Why Lowell and the Merrimack Valley?
“Why has no one thought of doing this in Massachusetts before?… The closest thing to it that I can think of is the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival…” — David Mehegan, Boston Globe
For the past 30 years, Lowell has been in the forefront of the “creative economy” movement in Massachusetts. The city’s cultural heritage and contemporary cultural resources are the foundation of a distinctive urban redevelopment strategy whose success is recognized worldwide. The Greater Merrimack Valley gave our country profoundly influential poets, including Anne Bradstreet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Greenleaf Whittier, Robert Frost, and Jack Kerouac. The City of Lowell welcomes you, and is proud to host an event that will bring regional, national, and international attention to the poetry community in the Commonwealth.








