DURHAM— The University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) third annual Nossrat Yassini Poetry Festival took place April 18 in Hamilton Smith Hall, dedicated to the late mother of entrepreneur, philanthropist, and Executive Director of UNH’s Broadband Center of Excellence, Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard.
The festival was established in April of 2024 by Yassini-Fard in honor of his loving mother Nossrat Yassini, a passionate poet who peacefully passed away in 2022. Yassini-Fard gifted $2 million to the university to institute this annual festival and encourage the power of poetry during National Poetry Month.
The all-day festival offered poetry workshops, readings and a small press fair. Dozens of small booths lined the halls of Hamilton Smith, featuring organizations such as Main St. Magazine (MSM) and the UNH graduate writing programs, as well as a variety of local artists selling creative presses, journals, prints and crafts. The event fostered a steady and lively buzz throughout its six-hour duration.
Well-known poets like Cornelius Eady, Diannely Antigua, Jeff Stumpo, Porsha Olayiwola, Amanda Shea, Joshua Beckman, and dozens more appeared in panels and engaged with the enthusiastic community. Five separate sessions were stretched across the day, each offering intimate readings from a handful of poets. These panels created a focused space for artists to share their work and connect with eager listeners.
One of 2022’s Best New Poets and a current writing and literature professor at Boston College, Amy Alvarez, explained during her panel that poetry is an essential practice, especially for students.
“Being able to observe the world and our thoughts is the first step to being a well-rounded person,” said Alvarez. “It’s the end-all be-all to give a voice to all the complexities we’re processing in our minds.”
Alvarez joined fellow poets Kristen Hill, Linda Carney-Goodrich, and Tzynya Pinchback for the afternoon panel “Poetry Makes Us Brave,” where they each shared poems reflecting on deeply personal experiences. Although each had an individual relationship with the artform, their shared passion for poetry was palpable.
“Sometimes poems live in my nervous system,” said Kristen Hill, as she began her reading. “So, if I shake it’s not because I’m nervous, it’s because I can feel the poem there.”
Tzynya Pinchback said poetry offers an indispensable space to be still. Pinchback expressed a deep desire to show up authentically in her life. To do so, she added, one must be present—a skill she described poetry as helping to cultivate. “Poetry asks us to take time to stop, to look, to listen, and to experience,” Pinchback said. “It’s a chance for quiet in a world of noise.”
The Nossrat Yassini Poetry Festival promoted the importance and influence of poetry, now more than ever. Emphasizing its role in helping people understand and connect with both their inner and outer worlds.
“Poetry is what it is to be a human being,” Linda Carney-Goodrich said, adding that it allows individuals to see life through the eyes of another. She and Alvarez both described poetry as a “container,” a means to hold memories, and “every part of being a human being,” Carney-Goodrich said.
The festival fostered a space for shared expression and reflection that ultimately highlighted poetry not only as an art form, but as an essential part of being human.
