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ALA Annual Conference Spotlight on Poetry
Mary Davis Fournier | May 07, 2009
As I look back on National Poetry Month each year, I resolve to retain some of the unexpected, joy-filled, and reflective moments I’ve encountered by stumbling upon so many poems in public, print, and cyber spaces throughout the month of April. It has been particularly useful for me as the ALA Public Programs Office prepares for the upcoming ALA Annual Conference and our planned spotlight on poetry.
This year’s LIVE! @ your library Reading Stage will showcase a truly impressive lineup of poets who cumulatively represent the landscape of American poetry today. Individually they are no less impressive. Check out this list and the links to these poets—most of the links have audio files that provide a preview of their reading:
- Janice Harrington
- Jane Hirshfield
- Ed Bok Lee
- Matthew Dickman
- Michael Dickman
- Angela Shaw
- George Watsky
- Rachel Zucker
We’re also pulling together some of the best poetry programmers around for a discussion on Sunday, July 12, 2009, 10:30–noon, in McCormick Place West, W-178B. Award-winning poet Jane Hirshfield; Greensboro PL’s Poetry GSO director Steve Summerford, and the Academy of American Poets’ chief online editor Robn Beth Schaer will want to talk with you, programming librarians out there, about pushing poetry and poetry programs beyond April, beyond the library walls and into communities. This session will do more than brainstorm. It will impact.
If you have registered for ALA Annual Conference in July, you’ll be receiving a brochure in the mail with specifics about the spotlight on poetry. And if you miss the mailing, you’ll be able to find them and their schedule on site at conference. And if you are unable to attend ALA AC this year, we’ll do our best to post content from the program and poetry program highlights on this site in August. Poetry—it’s not just for National Poetry Month!
The National Endowment for the Arts has been so generous as to support us in this effort!
Mary Davis Fournier is Deputy Director for the ALA Public Programs Office.
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