“The perfect venue for literary engagement, for becoming a believer in the magic and power of the word.”
— Junot Diaz
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Founded in 1939, the Unterberg Poetry Center is widely recognized as the nation’s premier presenter of literary programming, celebrating the voice of literature with an unrivaled dedication to writers and readers. The Poetry Center’s famed Reading Series features writers in every genre (poetry, fiction, nonfiction and drama), as well as dramatic productions and celebrations of classic literature. Our Writing Program offers a wide range of courses, from literary seminars and lectures to writing workshops and tutorials, designed to provide writers the opportunity to receive detailed instruction from an experienced teacher who is also a practicing author.
In our Books & Bagels series, leading biographers, critics, translators and editors discuss their latest work, and in our Children’s Reading Series, kids of all ages come together to meet the artists behind their favorite children’s books.
Over the years, the Poetry Center has developed two community outreach programs—the Schools Project, which connects public high-school students and writers appearing in the Reading Series; and “Writing Through Reading,” a collaboration with nearby Union Settlement Association that does the same with adult-literacy students.
Our annual "Discovery"/Boston Review poetry contest promotes the new voices of poetry, with the winners earning publication in Boston Review and a reading from 92Y’s legendary stage; and our Virtual Poetry Center provides literature lovers from around the world direct access to archival recordings of some of the great literary moments which the Poetry Center has presented across the decades.
Poetry Center Patrons Program
Patrons enable the Unterberg Poetry Center to continue its ambitious calendar of extraordinary events. Help support America's most beloved literary forum. Learn more
Young Literary Salon
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For more information about the Poetry Center, call 212.415.5760 / email
Time Out New York magazine is a media partner of the Unterberg Poetry Center.
Thanks to a generous gift from the Greenwood Family, the Poetry Center is named in honor of Bella Unterberg, one of 92nd Street Y's founders.
The Unterberg Poetry Center is supported, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art; and by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.
Generous support has also been provided by Eva Colin Usdan and John Usdan; the Kaplen Foundation in honor of Eva Colin Usdan; Joan L. and Dr. Julius H. Jacobson II; The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation; The Hite Foundation; John E. Greenwood; Random House, Inc.; the Rose M. Badgeley Residuary Charitable Trust; the Louise Bogan Charitable Trust; the Axe-Houghton Foundation; Daniel and Edith Ehrlich; The Bydale Foundation; The David Geffen Foundation; The Jaffe Family Foundation; W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.; Joan Blaine; Frances E. and Frederic S. Nathan; Ruth Schlesinger; Donna Regenstreif; Professor and Mrs. Robert Kavesh; and Poets & Writers, Inc. among others, particularly our season Patrons Program members.
The Poetry Center's digital archive and webcasts are made possible in part by the generous support of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.
Subsidized tickets for students, seniors and other audience members are made possible through generous grants from the Dorothy and Sidney Singer Fund; the Doris U. Powell Memorial Fund; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Major support for the Poetry Center Schools Project has been provided by the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development and the New York City Council; Time Warner Cable, in partnership with Ovation; Bezos Family Foundation; The Leir Charitable Foundations in memory of Henry J. and Erna D. Leir; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.
Generous support is also provided by The Hearst Foundations; The Edmond de Rothschild Foundation; the Moses L. Parshelsky Foundation; Alan and Katherine Stroock Fund; and Banu and Moris Roso.
