or rescheduling are not permitted except in the case of emergency.

RESERVE YOUR SEAT

Please direct questions to EDMPrograms@emilydickinsonmuseum.org.

Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon 2024:
Reader Expectations

Marathon Readers bring the Poet’s words to life during the annual Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon!

Expectations for VIRTUAL/ONLINE Readers:

(Monday, September 23 – Friday, September 27)

Readers must plan to attend the full Marathon session. Readers are responsible for ensuring a strong wifi connection and a device capable of capturing video and audio.
During the week of the Festival, each reader will be emailed a Zoom link unique to them and their selected session. Please use this link to join the session.
Arrival time in the Zoom room is 15 minutes prior to the start of the session. At this time, readers will be assigned a number that will appear in their name box (e.g. 1: Emily Dickinson, 2: Carlo Dickinson, 3: Susan Dickinson).
During the session, readers read one poem at a time aloud in order of their assigned reader number. This round-robin reading loops continuously back to reader number 1 after the reader with the highest number has read. We will be reading from Ralph Franklin’s The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition. We will use screen share to project the poems in Zoom, so don’t worry if you do not have your own copy of Franklin. Each reader typically reads 10-20 poems in total, and reader registration is capped to ensure everyone can read several poems. It will not be possible to assign poems to readers in advance of the Marathon session.
Marathon sessions may be photographed and recorded.

Expectations for IN-PERSON Readers:

(Saturday, September 28 & Sunday, September 29)

Please arrive at the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, MA, 10 minutes prior to your reading to check in. Readers must plan to attend the full session.
During this round-robin reading, we will be reading from editor Ralph Franklin’s The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition. Because Dickinson did not title most of her poems, Franklin identifies all 1,789 poems by a number. Don’t worry if you don’t have your own copy of this book; we will provide copies for readers to use. We anticipate that each reader will read 10-20 poems in total. It will not be possible to assign poems to readers in advance of the marathon session.
This program occurs inside the heated Festival tent and employs a shared, hand-held microphone. Readers are asked to be seated when it is your turn to read, for the benefit of the live stream for listeners at home. In the case of inclement weather, you will be notified of an alternate location.
By signing up to read you agree to be filmed and livestreamed to virtual attendees through the Festival’s virtual platform.

2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival Schedule

Support The Tell It Slant Poetry Festival and Honor Someone Special:
Admission to all Festival events is free, but online donations, especially those made in honor or memory of family, friends, or colleagues are heartily encouraged and vital to the future of this beloved annual event. All gifts are tax deductible and will be recognized as part of the Festival.

Margaret Maher and The Celtification of Emily Dickinson
Sunday, Sept. 29, 11:30am ET

HYBRID PROGRAM — in-person at the Emily Dickinson Museum AND streaming live for online registrants

This program is FREE to attend. Registration is required.
Part of the 2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival!

Join us for the 12th annual Tell it Slant Poetry Festival, a week of events happening both online and in-person at the Museum! Register here to access the Festival schedule:

REGISTER FOR THE FESTIVAL

Musical performance featuring the poems of Emily Dickinson with music and lyrics by Rosemary Caine!
If the Irish can claim they saved civilization, then the Wilde Irish Women dare to claim that Margaret Maher saved Emily Dickinson’s poems. Experience the lauded musical play that reveals the unlikely story of a humble Irish maid’s influence on her reclusive mistress, Emily Dickinson.
Margaret Maher defied Emily’s deathbed decree to burn her poems. Her brave, independent thinking and courageous action came from being born in Ireland, a country where poems are respected, not burned. But there is so much more to the story…
Rosie Caine and the Wilde Irish Women explore this fascinating aspect of Emily’s life in “The Celtification of Emily Dickinson.”

Learn more about the show on Ireland’s national broadcast program Nationwide.

About the Performers

Founded by Rosemary Caine of Ardee, County Louth, Ireland, Wilde Irish Women is a collaborative performance group based in Western Massachusetts. The ensemble comprises musicians, actors and singers who have been together since the early 2000’s. Its mission is to illuminate through original music and story the lives of Irish geniuses of literature and legend — saints and sinners included! The focus is on Irish culture, as well as the forgotten women of Irish history and always delivered with Caine’s signature good humor.

The cast is a constellation of musical and acting talent from the Pioneer Valley and beyond. Wilde Irish Women is proud to be a community centric arts group and is host to some of the Pioneer Valleys great talents including famed Hollywood director Michael Haley, astronaut Cady Coleman, UMass professor Michael Morgan, gifted multi-instrumentalist and fiddle phenom Chris Devine, and a constellation of musical, theatrical and artistic stars from all walks of life.
wildeirishwomen.com/the-celtification-of-emily-dickinson

2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival Schedule

“Picnic, Lightning”:
Brevity in the Very Short Poem
Sunday, Sept. 29, 10am ET

VIRTUAL PROGRAM — streaming live for online registrants

This program is FREE to attend. Registration is required.
Part of the 2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival!

