The Dreamland is proud to help sponsor this brand-new, free (with ticket) community program.

The poems and poets featured in this lineup go from free verse to haiku, from amateur to published, across generations and subjects. This year's Best of Nantucket (and beyond!) poet playlist will have something for just about everyone. Bring an open mind and an open ear to hear our selected poets for this year's program. Here are just a few:

MARY ELLEN REDMOND’s poems have appeared in The Drunken Boat, Free State Review, Comstock Review, Cape Cod Review, Rattle and The Cortland Review, but the publication she is most proud of is the poem tattooed on her son’s ribcage. A former slam poet, she represented Cape Cod at the National Poetry Slam Competition in Providence, RI. She has been featured twice on WCAI’s Poetry Sundays and her interview with poet Greg Orr was featured in The Drunken Boat. Her poem “Fifty-Six Days” earned a Best of the Net Nomination in 2016. She recently placed second in the 2024 Joe Gouveia Outermost Poetry Contest judged by Marge Piercy. The Ocean Effect, her second chapbook, was published in 2014 by Finishing Line Press.

GABRIELLA BURNHAM, who grew up on Nantucket Island, is the author of the novels Wait and It Is Wood, It Is Stone, which was named a best book of the year by Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Publishers Weekly, and Good Housekeeping. Burnham holds an MFA in creative writing from St. Joseph’s College and has been awarded fellowships to Yaddo and MacDowell, where she was named a Harris Center Fellow. Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar. She and her partner have two rescue cats, Galleta and Franz.

JOHNCARL MCGRADY graduated from Nantucket High School. From poetry to novels, news articles to screenplays, JohnCarl is happy to write just about anything. His writing has been published in the Nantucket Current, N Magazine and Nantucket About Town and his films have been screened at several festivals including the Nantucket Film Festival. He is entering his final year at Williams College, where he is pursuing a double major in English and Political Science.

And more! See our full lineup at nantucketpoetry.com.