Outriders Poetry Project, started in 1968, is a non-profit organization operating in Buffalo, NY that sponsors readings and publishes books by poets and writers based in the greater Niagara-Erie region.

History

Outriders was founded in 1968 by Max Wickert

Max Wickert

Max Wickert is an American teacher, poet, translator and publisher. He is presently Professor of English Emeritus on the English Department of University at Buffalo-Personal life:...

 (then Assistant Professor of English in the University at Buffalo), Dan Murray (a Buffalo M.A. candidate in Creative Writing) and Doug Eichhorn (then studying under Donald Justice

Donald Justice

Donald Justice was an American poet and teacher of writing. In summing up Justice's career, David Orr has written, "In most ways, Justice was no different from any number of solid, quiet older writers devoted to traditional short poems. But he was different in one important sense: sometimes his...

 at Syracuse University

Syracuse University

Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...

). Max Wickert has been its Director since 1969. In the 1970s, Outriders, with support from the New York State Council on the Arts

New York State Council on the Arts

The New York State Council on the Arts is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell , with backing from Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and began its work in 1961...

 and Poets & Writers

Poets & Writers

Poets & Writers, Inc. is one of the largest nonprofit literary organization in the United States serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers...

, Inc., ran a series of weekly poetry readings in Buffalo bars, typically involving a reading by a featured writer, followed by an open reading, in which celebrities visiting Buffalo often also participated. From 1978 to 1980, Outriders formed part of N.E.W. (Niagara-Erie Writers), a local writers’ collective. Max Wickert served as an officer in both organizations.

Weekly poetry readings

Among distinguished poets who appeared in the series were Robert Bly

Robert Bly

Robert Bly is an American poet, author, activist and leader of the Mythopoetic Men's Movement.-Life:Bly was born in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota, to Jacob and Alice Bly, who were of Norwegian ancestry. Following graduation from high school in 1944, he enlisted in the United States Navy, serving...

, Albert S. Cook, Robert Creeley

Robert Creeley

Robert Creeley was an American poet and author of more than sixty books. He is usually associated with the Black Mountain poets, though his verse aesthetic diverged from that school's. He was close with Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Allen Ginsberg, John Wieners and Ed Dorn. He served as the Samuel P...

, Raymond Federman

Raymond Federman

Raymond Federman was a French–American novelist and academic, known also for poetry, essays, translations, and criticism. He held positions at the University at Buffalo from 1973 to 1999, when he was appointed Distinguished Emeritus Professor. Federman was a writer in the experimental style, one...

, Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg

Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...

, Lee Harwood

Lee Harwood

Lee Harwood is a poet associated with the British Poetry Revival.-Life:Travers Rafe Lee Harwood was born in Leicester to maths teacher Wilfred Travers Lee-Harwood and Grace Ladkin Harwood, who were then living in Chertsey, Surrey...

, David Ignatow

David Ignatow

-Life:David Ignatow was born in Brooklyn on February 7, 1914, and spent most of his life in the New York City area. He died on November 17, 1997, at his home in East Hampton, New York. His papers are held at University of California, San Diego.-Career:...

, Milton Kessler

Milton Kessler

Milton Kessler was a poet and an English professor at Binghamton University. He was one of the founders of the university's Creative Writing Program.-Life:...

, John Logan

John Logan (poet)

John B. Logan was an American poet and teacher.Logan was born in Red Oak, Iowa...

, A. Poulin, and John Wieners

John Wieners

John Joseph Wieners was an American lyric poet.-Biography:Born in Milton, Massachusetts, Wieners attended St. Gregory Elementary School in Dorchester, Massachusetts and Boston College High School. From 1950 to 1954, he studied at Boston College, where he earned his A.B...

, as well as relatively unknown emerging poets who later went on to high honors, such as Charles Baxter (National Book Award

National Book Award

The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

 finalist, 2000), Carl Dennis

Carl Dennis

Carl Dennis , an American poet and educator. His book Practical Gods won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for poetry.-Life and work:...

 (Ruth Lilly Prize 2000, Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 2002), Cornelius Eady

Cornelius Eady

Cornelius Eady is an American poet focusing largely on matters of race and society, particularly the trials of the African-American race in the United States. His poetry often centers around jazz and blues, family life, violence, and societal problems stemming from questions of race and class...

 (Lamont Prize, 1985), Robert Hass

Robert Hass

Robert L. Hass is an American poet. He served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 1995 to 1997. He was awarded the 2007 National Book Award and the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Time and Materials.-Life:...

 (Poet Laureate of the United States 1995–97, National Book Award

National Book Award

The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

 2007, Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 2008), and Rosmarie Waldrop

Rosmarie Waldrop

Rosmarie Waldrop is a contemporary American poet, translator and publisher. Born in Germany, she has lived in the United States since 1958. She has lived in Providence, Rhode Island since the late 1960s...

 (International PEN

International PEN

PEN International , the worldwide association of writers, was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere....

