Meryl Streep and Others to Champion Poetry at Lincoln Center

Actresses Meryl Streep, Meg Ryan, and Uzo Aduba; Grammy-winning jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant; best-selling author Sebastian Junger; food and travel writer Madhur Jaffrey; singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer; National Student Poet Joey Reisberg; and acclaimed poet/memoirist Elizabeth Alexander, among others, will read their favorite poems in celebration of National Poetry Month on April 19, 2017, at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

The annual event, titled Poetry & the Creative Mind, is organized by the Academy of American Poets, a nonprofit organization that is also a beneficiary of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Given the proposed cuts to arts and humanities funding, the event has added importance this year.

Poetry & the Creative Mind promotes our country's rich poetic legacy and raises critical funds for the organization's education program, which includes free lesson plans and resources for teachers on Poets.org, the world's largest publicly-funded website for poets and poetry, and a special writing project for thousands of students.

The reading begins in the Starr Theater at 6:30 p.m. A private cocktail reception will follow in the front lobby at 8:15 p.m. General Admission tickets are available through the Lincoln Center box office.

The evening is made possible in part by ABRAMS, Andrews McMeel Publishing, Papyrus, and our exclusive media partner WQXR.

Visit Poets.org for more information about Poetry & the Creative Mind and National Poetry Month.