Calendar of Events

Poetry in the Garden - Patricia Spears Jones and January Gill O'Neil

A Poetry Festival in the Heart of Ridgefield's Cultural District!

July 6, 2026 · 7 p.m.
Walled Garden
Free

Now in its sixth season, Poetry in the Garden welcomes poetry lovers and the culturally curious to a season of readings, music, and workshops. This year's theme is "Voices of the New Revolution": each Monday evening in July, nationally acclaimed poets will share works that stand defiant of oppression and injustice, opting instead for empowerment, creativity, and empathy. 

Poetry in the Garden readings are free for all to attend. Doors open at 6:30pm and readings begin at 7pm. Bring a lawn chair or blanket to enjoy the events, held in KTM&HC's historic walled garden. In the event of inclement weather, the readings move inside, to KTM&HC's Garden House.

July 6th features poets Patricia Spears Jones and January Gill O'Neil.

Patricia Spears Jones is a poet, playwright, anthologist, educator, and cultural activist. She served as the 2023 New York State Poet Laureate. Her most recent book is The Beloved Community (Copper Canyon 2023); she is also the author of A Lucent Fire: New and Selected Poems. Jones has taught graduate and undergraduate creative writing at Hollins University, Adelphi University, Hunter College, and Barnard College. A Senior Fellow Emeritus of the Black Earth Institute, Jones organizes the American Poets Congress, a group of poets and other cultural workers working for inclusion and supporting racial, social, and economic justice for all.

January Gill O'Neil is the author of four poetry collections: Glitter Road (2024), Rewilding (2018), Misery Islands (2014), and Underlife (2009). Glitter Road received the 2024 Poetry by the Sea Best Book Award and the Julia Ward Howe Prize and was a finalist for several honors, including the Masschusetts Book Award. Her poems and essays have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Poetry, The Nation, American Poetry Review, and the Academy of American Poets' Poem-a-Day series. A Cave Canem fellow, O'Neil is a professor at Salem State University and teaches graduate poetry writing in the summer program at Middlebury College's Bread Load School of English.

Poetry in the Garden is generously supported by Books on the Common, Ridgefield Library, and The Fountain Inn.

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