International Poetry Forum Presents: A 60th Anniversary Celebration with Joel Dias-Porter and Jake Grefenstette

The International Poetry Forum is celebrating its 60th anniversary at Alphabet City on Sunday, November 15, with a reading and a look back at its history. The afternoon features Joel Dias-Porter, who'll read original poetry, and Jake Grefenstette, the Forum's president and executive director, sharing stories from the organization's six decades in the city.

To get why the anniversary matters, it helps to know what the Forum is. It's a local, independent nonprofit dedicated to spoken poetry and poetry education, founded by Dr. Samuel Hazo in 1966. Over nearly sixty years, it's hosted hundreds of the world's most celebrated poets and performers—names like Seamus Heaney, Gwendolyn Brooks, Mary Oliver, James Earl Jones, and Grace Kelly. This celebration marks the organization's 60th year.

Dias-Porter, who goes by DJ Renegade, was born and raised in Pittsburgh and was the Haiku Slam Champion in 1998 and 1999. His work has appeared in POETRY, Best American Poetry 2014, Callaloo, Asahi Shimbun, and Ploughshares, as well as in anthologies like Def Poetry Jam and Poetry Nation. He's also a Cave Canem Fellow and was named a 1995 Furious Flower 'Emerging Poet.'

Grefenstette, the Forum's president and executive director, studied at the University of Notre Dame, the University of Oxford, and Peking University before earning a PhD from the University of Cambridge; he now teaches English and philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University. The event runs from 3 PM to 4 PM at Alphabet City, 40 W. North Avenue, and admission is free.