We loved celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and our current and past Kingsley & Kate Tufts award winners, with you! To all who joined us in person and in spirit: thank you for making our anniversary events a success! More behind-the-scenes details coming soon, and for now, we’re happy to share:

• The Wednesday 4/19 Judges’ reading, featuring Don Share, Elena Karina Byrne, and Brian Kim Stefans, displayed the amazing diversity of writing by our own awards judges. Plus, we enjoyed a casual outdoor dinner where the visiting poets got to hobnob with each other, alongside some Claremont locals.

• Thursday 4/20 was our 2017 Awards Ceremony and Poetry reading, celebrating 2017 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award winner Vievee Francis and 2017 Kate Tufts Discovery Award winner Phillip B. Williams. We took charter buses from Claremont to downtown Los Angeles for the ceremony at the Los Angeles Public library. You can see some informal pictures on our Facebook page, and hop over to the ALOUD site to listen in.

• On Friday, 4/21, some of our Kingsley & Kate Tufts Award-winning poets joined us in the Tufts office on campus for some casual interviews (here’s the first one, featuring Vievee Francis. It’s so great.). That afternoon, past and current winners participated in a Poetry Marathon in Honnold Library. What a wonderful opportunity to hear so many different poets read! Listeners heard current work from past winners, taking in the wide range of poets who have been honored by the Kingsley & Kate Tufts Poetry Awards.