Sandra & Gary Sojka Poet-in-Residence
For 40 years, the Stadler Center's Poet-in-Residence program has brought poets of national and international renown to Bucknell for an extended stay during the academic year. The Poet-in-Residence meets individually with qualified students and presents a public reading, a Q&A session, and a craft workshop. The program is meant to honor the achievement of a distinguished poet while providing undergraduate writers the opportunity to work with an exceptional talent.
Recently redesignated to honor longtime Stadler Center benefactors Sandra and Gary Sojka, the current program represents a merger of the Sojka Visiting Poet Series (1995-2020) and the original Poet-in-Residence program, which dates back to 1981. Bucknell President Gary Sojka (1985-95) was instrumental in the founding of the center and, with his wife Sandy, remains dedicated to its prosperity.
Among our recent Poets-in-Residence are Mark Doty, Terrance Hayes, Brenda Hillman, Claudia Rankine, Mary Ruefle and Ross Gay. See below for a complete list of Poets-in-Residence and Sojka Visiting Poets.
The Sojka Poet-in-Residence is selected by invitation only; the Stadler Center does not accept applications for this position.
2025-26 Sojka Poet-in-Residence
Sarah Kay
Sarah Kay is a writer, performer, and educator from New York City. Sarah has a masters degree in the Art of Teaching from Brown University, and has been a Hedgebrook Artist in Residence, a Serenbe Artist in Residence, a Kundiman Fellow, a New Arizona Fellow at New America, and a Hawthornden Foundation Artist in Residence. Sarah is the author of five books of poetry: No Matter the Wreckage, B, The Type, All Our Wild Wonder, and her newest collection A Little Daylight Left, from the Dial Press and Penguin Random House. She is the founder and co-director of Project VOICE, an organization that uses poetry to entertain, educate, and inspire students and educators in classrooms and communities worldwide.