The late Blanche Britt Armfield, a lifelong reader and writer of poetry, took her M.A. in Poetry from UNC in 1928; she believed that English was the language par excellence of poetry because of the number and variety of its vowel sounds. Her generosity has made it possible to bring the following prominent American poets to the university for a reading:

2023: spring, Meg Day; fall, Dilruba Ahmed
2022: spring, Nickole Brown and Jessica Jacobs; fall, Paul Tran
2019: spring, Rose McLarney; fall, Catherine Barnett and Donna Masini
2018: spring, Gabriel Fried; fall, Aimee Nezhukumatahil
2017: spring, James McMichael; fall, Jennifer Chang
2016: spring, Gregory Pardlo; fall, C. Dale Young
2015: spring, Tom Healy; fall, Philip Memmer
2014: spring, Todd Boss; fall, Ross Gay
2013: Mary Jo Salter and Jason Sommer
2012: Dorianne Laux, Joe Millar, and Maurice Manning
2011: Cathy Smith Bowers and Honor Moore
2010: Beth Ann Fennelly, Brooks Haxton
2009: spring, Tom Lux; fall, Gibbons Ruark
2008: spring, Claudia Emerson; fall, Jackie Osherow
2007: fall, Gregory Orr
2007: spring, Jennifer Grotz
2006: spring, Tom Sleigh; fall, Armfield Poetry Festival with Mark Doty, Marie Howe, Ken Fields and
C.K. Williams
2005: spring, Mark Jarman; fall, Amy Gerstler
2004: spring, Wyatt Prunty; fall, Marilyn Nelson
2003: spring, Gail Mazur; fall, Robert Wrigley
2002: spring, Andrew Hudgins; fall, Michael Collier
2001: Ron Wallace
2000: spring, Forest Hamer; fall, Kate Daniels
1999: spring, Erica Funkhouser; fall, Rodney Jones
1998: David Ferry
1997: Susan Hahn
1995: Charles Wright
1994: Heather Ross Miller
1993: Kathryn Stripling Byer
1992: Emily Herring Wilson
1991: Susan Ludvigson
1990: C. K. Williams
1989: Henry Taylor