Thanks for visiting our website.  We're a nonprofit literary organization based in Springfield, Illinois, home of our 16th U.S. president Abraham Lincoln. We're proud to have served central Illinois since 1993, inspiring and supporting the literary arts.  From 1999 through 2023, our annual teen poetry anthology, Navigating the Maze, reached teens, their families and friends, and others around the world.

SPW In-Person Open Mic, July 3, 2024 

Join SPW members and friends for our live, in-person, indoor, spoken word open mic from 6-8 PM July 3 -- and the first Wednesday of every month -- in the parlor at historic Edwards Place,  706 North Fourth Street, in Springfield. Because Edwards Place contains many historic items, please refrain from touching furniture and artifacts, and please remain the parlor and hall areas. You may bring refreshments (except coffee and red wine, which stain), but please take packaging and waste materials with you when you leave. See you at the open mic! 

Poetry in CyberSpace: SPW Open Mic July 17, 2024

The Springfield Poets and Writers monthly open mic via Zoom Cloud Meeting resumes, on the third Wednesday of every month. Link information is posted below. Share your own work, read the words of your favorite writers, or join just to listen. 

Time: July 17, 2024, 6:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
To Join the Zoom Meeting  at 6 PM on July 17,
Copy and paste this shortened link into your browser's address window https://tinyurl.com/5s2nwfdf

Or, from the Zoom app, join using the Meeting ID: 867 1783 9201 and Passcode: 626258

On a smartphone, one tap mobile: +13126266799,,86717839201#,,,,*626258# US (Chicago)

SPW sponsors monthly readings at Stella Coffee & Tea

Springfield Poets and Writers is partnering with Stella Coffee & Tea to host a special monthly reading, from 10 to noon on the fourth Saturday of every month. On July 27, the SPW featured reader will be announced soon! Future readers include visiting writers -- and SPW members!  

More Poets & Painters events coming soon!

More of our popular collaborative ekphrastic events (in which writers create, then share, literary works inspired by visual art works) are scheduled in the coming months! Check back here for details.