Summer 2025 Conference Schedule

Date: Thursday-Sunday, June 12-15, 2025
Place: Madison Concourse Hotel, 1 W Dayton St, Madison, WI
Tel: 855-516-1090
Keynote: Ross Gay, Poet & Essayist
Theme: 75th Anniversary

Please join us as we celebrate 75 years of WFOP with three days of programming!

Exhibit

Take a stroll down State Street to the UW-Madison’s Memorial Library and check out a special exhibit organized by Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, Wisconsin Historical Society, and UW-Madison Memorial Library. You’ll find early poetry publications and manuscripts from the 19th century plus a variety of books, pamphlets, radio recordings and broadsides documenting the history of poetry and WFOP, one of the oldest continuously operating poetry organizations in the state.

Thursday, June 12

Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston Street #100, Madison. Tel. 608-556-7415.

6-8 p.m. Kick Off WFOP 2025 WFOP conference with poetry games

Friday, June 13

Madison Concourse Hotel, 1 W Dayton St, Madison, WI 53703. Tel. 855-516-1090.

6 a.m. Madison Ballroom opens for bookfair drop off and set up
10 a.m. Registration
10 a.m.-1 p.m. Bookfair, fellowship and lunch on your own
1-1:30 p.m. Emerging poets reading: Matti Powers, Chris Chambers, and Charles Edward Payne, WFOP Swanson Fellow
1:30-3 p.m. Generative workshops with emerging poets: Matti, Chris and Charles
3-3:30 p.m. Fellowship
3:30-5 p.m. Tapping the Creative Spring with Root Song Yoga
5-6:30 p.m. Fellowship, book fair and dinner on your own
6:30-7 p.m. Reception: Appetizers and cash bar
7-8 p.m. Reading with Wisconsin Poet Laureate Brenda Cardenas, Madison Poet Laureate Steven Espada Dawson, and Madison Youth Poet
8 p.m. Open Mic
Readers, please include a content warning for potentially triggering material. A content warning is brief, specific, and provides listeners with notice that content might be upsetting, e.g. “This poem contains references to child abuse.”

Saturday, June 14

Madison Concourse Hotel, 1 W Dayton St, Madison, WI 53703. Tel. 855-516-1090. Unless otherwise indicated.

8-9 a.m. Breakfast and business meeting
9-9:30 a.m. Fellowship and get to your next activity
9:30-10:30 a.m. Up Your Poetry Game! TWO CHOICES:
- Poets’ pickup basketball game: Get your morning moving by joining a poets pickup basketball game or cheer on your favorite poets (including Ross Gay!) LOCATION: Madison’s East High School, 2222 East Washington Ave, Madison WI 53704
  Turn onto 4th St then into the parking lot. Look for signs to direct you!
- Publishing panel: Cornerstone Press, Bent Paddle Press, Little Creek Press and various Poetry Magazines moderated by Amanda Reavey, WFOP Co-vice president
10:30-11 a.m. Fellowship
11 a.m.-12 p.m. Community Reading
- Recognition of first-time attendees followed by their roll call poems, no longer than 24-28 lines
  Please include a content warning for potential triggering material.
- Community poem shared by Kathleen Serley and Nancy Austin
- WFOP Brain Mill Chapbook Contest winners with Katrina Serwe and Wendy Vardaman
12-1:30 p.m. Lunch and awards presentation for chapbook, Muse, Kay Saunders and Swanson Fellowship,
celebrating WFOP & 75 Years of Fellowship: history and recognition of important WFOP people including past presidents
1:30-2 p.m. Fellowship
2-3:30 p.m. HEADLINER WORKSHOP: Write with Ross Gay
In this workshop, poet and essayist Ross Gay will lead participants through as many writing exercises as possible in 90 minutes. Gay’s books will be sold by Madison’s A Room of One’s Own bookstore.
3:30-5:30 p.m. Up Your Poetry Game: Explore three workshop stations in this quick-change round of learning. Each workshop will last about 30 minutes and will feature Jenna Cornell, Arsenio Sorrel, and Jeannie Roberts. Here are the workshop titles:
- Get Published! How to Fulfill Editors’ Wish Lists
- Get Social! How to Build Your Social Media Platform
- Get Loud! How to Improve Your Poetry Readings
5-6 p.m. Lightning round of author portraits
Break
6-10 p.m. Diamond Anniversary Gala
6-7 p.m. Dinner
7-8 p.m. HEADLINER READING with Ross Gay. Notes from the Garden: A Reading of Essays and Poems
8-10 p.m. Music, dancing and revelry featuring DB Octet-The DB Orchestra, selfie station and silent auction