Professor Benjamin Grossberg Participates in Dodge Poetry Festival

Professor of English Benjamin Grossberg participated in the renowned Dodge Poetry Festival held in Newark, New Jersey, in October. Founded in 1986, the festival is the largest poetry event in North America, and it has hosted the most distinguished poets from the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Grossberg took part in four sessions/performances that were held in various locations in the city, including the Newark Museum of Art. “The festival was incredible—one of the best experiences of my life as a writer,” says Grossberg. “The audiences were huge—often hundreds of people—and enthusiastic. They have a high-school day, on which the local Newark schools bring their students. The students asked questions and wanted to chat afterwards; they brought so much energy and warmth.”

One of Grossberg’s performances was a multimedia event titled "Endangered," that featured eight poets, a video presentation, lighting show, and live music. “The performance received a standing ovation,” says Grossberg. “I was only a small part of it, but it was a thrilling experience. And the poets I read with shared work that was passionate, smart, and visceral.” One of those poets was Pulitzer Prize winning writer Yusef Komunyaaka.

Two of the other sessions Grossberg participated in were poetry readings with a Q&A format where the poets read for ten minutes each, and then took questions from the audience.   

Grossberg read poems from his book Space Traveler, and from My Husband Would, his most recent book, which won last year's Connecticut Book Award. From that book, readings included Heaven, In My Forty-Seventh Year, My Daughter Would, and Catherine the Great. He also read a few new poems which are elegies for his mother, including the poem, The Wedgewood, the Watches.