Live Literary Events
The third annual Flower City Poetry Festival is a three-night, open-air celebration of New York State’s poetic and musical talent.
Bring a blanket or lawn chair and settle into the Highland Park Bowl, Rochester’s stunning outdoor amphitheater, for evenings of nationally renowned writers, beloved regional poets, and powerhouse local musicians.
Stay after each performance to meet the artists and have books signed.
ASL interpreted | Mobility-friendly.
June 10–12, 2026
Highland Bowl, Highland Park — Rochester, NY
Gift Economy Tickets | Pay What You Can ($0–$50)
2026
A writer, performer, filmmaker, interdisciplinary artist, and the author of Nerve Chorus (2018) and Demolition Suite (2023). Carroll won Writers & Books’ 2026 Poetry Festival Contest.
The founder of Just Write Experience and author of Journey to Womanhood: A Poetic Rite of Passage.
The author of eight books, including Sad Math, winner of the 2014 Moon CityPress Poetry Prize and the 2015 Whirling Prize from the University of Indianapolis; Hereafter,winner of the 2024 Bath Novella-in-Flash Prize, and the recently released short stories Other Emergencies.
With music by Dead Metaphor Soiree: Drawing from blues, folk, cabaret, and art song traditions, Curt and Nani Nehring Bliss adapt poetry into original music and adventure out into the witching borderlands between music and the spoken wor
A Nigerian-American spoken-word poet, filmmaker, and journalist whose PBS docuseries, The Poet Speaks with Amanda Eke, documents spoken word communities around the world.
A poet, performer, and the author of Pier Queen, Americano, Love(ly) Child, and Still, We Are Sacred (2026), which explore queer identity, survival, faith, and belonging.
Bronwyn Capps (winner), Carnaisia Ellis Johnson, Breanna Krueger, Emily Quintana, Moriah Wilson, and Madelyn Wilson.
With music by TYES (Tyler Cassidy Heacock and Esther Rogers Baker), a Rochester-based duo for voice and cello inspired by laughter, new music, and a dialogic collaborative style.
A Venezuelan American poet, editor, educator, and the author of Study of the Raft, winner of the 2021 Colorado Prize for Poetry.
Born and raised in Rochester, is the author of seven books of poetry. In 2025, he won the Academy of American Poets’ Wallace Stevens Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in poetry, and in 2026 he read his poem, “Proof” before an audience of thousands at the inauguration of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The author of eleven collections of poetry, including The Ghost Forest: New & Selected Poems (W.W. Norton, 2024). She is the 2025-2027 New York State Poet Laureate.
1137 South Ave
Rochester, NY 14620
Third Presbyterian Church
4 Meigs St
Rochester, NY 14607
Festival History
Formerly known as Poetry in the Highland Park Bowl, the Flower City Poetry Festival has welcomed distinguished poets and musicians with roots in New York State, including Albert Abonado, Chen Chen, Cornelius Eady, Patricia Spears Jones, and many more.
Support the Festival
Interested in supporting the festival? Please contact Chris Fanning.
