Poetry Festival

Thanks to a $2 million gift from the YAS Foundation, the University of New Hampshire has established the Nossrat Yassini Poetry Fund to support a year-long schedule of activities that will celebrate and promote the power of poetry at UNH and beyond, culminating each April in a festival to coincide with National Poetry Month.

The two-day festival, set to kick off in April 2024, will feature readings and workshops by nationally renowned and emerging poets, monetary prize awards for both published and unpublished poems, showcases of work by high school and college students and the publication of poetry collections featuring the festival’s best poems.

The fund will also support a Nossrat Yassini Poet in Residence within the English department, as well as a graduate assistantship to a UNH student in the master of fine arts in writing program.

The YAS Foundation was founded by Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard, entrepreneur, philanthropist and acting executive director of the University of New Hampshire Broadband Center of Excellence, an interdisciplinary initiative devoted to the advancement of broadband internet technology and services globally.

The Nossrat Yassini Poetry Fund honors the life of his mother, Nossrat Yassini, who passed away in 2022.

Rouzbeh is well known for his pioneering work in the broadband industry, inventing the cable modem and establishing cable modem industry standards.

So why poetry?

In addition to paying homage to his mother, the gift aims to spotlight the ways that poetry, writing and language can bring people together. “The power of poetry is strong, and it can link cultures and communities. This festival can serve as a place to reward our current and future poets and writers, such that it will have a profound impact on people’s lives,” says Yassini-Fard, who is originally from Iran, where he says poetry is a focus throughout every level of education.

The festival’s featured 2024 poet is Camille Dungy, author of four collections of poetry and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.

“In a time of tremendous societal change and uncertainty — stoked by technological transformation, geopolitical conflicts, climate change and persistent inequality — this gift allows us to reassert and sustain the power of poetry to remind us of our shared human purpose and to help bridge the many polarizing divisions that mark our current era,” says Michele Dillon, dean of the College of Liberal Arts.

Learn more about the festival: cola.unh.edu/nossrat-yassini-poetry-festival