NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April.
NaPoWriMo was founded in 2003, when poet Maureen Thorson decided to take up the challenge (modeled after NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month), and challenged other poets to join her. Since then, the number of participants has gotten larger every year, and many writers’ organizations, local, national and even international, organize NaPoWriMo activities.
Need more information? See the Wikipedia entry for NaPoWriMo!
How do I participate in NaPoWriMo?
Easy! Just write a poem a day for the month of April. You can post them on the internet. You can hide them in a notebook. You can make up a special book just for yourself out of them. Really, all you need to do is write a poem a day for the month of April.
If you choose to post your work on the internet, you can submit your website for inclusion in our online roster of participants. See the “Submit Your Site” link above.
Can I participate in NaPoWriMo if I don’t have a website?
Sure! Nothing about writing 30 poems requires you to have a website. However, for purposes of the NaPoWriMo.net website, we are unable to list participants that do not have websites. The focus of this site is on providing interested people with links to websites where they can read NaPoWriMoers’ efforts.
I would like to participate, and to post my work online, but don’t have a website. Can you help me?
If you don’t have a website, and would like one, sites like Blogger, Weebly, and WordPress offer free blog services with easy-to-use templates. You can go from nothing to having your own blog (and posting your poems) in ten minutes or less.
Can I organize a NaPoWriMo group at my local library, school, etc.? How do I do that?
There is no licensing process or fee for NaPoWriMo. If you want to organize a group to participate, that’s great! If you set up a website for your group, you can submit it to be listed on this site.
I know someone who is posting poems for NaPoWriMo on his or her website, but you don’t have the site listed. Why not?
Probably because they haven’t submitted it. Anyone who wants to submit their site may, but we do not go out looking for people who might be writing a poem a day for April, and listing their sites in the absence of a submission. Individual NaPoWriMoers may not want their sites listed, or perhaps they just don’t know about this site. Go ahead and let them know, and they can decide whether they want their site included here.
I submitted my site, but it isn’t listed yet/I want to change something/something’s not working right.
If you have trouble with this site, or have other questions not resolved by this FAQ, please email us at napowrimonet-AT-gmail-DOT-com.
Who runs this site? What is this all about? Are you doing anything with the information people submit?
This website is owned and operated by Maureen Thorson, a poet living in Washington, DC. She started writing a poem a day for the month of April back in 2003, posting the poems on her blog. When other people started writing poems for April, and posting them on their own blogs, Maureen linked to them. After a few years, so many people were doing NaPoWriMo that Maureen decided to launch an independent website for the project. This site was designed by the very nice people at 2the9design, who know waaaaayyyyy more about back-end coding stuff than Maureen does. But this site isn’t meant to be “official,” or to indicate ownership or authority over the idea of writing 30 poems in April. There is no corporate sponsorship of this project. No money is intended to change hands anywhere. Maureen just likes poems and wants to encourage people to write them. The site doesn’t ask for your email address, or any other personal information. Heck, you don’t even have to give your name.