 Award for Poetry in Translation, 2008).

Other sponsored events

During its opening seasons, Outriders worked closely with the Buffalo area Poets-in-the-Schools Program. This program had been conceived state-wide by the New York State Council for the Arts's Galen Williams. It was established in the Buffalo area by cooperation between three agencies: Outriders, which was the recipient of the initial grant; the Department of English at the University at Buffalo; and the University's Office of Cultural Affairs, then directed by Esther Harriott, who coordinated the entire venture. During its opening years, Outriders and Poetry-in-the-Schools frequently overlapped and a number of poets appeared in both programs. (In later seasons, Poetry-in-the-Schools operated independently.)

In its 1970–71 season, Outriders also ran two "Third World Poetry Festivals" that showcased Latino poets Felipe Luciano, Jose-Angel Figueroa and Pedro Pietri

Pedro Pietri

Pedro Pietri , was a Nuyorican poet and playwright who co-founded the Nuyorican Poets Café. He was the poet laureate of the Nuyorican Movement.-Early years :...

 (later well-known as members of the Nuyorican

Nuyorican

Nuyorican is a portmanteau of the terms "New York" and "Puerto Rican" and refers to the members or culture of the Puerto Rican diaspora located in or around New York State especially the New York City metropolitan area, or of their descendants...

 school) and the late Nigerian poet, Pol Ndu.

In 1978 and 1979, Outriders, through its Director, co-sponsored Summer Poetry Festivals with Artpark (Lewiston, NY) and the University at Buffalo, featuring, among others, Marvin Bell

Marvin Bell

Marvin Bell is an American poet and teacher who was the first Poet Laureate of the State of Iowa.Bell was born in New York City and raised in Center Moriches, Long Island...

, Irving Feldman

Irving Feldman

Irving Feldman Irving Feldman Irving Feldman (born on 22 September 1928 in Brooklyn, New York is an American poet and professor of English.-Academic career:Born and raised in Coney Island, Brooklyn, Feldman worked as a merchant seaman, farm hand, and factory worker through his university education...

, Canada’s Four Horsemen (bpNichol

BpNichol

Barrie Phillip Nichol , who often went by his lower-case initials and last name, with no spaces , was a Canadian poet. He became widely known for his concrete poetry while living there in the 1960s...

, Paul Dutton

Paul Dutton

Paul Dutton is a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist, and oral sound artist.-Early life and career:A member of the legendary Four Horsemen sound poetry quartet , along with Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Steve McCaffery, and the late bpNichol, Dutton married his soundsinging oralities and harmonica-playing...

, Steve McCaffery

Steve McCaffery

Steven McCaffery is a Canadian poet and scholar who was a professor at York University. He currently holds the Gray Chair at SUNY Buffalo . McCaffery was born in Sheffield, England and lived in the UK for most of his youth attending University of Hull. He moved to Toronto in 1968...

 and Rafael Barreto-Rivera), Anselm Hollo

Anselm Hollo

Anselm Paul Alexis Hollo is a Finnish poet and translator. He has lived in the United States since 1967.-Life and work:...

, David Ignatow

David Ignatow

-Life:David Ignatow was born in Brooklyn on February 7, 1914, and spent most of his life in the New York City area. He died on November 17, 1997, at his home in East Hampton, New York. His papers are held at University of California, San Diego.-Career:...

, J.F. Nims, Carlene Polite, Mark Rudman, Louis Simpson

Louis Simpson

Louis Aston Marantz Simpson is an American poet. He won the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his work At The End Of The Open Road.-Life:...

, William Stafford, Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern

Gerald Stern is an American poet. His work became widely recognized after the 1977 publication of Lucky Life, which was that year's Lamont Poetry Selection, and of a series of essays on writing poetry in American Poetry Review. He has subsequently been given many prestigious awards for his...

, Virginia Terris, and Harriett Zinnes.

Publications

During its first years, Outriders also planned a series of publications and chapbooks. Aside from a few ephemeral broadsides, only one of these appeared, Max Wickert

Max Wickert

Max Wickert is an American teacher, poet, translator and publisher. He is presently Professor of English Emeritus on the English Department of University at Buffalo-Personal life:...

’s All the Weight of the Still Midnight (1972).

The weekly readings ceased in 1980 and Outriders suspended its activities for a number of years. In 2009, Wickert revived it as a small press which has since issued Ann Goldsmith’s The Spaces Between Us and Martin Pops’s Minoxidyl and Other Stories(2010); Judith Slater's The Wind Turning Pages and Max Wickert's No Cartoons (2011). Gail Fischer's Red Ball Jets and Jeremiah Rush Bowen's Consolations will appear in Fall/Winter 2011/2012 and an Outriders Anthology is in preparation.

Each year between January 1 and April 15, the press welcomes manuscripts submitted by Buffalo-are poets in competition for future volumes. Jeremiah Rush Bowen (see above)was the winner of the first of these competitions. Entry forms are available from the Outriders website (see the link below).