Arcadia Student-Writers Head to North America’s Largest Poetry Festival

A group of Creative Writing and English majors spent their Saturday immersed in poetry thanks to a field trip to the 2026 Dodge Poetry festival in Newark, N.J. Tracey Levine, associate professor and director of the Creative Writing major, took nine students to the biennial event on Oct. 17, billed as the largest poetry festival in North America.

Roo Ahmad, Laurel Bailey, Pup Graham-Byrd, Micah Grundy, Rye (Mia) Hayden, Leon Hendershot, River Reid, Ali Whitlock, and Meg Wolfe had the opportunity to read, write, and listen to poetry in the company of poets and spoken word artists from across the nation, joining together to focus on poetry as a performing art and as a tool for social justice advocacy.

Whitlock, a Creative Writing major with an Education minor, reflected on the day:

"Attending the Dodge Poetry Festival this past Saturday was such an amazing experience that allowed me to share my love of poetry with the Arcadia community and beyond. I enjoyed the Festival because it provided me the opportunity to engage with my passion of writing in a lively environment that reminded me of just how much poetry is an important part of my life. As a Creative Writing major and an Education minor, I was able to truly appreciate how much poetry impacts lives whether that is in the classroom or outside of it.

"The most memorable part of my experience was hearing the poet Elizabeth Acevedo read some of her work since she was an author who I have read previously and feel a connection to. I learned about Acevedo's poems and another writer, Naomi Shihab Nye, in my First Year Seminar Course at Arcadia, so when I found out these two poets were there, I was thrilled. Getting to see them read their works in-person made me appreciate their work even more, and my course was the reason I heard about these brilliant poets in the first place. Overall, the day was filled with lots of moving poetry, and I was so thankful the English Department made this dream of a trip a reality for me!"