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Since its founding in 1934 by a visionary 23-year-old woman named Marie Bullock, The Academy of American Poets has been the country’s most spirited champion of poetry as a force of beauty, truth, and cultural upheaval, working tirelessly at everything from protecting the artist’s right to challenge the status quo to standing for social justice to inviting prominent poets into underprivileged schools. Each year since 2003, Poetry & The Creative Mind raises money for the programs of the Academy of American Poets, including National Poetry Month, which was established by the Academy in 1996 and is now the largest literary celebration in the world. The Academy of American Poets is a nonprofit organization founded in 1934 to foster appreciation for contemporary poetry and to support American poets at all stages of their careers. Meryl Streep was part of Poetry & the Creative Mind eight times since 2004, is a Honoary Co-Chair today, and has read poems from Elizabeth Bishop, Walt Whitman and Sylvia Plath, among others. Have a look at the summaries below.
21st Annual Poetry & the Creative Mind (April 30, 2024)
Participants: Miles Hardingwood, Phillipa Soo, Glenn Ligon, Emanuel Ax, J Wortham, Carrie Coon, Ricardo Maldonado, Courtney B. Vance, Rebecca Hall, Reverend Adriene Thorne, Corey Stoll, Merve Emre, Sterlin Harjo, Paul Giamatti, Tess O’Dwyer and Meryl Streep, who read “So Much Happiness” by Naomi Shihab Nye, “The Dream That I Told My Mother-in-Law” by Elizabeth Alexander and “Dark Matter and Dark Energy” by Alicia Ostriker.
You can watch Meryl’s appearance in the video archive
18th Annual Poetry & the Creative Mind (April 29, 2021)
Participants: Elizabeth Alexander, Lauren Ambrose, John Darnielle, Joy Harjo, Terrance Hayes, Regina King, Delroy Lindo, Samin Nosrat, Sandra Oh, Jason Reynolds, Meryl Streep, Sarah Sze. Meryl Streep read “Poetry” by Marianne Moore, “To a Magazine” by Mary Ruefle and “Take the I Out” by Sharon Olds.
You can watch Meryl’s appearance in the video archive
12th Annual Poetry & the Creative Mind (April 24, 2014)
Participants: Michaela Coplen, Rosie Perez, Billy Crudup, Parker Posey, Tina Fey, Esperanza Spalding, Kevin Kline, Patrick Stewart, Julianna Margulies, Meryl Streep, Drew Nieporent, Carrie Mae Weems. Meryl Streep read “The Writer” by Richard Wilbur and “Morning Song” by Sylvia Plath.
10th Annual Poetry & the Creative Mind (April 05, 2012)
Participants: Tom Brokaw, Claire Danes, John Wesley Harding, Terrence Howard, Bill Keller, Colum McCann, Dianne Reeves, Brooke Shields, and Meryl Streep. Chip Kidd served as master of ceremonies. They read work by poets including E. E. Cummings, Nikky Finney, Muriel Rukeyser, and Walt Whitman, among others. Meryl read As I Walked Out One Evening by W. H. Auden and At the Fishhouses by Elizabeth Bishop.
8th Annual Poetry & the Creative Mind (April 20, 2010)
Participants: Meryl Streep, Sting, Theodore Sorensen, Julian Schnabel, Jhumpa Lahiri, Matt Dillon, Alan Cumming, Rosanne Cash, Gabriel Byrne, and Frank Bidart. Poetry & The Creative Mind raised approximately $150,000 for the Academy and National Poetry Month activities. Meryl read The Witch of Coos by Robert Frost and A Cold Spring by Elizabeth Bishop.
6th Annual Poetry & the Creative Mind (April 1, 2008)
Participants: Candace Bushnell, Robert Caro, Graydon Carter, Katie Couric, Philippe de Montebello, Jonathan Demme, John Guare, Yusef Komunyakaa, Dianne Reeves, Liz Smith and Meryl Streep. Poetry & The Creative Mind raised approximately $175,000 for the Academy and our National Poetry Month activities. Meryl read Sunday Morning by Wallace Stevens, Miracles and A noiseless patient spider by Walt Whitman.
4th Annual Poetry & the Creative Mind (April 4, 2006)
Participants: Meryl Streep, Wynton Marsalis, Alan Alda, Wendy Whelan, Mike Wallace, Dianne Wiest, Oliver Sacks, Gloria Vanderbilt, William Wegman, and Christopher Durang. Poetry & The Creative Mind raised approximately $150,000 for the Academy and our National Poetry Month activities. Meryl read The Secret by Denise Levertov, To the Film Industry in Crisis by Frank O’Hara and The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop.
3rd Annual Poetry & the Creative Mind (April 5, 2005)
Participants: Meryl Streep, Liam Neeson, Tony Kushner, Maya Lin, Sam Waterston, Suzan-Lori Parks, Minnie Driver, Dan Rather, Agnes Gund, Frank Rich and Diane von Furstenberg. Poetry & The Creative Mind raised approximately $175,000 for the Academy and our signature program, National Poetry Month. Meryl read Theme for English B by Langston Hughes, Easter Morning” by A.R. Ammons and Sandpiper” by Elizabeth Bishop.
2nd Annual Poetry & the Creative Mind (April 6, 2004)
Participants: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Diane Sawyer, Wynton Marsalis, Mary-Louise Parker, Tony Kushner, Vanessa Redgrave, Louis Menand, Cynthia Rowley, Ted Kennedy, Samantha Power and Brice Marden. Helt at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City. Meryl Streep served as Honorary Benefit Chair, along with Co-Chairs Rose Styron, activist and Academy Board member, and Jorie Graham, former Academy Chancellor and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet.
