Board of Directors
Edmund Berrigan (President), David Velasco (Treasurer), Patricia Spears Jones (Secretary), Esther Cohen, Vincent Katz, Emily Johnson, Chris Martin, Fred Moten, Mary Wang, Deepali Zeer
Artistic & Administrative Staff
Program Director: Mirene Arsanios
Mirene Arsanios is the author of the short story collection, The City Outside the Sentence (Ashkal Alwan, 2015), Notes on Mother Tongues (UDP, 2019), and The Autobiography of a Language (Futurepoem, 2022). She has contributed essays and short stories to e-flux journal, Hyperallergic, Vida, The Brooklyn Rail, LitHub, and Guernica, among others. Her writing was featured collaboratively at the Sharjah Biennial (2017) and Venice Biennial (2017), as well as in various artist books and projects. Arsanios co-founded the collective 98weeks Research Project in Beirut and is the founding editor of Makhzin, a bilingual English/Arabic magazine for innovative writing.
As Program Director, Mirene coordinates and partially curates the fall and spring reading seasons at The Poetry Project. She is also responsible for coordinating the ESB Fellowship and programming the Poetry Project’s learning programs.
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Communications Director: Will Farris
Will Farris is a poet and yoga teacher living in New York City.
As Communications Director, Will develops and oversees the messaging of The Poetry Project and promotion of its readings, events, publications, and other programming.
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Editorial Director: Kay Gabriel
Kay Gabriel is the author of Perverts (2025), Kissing Other People or the House of Fame (2023) and A Queen in Bucks County (2022), all from Nightboat. With Andrea Abi-Karam, she co-edited We Want it All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics.
As Editorial Director, Kay both edits and oversees publication of the Poetry Project Newsletter, The Device and the Project's other publications, and manages the Project's archival materials and recordings.
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Director of Event Production: Yaz Lancaster
The expansive practice of Yaz Lancaster encompasses experimental electroacoustic performances, notated compositions, open format DJ-ing, music journalism (I CARE IF YOU LISTEN, The Wire, Musicworks, etc.), collage-based poetry, collaborative work, and organizing DIY shows across New York City’s underground and nightlife scenes.
As Director of Event Production, Yaz guides communication between performers, curators, and the Poetry Project team to facilitate interdisciplinary events and incorporate accessibility efforts into programming.
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Deputy Director: Roberto Montes
Roberto Montes is the author of I DON'T KNOW DO YOU, named one of the Best Books of 2014 by NPR and a finalist for the 2014 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry from The Publishing Triangle. His poetry has appeared in The Lambda Literary Spotlight, Guernica, PEN America Poetry Series, and elsewhere. A chapbook, GRIEVANCES, is now available from the Atlas Review TAR chapbook series.
As Deputy Director, Roberto designs and manages The Poetry Project's operational systems, workflows, and databases.
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Executive Director: Nicole Wallace
Nicole Wallace’s first chapbook, WAASAMOWIN, was published by IMP in 2019. Their second chapbook, anangoonsag, is forthcoming from auric press. They were the June/July 2020 poetry micro-resident at Running Dog and a 2019 Poets House Emerging Poets Fellow. Nicole has also contributed to programs and publications celebrating the work and life of the late poet, Diane Burns, author of Riding the One-Eyed Ford (Contact II, 1981). Nicole received a BA from NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study and a Masters of Library Science in Archives and Preservation of Cultural Materials from Queens College, CUNY.
Nicole is a second generation descendent of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe and is of mixed settler/European ancestry. They currently live and make work on occupied Canarsee and Lenape territory (Brooklyn, NY) where they serve as Interim Executive Director of The Poetry Project and as a Board Member for Indigenous Nations Poets (In-Na-Po).
As Executive Director, Nicole works in collaboration with the full staff and Board of Directors to guide decision making around The Poetry Project's programming, funding, and operations to ensure that our work is aligned with our mission. In collaboration with the Deputy Director, Nicole manages The Poetry Project's operations and finances. They also oversee the management and development of grants, and serve as a grant writer for the Project.
Event & Program Support
Curator-in-Residence: Ethan Philbrick
Audio & Technical Managers: James Barickman, Pedro Lopez, Noa Mendoza, Ayaz Muratoglu
Event Videographers: Gary Gomez, Cerine Z
Event Photographer: Jonathan Aprea, Christopher Rivera
Program Assistant: Heather Glynis
Volunteers: Hijab Ahmed, Madeleine Beirne, Brennan Bogert-St. Vincent, Caitlin Brady, Hayley Brehl, Allison Rose Coughlin, Lili Emtiaz, Celia Eydeland, Leah Gelfand, Miranda Gershoni, Eleanor Gonzales, Olivia Griffin, Max Hamilton, Brooks Harris, Eden Heffha, Theodore Heil, Emily Hollander, Erica Huang, Madeleine Jennings, Anne Kickert, Sophie Lajnef, Leah Mandel, Leydn McEvoy, Caroline Fairey Meese, Eleanor Morgan, Jeannie Morgenstern, Melanie Moyer, Katie Naughton, Isabelle Newsom, Shannon O'Neill, Ale Quintana Arocho, Anna Regner, Rachel Robinson, Adri Rocks, Leila Rodriguez, Louis Rudloph-Naiberg, Arley Sakai, Maren Schiffer, Emily Shafer, Nandini Sharma, Seamus Slattery, Betel Tadesse, Skye Tarshis, Nora Rose Tomas, Ariel Newman Vargas, June Villers, Mer Wade, Kai Whalen, Sarah Whitacre
Poetry Project Newsletter
Editors: Kay Gabriel (2019–present), Kyle Carrero Lopez (2025)
Layout Editor: Mike Kitchell
Editors emeriti: Morgan Võ (2021–2025), Bianca Messinger (2022–2023), Imani Elizabeth Jackson (2019–2020; 2022), Wendy Trevino (2019–2020), John Rufo (2019–2021), Marwa Helal (2017–2019), Betsy Fagin (2015–2017), Ted Dodson (2013–2015), Paul Foster Johnson (2011–2013), Corinna Copp (2009–2011), John Coletti (2007–2009), Brendan Lorber (2005–2007), Marcella Durand (2003–2005), Nada Gordon & Gary Sullivan (2002–2003), Ange Mlinko (2000–2002), Katherine Lederer (1999–2000), Brenda Coultas & Eleni Sikelianos (1998–1999), Lisa Jarnot (1996–1998), Mitch Highfill (1995–1996), Gillian McCain (1994–1995), Jordan Davis (1992–1994), Lynn Crawford (1991–1992), Jerome Sala (1990–1991), Tony Towle (1987–1990), Jessica Hagedorn (1986–1987), James Ruggia (1985–1986), Tim Dlugos (1984–1985), Lorna Smedman (1983–1984), Greg Masters (1980–1983), Vicki Hudspith (1978–1980), Frances LeFevre (1977–1978), Ted Greenwald (1975–1977), Bill MacKay (1973–1975), Ron Padgett (1972–1973)
Friends Committee
Dianne Benson, Will Creeley, Raymond Foye, Vicki Hudspith, Siri Hustvedt, Gillian McCain, Eileen Myles, Michel de Konkoly Thege, Greg Masters, Ron Padgett, Bob Holman, Paul Slovak, Edwin Torres, John Yau, & Anne Waldman
In memoriam: Brooke Alexander, Michael Friedman, Steve Hamilton, Yvonne Jacquette, Hal Willner