Alyssa Gaines, an 18-year-old from Indianapolis, was named the 2022 National Youth Poet Laureate May 20, a program of Urban Word. The moment Gaines was announced as the winner was both exciting and surprising, she told IndyStar."I just felt so much respect for the other finalists and so grateful to be in this position," she said.The National Youth Poet … Continue reading Indianapolis native Alyssa Gaines selected as 2022 National Youth Poet Laureate (via IndyStar)
A museum in East Los Angeles is showcasing the sound work of Latino artists and art collectives in an exhibition called "Sonic Terrains in Latinx Art." The show spans generations and genres, including experimental and avant-garde artists, spoken word performers and pop musicians."What emerges is this really interesting, polyphonic expression of sound in our culture," … Continue reading Spoken word and sonic rituals: East LA exhibit features Latinx artists using sound (via NPR)
Full Title: "'The poems began to dance among themselves': curating a fresh mixtape of Black British poetry (via Guardian)" A companion to 1998’s The Fire People, Kayo Chingonyi’s anthology creates a space for a new generation of voices to express the wide range of their work.Putting together an anthology is, as the American poet Katrina … Continue reading Curating a fresh mixtape of Black British poetry (via Guardian)
Milwaukee has named a new poet laureate and he's excited to get to work. Mario Willis is a Milwaukee native and has been featured throughout the city as a performer and writing guide. For more than 16 years, Willis has collaborated with nationally recognized spoken word artists and award-winning poets. For the next two years, Willis will … Continue reading Milwaukee names Mario Willis next poet laureate (via CBS 58)
Full Title: "The Tab sits down with the youngest ever winner of the National Poetry Prize (via The Tab)" Midway through the Easter holidays, The Tab sat down for a Zoom call with Britain’s youngest ever winner of the National Poetry Prize. Eric Yip, an Economics student at Lucy Cavendish College, spoke to The Tab … Continue reading Eric Yip, the youngest ever winner of the UK’s National Poetry Competition (via The Tab)
Bringing fresh energy to an enduring literary publication Image courtesy, Polina Osherov CHICAGO, IL, April 26, 2022 —The Poetry Foundation is pleased to announce that Adrian Matejka will join Poetry as the new editor beginning May 16. Matejka is the first Black editor to ever lead Poetry in the magazine’s history; he was selected through a national search. “We are thrilled to welcome … Continue reading Adrian Matejka Joins Poetry Magazine as New Editor [Press Release] (via Poetry Magazine)
Reginald Dwayne Betts was first introduced to poetry when an unknown person slid a copy of Dudley Randall’s The Black Poets under his prison cell door.Betts had just landed himself in prison at age 16 after a night filled with bad decisions. He joined a friend and a bunch of guys he hardly knew and went looking for trouble. … Continue reading This road to redemption began with a poetry book slipped under a prison cell door (via Washington Examiner)
An artist is creating poems after listening to health care staff at the University of Alabama at Birmingham tell stories of their experiences.Salaam Green, an artist-in-residence with UAB Arts in Medicine, is a certified Listener Poet. Through the Listener Poet program, the poets hold space for people to share whatever is on their minds, which is reflected back … Continue reading Poet turns health care workers’ stories into custom poems (via UAB News)
When Anis Mojgani first learned he might be Oregon’s next poet laureate, the COVID-19 pandemic had not taken off in the U.S. “I was excited at the possibility of seeing the state like I never have and, of course, it was very much not the case,” he said. A few months later, the Oregon Cultural Trust officially announced … Continue reading Untethered by pandemic, Oregon’s poet laureate seeks new ways for poetry to foster joy and connection (via OPB)
On the way to Albuquerque for a holiday with my parents, I bought a used audio version of Nicholas Sparks’s “The Notebook” at a truck stop outside Flagstaff, Ariz. Told mostly in flashback, the sentimental 1940s love story was diverting enough to get me through six hours of desert highway. However, it was the present-day … Continue reading How fiction and poetry can help you navigate a loved one’s dementia (via Washington Post)