Join us for the 12th annual Tell it Slant Poetry Festival, a week of events happening both online and in-person at the Museum! Register here to access the Festival schedule:

REGISTER FOR THE FESTIVAL

SOLD OUT! — This program has reached maximum registrant capacity. We hope you’ll register for other Festival programs!

Emily Dickinson is one of the greatest masters of the short poem. In this workshop for writers at all stages in their practice, we’ll focus on the Very Short Poem, the highly pressurized lyric that casts off a resonance far bigger than its real estate.

Looking at poems by Dickinson, Ross Gay, Jane Kenyon, Bill Knott, Lorine Niedecker, and Martha Rhodes, we’ll explore how a poem can become more focused and intense with strategies of inference, implication, subordination, and exclusion. Our time together will include a generative exercise— please join us to add the VSP to your poetic toolbox!

About the Poet
PATRICK DONNELLY is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Willow Hammer (Four Way Books, 2025), and Little-Known Operas (Four Way Books, 2019). Nocturnes of the Brothel of Ruin (Four Way Books, 2012), was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Donnelly is Program Director of The Frost Place, Robert Frost’s old homestead in Franconia, NH, now a center for poetry and the arts. Donnelly’s translations with Stephen D. Miller of classical Japanese poetry were awarded the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature by Columbia University. A former Poet Laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts, Donnelly’s poems explore topics like same-sex love and desire and the AIDS epidemic with lyric strategies.

patrickdonnellypoetry.com

2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival Schedule

graphic for Late Night Garden Party - Tell It Slant 2024

Headliner Night and Garden Party
with Carl Phillips and Sebastian Merrill
Saturday, Sept. 28, 7pm ET

HYBRID PROGRAM — in-person at the Emily Dickinson Museum AND streaming live for online registrants

This program is FREE to attend. Registration is required.
Part of the 2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival!

Join us for the 12th annual Tell it Slant Poetry Festival, a week of events happening both online and in-person at the Museum! Register here to access the Festival schedule:

REGISTER FOR THE FESTIVAL

Join us in Emily Dickinson’s garden or virtually for a celebration of creativity and poetry! Our headlining poets, 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Phillips and Sebastian Merrill, read from their work and discuss their poetic practice and inspiration with moderator Kirun Kapur.

About the Poets

Carl Phillips is the author of 17 books of poetry, most recently Scattered Snows, to the North (2024) and Then the War: And Selected Poems 2007-2020, which won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize. His other honors include the 2021 Jackson Prize, the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, the Kingsley Tufts Award, a Lambda Literary Award, the PEN/USA Award for Poetry, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Library of Congress, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Academy of American Poets.
carlphillipspoet.com

Sebastian Merrill is an award winning poet and a yoga instructor. His debut collection GHOST :: SEEDS was selected by Kimiko Hahn as the winner of the 2022 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize from Texas Review Press and was named a 2024 Stonewall Honor Book – Barbara Gittings Literature Award by the American Library Association.
sebastianmerrill.com

Kirun Kapur serves as the editor of the Beloit Poetry Journal, one of nation’s oldest poetry publications and teaches at Amherst College where she is the director of the Creative Writing Program. Her newest book, Women in the Waiting Room, was a finalist for the National Poetry Series and is out now from Black Lawrence Press(2020). kirunkapur.com

2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival Schedule

“I am afraid to own a Body”:
Braving the Body
Saturday, Sept. 28, 3:30pm ET

HYBRID PROGRAM — in-person at the Emily Dickinson Museum AND streaming live for online registrants

This program is FREE to attend. Registration is required.
Part of the 2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival!

Join us for the 12th annual Tell it Slant Poetry Festival, a week of events happening both online and in-person at the Museum! Register here to access the Festival schedule:

REGISTER FOR THE FESTIVAL

Nicole Callihan, Pichchenda Bao, and Jennifer Franklin, the editors of Braving the Body (Harbor Editions, 2024) will discuss a group of Dickinson’s poems about the body and embodied experience, particularly her exploration into the often-contradictory needs between body and mind. We will also read a selection of contemporary poems by women and non-binary poets from Braving the Body who have been inspired by Dickinson’s work. We will provide prompts for a generative writing exercise inspired by Dickinson and/or the poems from the anthology. There will be time for interested participants to share their drafts and to receive feedback from the editors.

