Jackson Heights Poetry Festival

The Jackson Heights Poetry Festival (JHPF) started as an idea over coffee, and quickly blossomed into the very successful 2008 festival. Its mission is to spread the joy of poetry and to promote poetry as a means of representing community identity, diversity, and individual expression. It is a dynamic group composed of poets, artists, media professionals, educators, corporate managers, and students.

In serving its mission, the JHPF promotes poetry events throughout the year, including a monthly open mic night, quarterly poetry workshops, panel discussions, an annual student poetry contest, and an annual three-day festival. The three-day festival is held in May and features workshops, panel discussions, musical performances, and poetry readings. The JHPF also maintains an active website where it features video interviews with prominent poets, a monthly interview with a featured student poet, and forums to encourage the sharing of poetry and ideas online.