Baylor University’s Beall Poetry Festival is a three-day celebration of contemporary poetry, with poetry readings, a panel discussion, and the Virginia Beall Ball Lecture on Contemporary Poetry. The festival is supported by the John A. and DeLouise McClelland Beall Endowed Fund, established in 1994 by Mrs. Virginia B. Ball to honor her parents and to encourage the writing and appreciation of poetry.
2026 Participants
Matthew Olzmann holds a BA from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and is a graduate of the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. He currently serves as assistant professor of English and creative writing at Dartmouth College and teaches in the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
Paisley Rekdal earned a BA from the University of Washington, an MA from the University of Toronto Centre for Medieval Studies, and an MFA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She currently is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Utah, where she teaches in the Creative Writing Program and directs the American West Center.
Marcus Wicker holds a BA from Western Michigan University and an MFA from Indiana University. He currently serves as an associate professor and the Orgill Chair of English at the University of Memphis, where he teaches in the MFA program.