Venice-Biennale-Poets-Caravan.jpg

Anne Waldman performing at the Venice Biennale
for the Poets Caravan. Venice, Italy. May 7, 2026

ANNE WALDMAN—internationally acclaimed poet, performer, activist, and magpie scholar—has been a force in experimental “Outrider” poetics for over five decades, recognized in the lineages of the Beat, New York School, and Black Mountain traditions while raising the bar as a feminist and cultural activist. Anne was a featured poet at the 2026 Venice Biennale, performing as part of the Poet’s Caravan, as well as other events for the opening of the festival. Author of more than 60 books, including the classic Fast Speaking Woman, the monumental Iovis Trilogy, and most recently Mesopotopia, her work spans epic poems, essays, performance, opera, and multidisciplinary collaborations. Anne was a co-founder of The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church and, with Allen Ginsberg and Diane di Prima, the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University. She remains a highly original “open field investigator” of consciousness, committed to the possibilities of radical shifts of language and states of mind to create new modal structures and montages of attention. Her work is prophetic, multidisciplinary, energetic, passionate, panoramic, and fierce.

A COUNTER-CULTURAL GIANT

Publishers Weekly

Recent Books + Projects

Outrider poster.jpg

"Anne Waldman is more rock 'n' roll than any rock 'n' roll performer I know." —THURSTON MOORE

"Anne Waldman is more rock 'n' roll than any rock 'n' roll performer I know." —THURSTON MOORE

News

A poetic and sound performance in Greek based on Anne Waldman's book-length poem Fast Speaking Woman.

Reading - interpretation: Caterina Stamou, Tonia Tzirita Zacharatou
Theremin accompagniment: Elektra Stampoulou
Sound design: Anna Maria Rammou

Translation of the poem from English to Greek: Caterina Stamou, Tonia Tzirita Zacharatou
Artwork: Elektra Stampoulou

“Anne Waldman is one of the most important and irreducible living American poets.”

—Nick Sturm, Poetry Foundation

Recent Events