Cave Canem’s week-long retreat will be held at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, Pennsylvania, June 9 – June 15, 2019. This year’s world-class faculty includes poets Cornelius Eady, Ruth Ellen Kocher, Dawn Lundy Martin and Willie Perdomo, with visiting poet Matthew Shenoda.

The Cave Canem Retreat offers an unparalleled opportunity to study with established poets and join a community of peers. Some fellows hail from the spoken word tradition, others focus on the text. Some are formalists, others work at the cutting edge of experimentation. All are united by a common purpose to improve their craft and find, in the words of Harryette Mullen, a productive space “where black poets, individually and collectively, can inspire and be inspired by others, relieved of any obligation to explain or defend their blackness.”

Black poets of African descent, ages 21 and over, are eligible to apply. Once accepted, poets become “fellows.” Most are invited to attend two additional retreats within a five-year period. To learn more, visit our Retreat page. Applications are open via Submittable until December, 21, 2018 at 11:59 PM.