May 5, 2006
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417

AMHERST, Mass.—The Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst will sponsor the annual Emily Dickinson Poetry Walk at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 13. The walk honors the memory of poet Emily Dickinson, who died on May 15, 1886. The event is free and open to the public. This year’s readings will feature poems that Dickinson sent to her family members who lived at The Evergreens, which was built 150 years ago.

The Poetry Walk will begin at 1 p.m. in the Homestead garden at the Museum, and will proceed through Amherst, stopping at various sites significant in Dickinson’s life. (A full schedule follows.) Members of the Amherst community will read a selection of Dickinson’s poems at each location. Readers include members of the museum’s guiding staff, poetry discussion group, “Kinsmen of the Shelf” book discussion group and a Dickinson reading circle based in Heath, Mass. At 2:30 p.m. the procession will arrive at the West Cemetery on Triangle Street to gather at the Dickinson grave, where all are welcome to read their favorite poems and to join in a lighthearted toast to the poet’s memory.

The Emily Dickinson Museum will host an Open House after the Walk, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. The houses will be open for self-guided tours during that time, and guides will be available to answer questions. Admission is free.

Programs and maps of the one-mile route of the Poetry Walk will be available at the Museum. Participants are welcome to join the walk at any point along the route. Those who wish to participate only in the cemetery reading should meet at the Dickinson grave in West Cemetery on Triangle Street at 2:30 p.m.

The Emily Dickinson Museum, comprising the Dickinson Homestead and The Evergreens, two historic house museums in Amherst, is devoted to the story and legacy of poet Emily Dickinson and her family and is located at 280 Main Street in Amherst. The Dickinson Homestead was the birthplace and residence of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886), and The Evergreens was the 1856 home of the poet’s brother and sister-in-law, Austin and Susan Dickinson. Both properties are owned by the Trustees of Amherst College. For more information, call the Museum at 413/542-8161 or visit www.emilydickinsonmuseum.org. Wheelchair-accessible parking is available at the Homestead; all other vehicles are asked to park on the street or in an Amherst College lot on Spring Street. Call for more information about accessibility.

Emily Dickinson Poetry Walk
Schedule of Readings
1 p.m. Dickinson Homestead Garden, 280 Main Street
1:20 p.m. Amherst Train Station, Railroad Street
1:40 p.m. Front steps of the Evergreens, 214 Main Street
2 p.m. Front lawn of the Jones Library, 43 Amity Street
2:20 p.m. Parking lot behind Zanna, 187 North Pleasant Street (next to Ren’s Mobil Service, site of Dickinson’s home)
2:30 p.m. Dickinson’s grave site, West Cemetery, Triangle Street

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