About the Poets

Jennifer Franklin published three poetry collections including If Some God Shakes Your House (Four Way 2023). In 2021, Franklin received grants from NYFA/City Artist Corps and Café Royal Cultural Foundation. Her work has been published widely including in APR, Bennington Review, The Nation, and The Paris Review. Diane Seuss chose one of Franklin’s poems for The Academy of American Poets “poem-a-day.” She teaches in Manhattanville’s MFA program and HVWC, where she serves as Program Director.
jenniferfranklinpoet.com

Pichchenda Bao is a Cambodian American writer, infant survivor of the Khmer Rouge, daughter of refugees, and feminist stay-at-home mother. Her work speaks to the interwoven nature of grief, resilience, historical and generational trauma, and the everyday. Her work has been published widely and nominated for a Pushcart and Best of the Net. Her honors include a fellowship from Kundiman, a residency from Bethany Arts, a New Works grant from Queens Council on the Arts.
pichchendabao.com

Nicole Callihan’s most recent book, This Strange Garment (Terrapin, 2023) navigates her stage II bilateral breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Her work has been published in APR, Tin House, Kenyon Review, and a Poem-a-Day feature from the Academy of American Poets. Her work has been supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Sustainable Arts Foundation. Chigger Ridge will be published by The Word Works in 2024 and SLIP will be published by Saturnalia in 2025.
https://www.nicolecallihan.com/

2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival Schedule

Poets of the Public:
New England Poet Laureates
Saturday, Sept. 28, 1pm ET

HYBRID PROGRAM — in-person at the Emily Dickinson Museum AND streaming live for online registrants

This program is FREE to attend. Registration is required.
Part of the 2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival!

Join us for the 12th annual Tell it Slant Poetry Festival, a week of events happening both online and in-person at the Museum! Register here to access the Festival schedule:

REGISTER FOR THE FESTIVAL

Just what does a Poet Laureate do? You have questions and we have answers! Two poets from New England will share their poetic work as well as discuss the programs they implemented for their own communities. They will also discuss how they became Poet Laureates, what kinds of opportunities are available through their positions, as well as what sort of pitfalls are present in navigating the role of public poet.

About the Poets
OLIVER DE LA PAZ is the author and editor of several books and serves as the Poet Laureate of Worcester, MA. His latest collection of poetry, The Diaspora Sonnets, was published by Liveright Press (2023). It was a winner of the 2023 New England Book Award and was longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award. A founding member of Kundiman, he teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and in the Low-Residency MFA Program at PLU.
oliverdelapaz.com

DIANNELY ANTIGUA is a Dominican American poet and educator, born and raised in Massachusetts. Her debut collection Ugly Music (YesYes Books, 2019) was the winner of the Pamet River Prize and a 2020 Whiting Award. Her second poetry collection Good Monster is forthcoming with Copper Canyon Press in 2024. She received her BA in English from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she won the Jack Kerouac Creative Writing Scholarship, and received her MFA at NYU, where she was awarded a Global Research Initiative Fellowship to Florence, Italy. She is the recipient of additional fellowships from CantoMundo, Community of Writers, Fine Arts Work Center Summer Program, and was a finalist for the 2021 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship. Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and chosen for The Best of the Net Anthology. Her poems can be found in Poem-a-Day, Poetry, The American Poetry Review, Washington Square Review, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. She currently teaches in the MFA Writing Program at the University of New Hampshire as the inaugural Nossrat Yassini Poet in Residence. She hosts the podcast Bread & Poetry and is currently the Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the youngest and first person of color to receive the title. In 2023, she was awarded an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship to launch The Bread & Poetry Project.
diannelyantigua.com

2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival Schedule

Open Mic Night
Friday, Sept. 27, 7pm ET

HYBRID PROGRAM — in-person at the Emily Dickinson Museum and streaming live for online registrants

This program is FREE to attend. Registration is required.
Part of the 2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival!

Join us for the 12th annual Tell it Slant Poetry Festival, a week of events happening both online and in-person at the Museum! Register here to access the Festival schedule:

REGISTER FOR THE FESTIVAL

Open mic night hosted by poets Oliver de la Paz and Diannely Antigua.
Bring your poems to Emily Dickinson’s garden! Readers will have 5 minutes each to make us feel “physically as if the top of [our] head[s] were taken off!” (Emily Dickinson to Thomas Wentworth Higginson, 16 August 1870) Featured poets Oliver de la Paz and Diannely Antigua will follow the open mic. Open mic sign-ups are handled in advance via a Google Form, and selected readers will be notified. All readers must be available to read in-person and must register for the Festival to be considered.

Sign-ups for open mic readers have now closed.

About the Poets
Oliver de la Paz is the author and editor of several books and serves as the Poet Laureate of Worcester, MA. His latest collection of poetry, The Diaspora Sonnets, was published by Liveright Press (2023). It was a winner of the 2023 New England Book Award and was longlisted for the 2023 National Book Award. A founding member of Kundiman, he teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and in the Low-Residency MFA Program at PLU.
oliverdelapaz.com

Diannely Antigua is a Dominican American poet and educator, born and raised in Massachusetts. Her debut collection Ugly Music (YesYes Books, 2019) was the winner of the Pamet River Prize and a 2020 Whiting Award. Her second poetry collection Good Monster is forthcoming with Copper Canyon Press in 2024. She hosts the podcast Bread & Poetry and is currently the Poet Laureate of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the youngest and first person of color to receive the title.

diannelyantigua.com

2024 Tell It Slant Poetry Festival Schedule