The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering

The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering is a grand celebration of western people, their lifestyles and traditions. As January turns to February, cowboys, ranchers, rural and urban people, young and not so young, travel en masse to the small community of Elko, Nevada, to join with friends, family and all those who share their love of rural life in the West. Together, they listen to poetry and music, learn about cowboy culture in the U.S. and around the world, experience great art, watch western films, learn a craft, and gather together to eat, drink and swap stories. For the last 32 years, thousands of people—both rural and urban—have made this pilgrimage time and time again. If you love the West, you must experience its greatest celebration.

We’ll be warming up the winter at the 33rd National Cowboy Poetry Gathering with an abundance of stories—Real Stories. Straight Up. First-hand accounts, narratives passed down and around, and undoubtedly a yarn or two. All around Elko you’ll experience today’s renaissance of storytelling through poetry, song, video, visual art, new media and more. You can look forward to tales rich with lessons learned, risk-taking, humor, heroes, neighbors and family.

The Gathering culminates with an exciting evening of true stories as host of The Moth Mainstage. One of the leaders in the national resurgence of storytelling performance, The Moth live events and The Moth Radio Hour elevate the craft of personal storytelling. Kick back and listen or join in with your own stories. Interested in documenting stories from your life? Sign up for a digital storytelling or oral history workshop. Curious about new and old avenues of sharing experience? Attend a roundtable conversation with noted raconteurs, bloggers, radio and video producers, journalists and visual artists. From the keynote address to the last show of the Gathering, we’ll honor the tradition of storytelling in the rural West and beyond.