The International Journal for Creativity Inside

Super excited to announce: Participatory Arts for Incarcerated People with Dementia: A Pathway to Personhood, my research paper co-written with Dan Kaplan and Liza London will be published in the fall issue of The International Journal for Creativity Inside (IJCI).

The paper chronicles my work from 2014 to 2017 with the Unit for the Cognitively Impaired at Fishkill Correctional Facility. The prison is about 70 miles north of New York City.

Fishkill is one of the only prisons that address how to best navigate living with dementia while incarcerated.

The International Journal for Creativity Inside (IJCI), established in 2025, is a not-for-profit, open-access journal dedicated to exploring and promoting the role of creativity in prisons and jails worldwide through a cross-disciplinary perspective. Its mission, in brief, is to highlight, support, and expand the value of creativity within carceral systems to people in prison and to society.

Toward this end, IJCI will advance knowledge and public discourse on the role of creativity in carceral institutions globally by publishing high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarly research and practice-based explorations along with curated, insightful perspectives, creative work, and book reviews related to artistic, literary, and other creative endeavors within carceral settings.

IJCI will be freely available online, and its operations will be sustained through volunteer editors.

The artwork is: A Crack in C Yard’s Curb Taken Over by Nature, 2025 by Timothy, watercolor and ink. Courtesy of Prison Arts Collective. From the artist: The curb reads ‘Out of Bounds and Restricted Area’. This is a symbol of the fact that everything man makes is transitory, but nature left alone regenerates itself.

Glazner at AWP

Excited to be heading to Baltimore for Associate Writers Conference & Bookfair! (AWP). It is the largest literary event in the U.S., generally attracting between 8,000 and 12,000 attendees annually. The event includes over 600 exhibitors in the bookfair. John Waters is giving the keynote address!

Doing two events, a panel discussion and an off site reading. Creative Aging: Writing with Elders, Location: Room 314, Level 300, Baltimore Convention Center, Friday March, 6, 12:10 PM - 1:25 PM EST Session Code: F164.

Moderator: Andrea Ballou, Presenters: Gary Glazner, Martha Collins and Glecia Tatum.

How do we help elders use writing to unearth their own complexities—their pasts, presents, and futures; their thoughts and feelings, their struggles and joys? How to engage them to ask not only “Who was I then?” but “Who am I now?” Working with elders, from those living with Alzheimer’s to those who are cognitively well, panelists will share their diverse approaches to nurture a sense of agency, creativity, and delight.

AWP Official Off-Site Event Wednesday Night Poetry, Hosted by Kai Coggin, 85 poets

Patterson Theater at Creative Alliance.

Wed. March 4, 3134 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD, 21224.

Doors 5:30pm for socializing and community. Reading 6pm

Arts Midwest Grant

Glazner will lead 18 Poetry Parties at Mindworks and Memory Cafes in Wisconsin. These cafes offer a chance to connect with others who understand their experiences, participate in enjoyable activities, and build friendships. They aim to combat the isolation often associated with dementia and provide a space for people to socialize and find support.

Fox Valley Memory Project

Has regularly scheduled Mindworks and Memory Cafes.

Photo credit: David Sutton

Glazner Gives Talk at the Poetry Therapy, International Festival in Monza, Italy

Poetry Therapy, International Festival in Monza, Italy

American poet Gary Glazner will review the practices of the Alzheimer's Poetry Project he directed and which has become the most applied project with Alzheimer's patients in the world. He will work with Paola Perfetti, the drama therapist at the Dementia Village Il Paese Ritrovato.

Afternoon 14.30-18

Practicing poetry as a cure

Moderate Dr. Paolo Maria Manzalini

Paola Perfetti “The poem in Il Paese Ritrovato. An example of poetry therapy applied to people affected by dementia”

Gary Glazner (USA) “The Alzheimer Poetry Project”

Dimitra Didangelou (Greece/Belgium) “From silence to expression. The power of words in moments of loss”

Ines Testoni and Laura Liberale “Before the words to access the word”

Alberto Urro and Michele Dalpozzo “Education- care and narration: theater and narrative

medicine workshops for the humanization of care and for support to the adolescent population”

Dome Bulfaro “Cultivate your inner garden with care”


CNN Headline: Poetry offers space for tribal elders with dementia to express themselves

Alzheimer’s Poetry Project founder Gary Glazner visited the Memory Keepers Medical Discovery Team’s office in Duluth and showed the team his technique for creating poetry, which includes employing call-and-response and asking open-ended questions.

Glazner said the act of creating poetry together helps caregivers understand their loved ones in a new way.

I’m Still Here Grant

We are excited to announce the expansion of Poetry on Wheels in partnership with the Oneida Nation. Poetry on Wheels is a participatory arts program designed for elders and people living with dementia. We will lead monthly Poetry Parties at the Community Center in Oneida, WI. This project is funded by I’m Still Here Foundation and Bader Philanthropies.

More info at: I’m Still Here

Jumping to Poetry

As our American Rescue Plan Act Home and Community-Based Services Grant Initiative comes to an end of a year’s programing and teaching our partner Community Care, Inc. staff members the APP methods, we will share some of the highlights.

Here is a moment of joy from one of the Poetry for Life sessions.