Each year, ACW creates a series of posters, or broadsides, displaying poems written by North Country residents of all ages and experience levels. In April those broadsides are installed in shop windows throughout Saranac Lake in order to build community and beautify the village during mud season. The deadline for submissions is March 18.

Guidelines for submitting:

– Poems must be under 25 lines or less than 300 words, whichever comes first.

– Poems must be the original work of the person submitting.

– Poets must reside at least part-time in the North Country.

ACW accepts all submissions so long as they follow the above criteria and they do not express any hateful views or content that could be harmful to the general public.

ACW is encouraging anyone, even those who have never published a poem before, to consider writing and sending in their work. ACW provides weekly writing prompts to inspire anyone to try writing creatively; those prompts can be found in ACW’s weekly e-newsletter or on the website at: adirodndackcenterforwriting.org/for-writers.

To submit a poem, visit http://tinyurl.com/yc84d8yv. For more information about ACW, visit adirondackcenterforwriting.org.

“We look forward to Poem village every year here at ACW, but this year is doubly exciting because the project is growing exponentially,” said Tyler Barton, program manager of ACW. “Thanks to these new collaborations with SLC Arts and Downtown Artists Cellar, poems will appear in towns across St. Lawre. nce County and throughout downtown Malone, increasing the reach of this beloved community project. National Poetry Month in the North Country will be even more special and amplified in 2024.”

In 2023, ACW published poems by fourth graders alongside poems by renowned North Country poets such as Roger Mitchell, Chase Twitchell, Joe Bruchac (poet laureate of Saratoga Springs) and hundreds of others.

In 2024, Poem Village will extend its reach into St. Lawrence County through a partnership with SLC Arts and into Malone through a partnership with the Downtown Artists Cellar. In addition to the poems posted in Saranac Lake, a second set of the poetry broadsides will be installed in shop windows throughout St. Lawrence County, and a third set of poetry broadsides will be installed in shop windows in Malone.