From 1966 to 2009, the International Poetry Forum hosted more than 800 of the world’s greatest poets and performers in Pittsburgh, including legends like W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, Gwendolyn Brooks, Jorge Luis Borges, Chinua Achebe, Kurt Vonnegut, James Earl Jones, Grace Kelly, Gregory Peck, Ruby Dee, and Queen Noor of Jordan.
In 2024, the International Poetry Forum relaunched its reading series after a hiatus of 15 years. The opening reading was offered by National Book Award-winning poet Terrance Hayes, who was one of the final poets to perform at the series before the hiatus in 2009.
