History & Legacy

 The roots of the Hellbender Gathering of Poets grow in the good soil cultivated by the Palm Beach Poetry Festival, which for nearly two decades presented an annual festival in South Florida to foster the writing, reading, performance, and appreciation of poetry.

 From 2004 until 2021, the Palm Beach Poetry Festival featured some of America’s finest poets, including luminaries such as Sharon Olds, Joy Harjo, Patricia Smith, and Thomas Lux, among many others. For those fruitful years, the festival was cherished by participants from around the world who returned year after year until our venue in Delray closed  and  we  had to say goodbye to beloved President and Founder Miles Coon. But before his passing, Miles looked to the festival's future by appointing long-time Festival advocate and faculty member Nickole Brown as its President. Holding fast to  Miles’ abiding love  of  poetry yet urged by the current ecological crisis of our changing climate, Nickole envisioned the next iteration of the festival  as a celebration not only of poetry's artistry but also its ability to move people to empathy and action.

Now relocated to the mountains of Western North Carolina, the festival goes by a different name—the Hellbender Gathering of Poets. This not only avoids confusion as to our current location but also hopes to raise awareness of a little-known creature endemic to our very backyard in the waters here—a giant salamander by the name of the Eastern Hellbender. Often revered as our “last dragon,” this aquatic wonder is currently threatened, with the population shrinking with each passing season. As an indicator species requiring cool, clean, uncontaminated water to survive, the presence of hellbenders indicates a healthy ecosystem, something that all beings—human and other—require.

The name also gives voice to those who cherish this earth and are determined—hellbent—to heal and protect our planet. We believe in the transformative power of poetry to rise up during the most challenging times, and we nurture those who seek the poems that do this most necessary work.